Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve sneaked (snuck?) up on me with all our Christmas festivities. I haven't had much time for reflecting on the past year or making resolutions for this new year...or decade for that matter! I would say Caleb had a banner year in learning how to eat, walk, talk, etc. Joshua's learning and growing over this past year would have the next significance. Nothing really major happened for Shawn & I in 2009 (and sometimes that can be a good thing!). Shawn continues to be employed at Dart, and I continue to teach at Millersville University. I didn't do nearly the amount of writing I've done in past years (in fact none for my old boss), but I did start volunteering for Water Street Ministries in helping with its marketing needs, which I'm thrilled about. Even if I don't get paid, I'd rather use my skills to bless an organization I care about then... well, I try not to use this as a public avenue to vent so I'll leave it at that. :) I also started writing a book. I feel as though I'm being called to write about 'why Israel' and I hope to finish it this year if I can stop procrastinating! I've learned a lot along the journey in my studying the Bible. I've also lost some weight this past year with God's help, and I hope and pray that trend continues. There's much more I could write about I'm sure (including the fact that we found a great babysitter and my Dad decided to get a place up here to live part of the time in PA & GA), but... maybe another time??? Life has been really busy this year with two boys, and I'm loving every minute of it! I'm so glad not to be working full time. God has blessed me with such an amazing family and life - there are days I could pinch myself to see if it's really real. I guess I should also start setting some goals for this next year and decade... soon enough!

 

Thursday Shawn was to have a long day at work with year-end inventory. But, because he worked really hard on the back end to make sure everything went smoothly (and I prayed in the background and we serve an amazing God!), he was actually out earlier than expected. :) We headed to our friends' Chris & Lisa's house to celebrate the New Year with our life group from church. I LOVED the picture of the boys in their New Years' hats at the top of this post. Then the above picture is the life group girls (from left to right: Angie, Becca, me, Melanie and Lisa holding Emma, Melanie's youngest daughter). Pictured below are the life group guys (from left to right, back to front: Chris, Shawn, John, Angel, Don).

 

And finally here are all the couples minus Chris, who was trying to set their timer to take one of all of us. I can't wait to see their pictures since they took some throughout the night and we only got a few. We all took an appetizer/snack to share and ate and listened to music and chatted while the kiddos played. It's nice to have friends with small children. :)

 

Earlier that day even with the snow, we had went with Grandpa Georgia out to breakfast. Afterward, we stopped at Party City where I bought the boys hats, this tiara and little plastic glasses to toast the New Year at midnight for something festive and fun. :) Here's Joshua wearing my tiara.

 

I really don't like Shawn's camera very much. Half our pictures are blurry, I swear. But, it's smaller and more convenient for carrying than mine, so it's usually the one we grab. I also think the battery doesn't last very long before it needs charged. Oh well! It's a minor problem, I guess, in the grand scheme of life. Here's Caleb with the tiara, too, even though it's blurry. All the kids took a turn, I think. Don & Melanie had another party to go to and left around 9ish; John & Angie's youngest started getting tired around 10ish and they left; and the rest of us made it until midnight. Joshua did pass out just before then on the Grube's couch, and Kyla fell asleep on her momma.

 

We were exhausted when we got home, but we're glad to have good friends. :) New Year's Day, Joshua slept in until 7ish, I think, which is pretty late for him. He's always the first one up in our house. I made pork & sauerkraut in the crockpot for supper that night, and we took down all the Christmas decorations. We also bought more toy storage at Target and started organizing a bit. Throughout the weekend we got most of our projects done, so I'm ready to clean now and have space to do so!

 

Saturday all the bolts somehow came off the wheel on Shawn's car, so we used our new AAA membership we got for Christmas already (thanks, Nonie & Poppy!). Thankfully he was by himself so I could come and be there to help him. Grandpa Georgia came over and watched the boys for us while we waited for AAA to get there. Now his Volvo's in the shop. We also went browsing at cars for fun that morning (well, I should say 3rd-row seat SUV & mini-vans). I doubt we'll be buying anything anytime soon, though. Cars are such a waste of money. It's hard to know when it's a wiser move to buy something new while there's still value to yours or when to just run them into the ground. :( :( :( Earlier that morning we took a trip to Walmart, where we can't seem to leave without spending at least $100. I love that we can buy everything in one store, and yet it seems like every time we go in for 'two things' we come out broke. Haaa!!! Here are Chris & Lisa toasting the New Year; Chris is even wearing the New Year's hat!

 

Shawn got a lot done this weekend, including taking down the outside Christmas decorations even though it's in the single digits with the windchill. My Dad said the news said the winds were up to 50mph. I can believe it! It's cold and ugly out! It's making us start dreaming about our vacation for our anniversary... tropics here we come! :) :) :)

 

Happy New Year! Here's to 2010! And a new decade of life... :) :) :)