Happy New Year!

Wow! I can't believe 2013 is gone. :o( It went way too fast-especially December. I felt like I blinked and it was gone. Thankfully, I did get the camera out a couple of times so I can remember some of the activities, 'cause at my age, I need all the help I can get at remembering things. :o) There was lots of gift making, decorating and baking going on. A couple of great surprises and fun family get-togethers. All in all, it was  a great month, it just went way too fast.

Peppermint snowman spoons to go with homemade hot cocoa mix

Our first outside tree. LOVE!!

She still loves decorating cookies.

She made his Birthday wish come true by saying "yes" :o)

Learning to play Apples to Apples on Christmas day.

Cocoa really doesn't know what to think of Grandma's new babies.

All of "us" minus one who was home sick. :o(

Did you figure out the two surprises? One was our son's proposal to his girlfriend on his birthday. So excited for them both in this new adventure. The other one was that Angel and Tyler came home for Christmas. Well, that one was a surprise for Michelle and I, seems like everyone else was in on it and they were pretty good at keeping the secret. What a nice surprise. :o)

So what does 2014 look like for us? Right now--cold! Like -34 cold, and that doesn't count the wind chill factor. Needless to say, we are snuggled up in the house and enjoying lots of hot tea and cocoa. Think I'm going to make some kind of soup for dinner tomorrow night.

I didn't make any resolutions this year. Guess I was too busy to think about it at the time. I have decided on one thing I would like to do this year and that's work on my "Son" tan. Our church has been going through a video series by Jim Berg called Changed Into His Image. In one chapter he compares our walk with the Lord with someone getting a tan on vacation. You know they've been in the sun based on their outward appearance. The less time they spend in the sun, the more that tan fades. Our live should be similar. Can people see our "Son" tan? Is it obvious through our words and actions that we've spent time in the Son or is our tan fading? That doesn't mean that our salvation is based on our works, it just means that if we're spending consistent time with the Lord, it should show in our life.

I want to have an extravagant love for my Lord, and I know the only way I can do that is to get to know Him better. And the only way to do that is to spend time with Him in prayer and reading His Word, something I have been sorely lacking in this past year. I'm not going to set a goal to read a certain number of chapters each day or a certain amount of time as I know that, for me, that just becomes a check mark on a page that needs to get done. Instead I am committing to starting my day in His Word and letting Him decide how much and how long I spend with Him. This morning it was nearly 2 hours, and it was the best 2 hours of my day. :o)

I'm going to close this for now and go make myself a cup of hot cocoa. Maybe tomorrow I'll get a chance to show you some of the mischief Emma got into this year.

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!