We had a GREAT Christmas! It was busy, as usual, but it was full of love and goodies and fellowship with family.  Our children were blessed by all of their extended family with gifts and attention.  Katie had a sleepover with the only other girl cousin at their great-aunt’s house.  She had a great time, playing and baking cupcakes for Jesus’s birthday.  A few days after Christmas, Katie, Theodore and Parker went to Grammy and Granddad’s house and Foster and Daddy went hunting. I was here all by myself for 4 whole days.  It was wonderful.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my husband and children so much and I was ready for them to be home, HOWEVER, I was in organizational/planning mode and I accomplished so much in 4 days.  I cleaned out and shopped and rearranged and planned for school.  Oh and I watched quite a few hours of 18 kids and counting. I absolutely adore this show. And I had only watched it a few times before now because we usually don’t have that channel, but I was able to watch it through NetFlix streaming video.  I know a lot of people probably think they are crazy but for some reason I don’t feel that way. I like them, and I like what they stand for, I usually just find myself wishing I had their kind of courage. To live for God the way they do, unashamed and trying to incorporate higher standards into their lives.  Yes, I know it’s TV and not real life.  But I think if they were in BHEA with me, I would definitely be their friends.

Foster and his Daddy had a great trip. Chris killed an 11-pointer!

This trip also stood out because last year during this “after Christmas” hunting trip was the trip that ended with Chris rushed to the hospital in an ambulance with pneumonia and fluid around his lungs so bad that he could hardly breathe. He ended up staying in the hospital for almost a month.  So yesterday when he was able to get up and go to work for another ordinary day, the kids and I prayed and thanked God for his grace and love for our family.

Solitude does bring a lot of time for introspection.  I didn’t really want to make resolutions but I think I do that anyway at the beginning of a new year.  I feel hopeful as a new year begins.  I have a lot of desires for this new year.  Mainly though I just want to be more present, more content with what and who I have in my life.  I want to take better care of myself physically because it’s the only body I have and not because I was less than 120 pound for 3/4 of my life and now I am REALLY not.  I want to give more grace and accept other’s decisions without being so judgemental.  I am not as harsh with people who are convicted of crimes as I am with other mom’s who don’t make the same sacrifices I’ve made. (there it is.) Then there’s money, it gets on my nerves and I hope that this year with good ole Dave’s help, Chris and I will get out of debt and start having a better relationship with money. While we are at it – teach our kiddos how to deal with it, too.

I hope you are having a great New Year already. I hope to have more people following my blog this year!
I actually had a reader tell me she missed me when I hadn’t written a post in awhile. Is it pitiful that made my day? Oh come on, everyone likes to be liked. (=