Happy New Year and More

Happy New Year! Hope each of you have a prosperous and blessed new year.

We are just settling in from our whirl wind Christmas activities and reflecting on what a great vacation it was. We are so blessed to have great family and friends and have had a great time spending so much time together here at home. God has truly blessed our family this year and provided us with a great situation that we can have this time off to be together and with Presley. It has not come without its challenges and we continue to try to find ways to make everything work but I feel that we are where we are suppose to be so God willing it will work somehow. Next semester I will continue my quest towards my Masters Degree, pending God provides a way to pay for it :) I am so thankful to have a great husband and family that are so great to help with Presley, dinner, cleaning or whatever else it may be that needs to get done. I try my best to do it all but after all I am only human and do need a little help from time to time. I can't wait for this new year to begin to see what else God has in store for us. I could never have guessed we would be where we are and it really is funny to see where He wants us to be as we wait for the next big jump, or sometimes I guess it is just small steps. God knows all of our needs and we just have faith he will continue to help us meet them.

Thinking back at all of the homes we visited this Christmas I kept thinking back to all the beautiful nativity sets we got to see. I loved to see them because it is a great way to remember the reason for the holiday season. They are a visual reminder of the birth of Christ and my goal for next year is to start our own collection so that we will have that reminder in our own home. Presley seemed very fond of the Willow Tree collection at Grandad Phil's house and I love them as well. So next year the collecting begins.

It is so easy this time of year to get caught up in the presents and all that but the last few days at home with Presley and Brent have helped me to remember the true gifts of life and that is the ones we love and those who love us back. Thanks to all our family for all of your support and love through the years and most we don't get to see as often as we would like but we do treasure the time that we do get to see you. I wouldn't trade anything in the world for the precious moments at home with my family. The late mornings in bed watching Mickey Mouse and Dora cuddling and everything in between. For some reason this year hits home more than others - I guess now that I am a parent it hits a little harder. Can you imagine giving your only child up knowing that they will be killed to save the souls of so many. I am all about the greater good but I just don't think I could do it. Presley is my life and my heart could I hand my child over to be killed? God did!