And another year is slipping away...

...right before my very eyes!

Just a few quick thoughts:

Tonight as we drove home from a gathering at a friend's house, Ian and I joked about heading downtown to the First Night festivities (despite the fact our kids were falling asleep in the back seat and it is finally REALLY cold outside). I told him that maybe five years ago I would have been interested which brought up fun reminiscing about our disappointment in Paris five years ago when the capital of France had NO fireworks, just a twinkling Eiffel Tower...

Last year I resolved to de-clutter our house and actually made pretty good progress on that goal. Throughout the winter and early spring I made several trips to Good Will and that ended up paying off come September when we began packing.

And that thought makes me distinctly recall a conversation I had with C.C. (Darby's mom) when we were up here in January in which I told her how just before Ian and I got married we had come apartment hunting in the area as his first job offer in NC was here. The apartments were within 5 miles of Battle and Shannon's house (Lottie's family) and I wondered aloud if we would have ended up on the same path in life if we had moved here back then. Now as I recall that conversation I find it funny how in January there was no blip on the radar that I'd be living here before the year ended.

And of course that again brings to mind how 2008 has brought some BIG changes for us ~ especially between June and October! On June 4th Ian found out he was losing his job and on June 11th we found out about Caleb. Over the next few months Ian searched for ~ and found ~ a new job, we packed our old house, moved into this one, packed for China, added a second two year old to our family, and made several trips back to visit family. We laughed about it a few minutes ago and said that 2008 was going down in our history books...

Most of all, I think that it has been a year in which I've seen how blessed I really am! I live a life of luxury. Don't get me wrong, we aren't swimming in money, but it's the choices we've made that are luxurious. Some folks think luxury is flashy cars or the latest fashion. Me? It's the realization that I have a loving husband who doubles as an adoring father. It's GETTING to stay home and raise my precious kids (who every now and then act like they love one another ~ even if it is mainly when they sleep...)2008 had some turns that we didn't expect, and we still aren't quite sure the full reason we relocated here (we just are sure that God was leading) but we look forward to seeing His plan begin to unfold a bit more in 2009.

From our family to yours, Happy New Year!