maximmoxie: Some Things About December

This past month has been pretty eventful. I'm sure that I can't even think of everything I've done with family and friends.

The main thing I've had going on is that I've developed a connection with a woman that was living at the refugee shelter that I volunteer with. When we met, she was 7 months pregnant with her first child, single and in a new country without much of a community. So since November we've developed a pretty close relationship. So in December, along with another friend of mine, we threw her a baby shower, took her to and from appointments at the doctor, were present for her ultrasounds, moved her into her new apartment and were asked to be present for the birth of her baby. Her daughter was born this past Saturday, December 29th and it was an amazing day! The baby is absolutely adorable and everyone is healthy and happy. I loved being her "doula". It is definitely cool to see it from the other side of things. It brought back lots of great memories from the births of my two kids -- and those experiences helped me to both help her manage her pain and enjoy the experience of the birth of her precious gift. It was such a joy and privilege.

Even with all of that going on, my children enjoyed an amazing Christmas with family and friends. We had time both as a smaller family unit and as a larger community. It was so great. I will post some pics below:

Auntie Dawn :)