Ringing in the new year and the first day of the year, 1/1/11 -couldn't resist the date

We closed the year 2010 with a celebration with Andy's family.  Because Andy is always on call from Christmas through the first business day of the New Year, Andy asked his family to take the three hour drive to our house instead of having us come to them.  Everyone was here except for our niece Page who had to work. (She actually got busted throwing a party. I think her parents were more amused than mad.) 

As usual, Wyatt anticipated the arrival of the family with over the top excitement.  Upon their arrival, he begged to open presents.  His birthday gifts from this side of the family and Christmas gifts were part of the celebration.



Alex



Mitchell




Julia loves her Justin Bieber shirt from her Aunt Dianna.

 

Dianna turns the camera on Andy



Ben sets up his army



Wyatt went on a dig for rocks. I am not sure if the dining room will recover.  Dust is everywhere, but he found every rock.



One day last week, Andy struck a deal with the little people trading 30 minutes of cleaning from them for his cooking.  He let them choose something from his new Northern Italian cookbook.  Julia chose this cake which was an all day process and required over a dozen eggs. I think Julia got the better deal.



We had sparkling grape juice for the kids.  I brought out crystal cordial cups.  The crystal once belonged to one of my great aunts, I believe. I think it came from Austria or Germany.  Why, you might ask would I trust this in the hands of children, rowdy boys no less.  Well, I have never used it, and I don't think anything should just sit hidden in a cabinet and never used.



Andy purchased a cheap bottle of champagne for the grownups.  He popped the top and poured a few glasses.  We all took a few sips, decided it was disgusting and poured it down the sink.

So that ends 2010 and begins 2011.  I have no resolutions for the new year.  My biggest resolution last year was to have a family over for dinner once a month.  I never did it, not once.  Of course that resolution was conditional on getting new dining room furniture, and we ran into a few hiccups financially that derailed our plans for that.  I am happy to report that my Christmas gift from Andy actually was a new table and two chairs.  We still need to purchase the other four to six chairs this year, but we have a start on that.  Let me give you a tip if you have a family that scratches up a beautiful table as quickly as mine does.  We are putting a few coats of polyurethane on the furniture before using it.  The garage smells terrible, but I feel better about this plan.

We bought the furniture from the store where I work my second job.  It came with my 25% employee discount.  It seems that I may be finished with this job.  I am still trying to reach my boss for confirmation, but when I called for my schedule, I was told that I am no longer on the schedule.  I vaguely remember that when I dropped to one day a week after Mom's surgery did not work out that it was to be through the holidays.  One way or another, I am fine with it.  If I am let go with the rest of the holiday help, then I will consider this to be God's will.  I took the job with what I felt was leading from God and have always felt that He would close the door when the time to leave came.  I may now resume Bible study at my church. As the deadline to register for a study quickly approaches, I question daily whether or not to go for it.

My hope for 2011 is that Mom will go into remission and then be cured of cancer.  It is a long shot, but nothing is impossible with God.  I have been wrestling with God lately.  Wrestling over His promises and how we should handle our finances. I have struggled with believing God's promises. Even in this wrestling, I am realizing how deep-rooted my faith is.  When I question, journal my thoughts and try to grasp just exactly what God plans for me and wants for me, I realize that the foundation is solid.

Hopefully, we will resume family devotional and prayer time.  We stopped it several months ago with the start of school.  Before I rest tonight, we plan to come up with a family verse for the year of 2011.

Right now I leave you, my friends, with this treasure.


The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. 
Numbers 6:24-26

I think we are mostly familiar with these phrases as the Irish blessing. In Numbers 6:22-23, God instructs Moses to tell Aaron and his sons to bless the Israelites with these words.  As one of God's chosen, I will accept a blessing straight from His mouth.