Goodbye to 2015

Created by my ever talented husband - Steve

2015 has been a quick year (at least it feels that way today) and full of milestone events.

In no particular order - these were some highlights:

• Eldest child (Stephanie) turned 30 and got married!  (note - we do not feel old enough to say that out loud!)
• Second child (Alec) turned 25 - see note on eldest child - same applies!
• Third child (Jessica) turned 18 - ditto!
• Youngest child (Benjamin) turned 16 and got his driver's license - ditto, ditto!
• We vacationed in DC for a week - big road trip!
• Steve continued to work from home as much as possible - we thank God for this enormous blessing in our lives.
• Steve & I became members of our local church (Monadnock Congregational in Peterborough)
• We are all making new friends in our church family and are continuing to be blessed
• My parents were in a car accident (they were hit by a garbage truck on the highway!) that resulted in the totaling their SUV and a few injuries but mostly they are fine and we are very thankful for God's protection!  
• My parents have found  a church that preaches scripture and they are happy - another blessing.
• Stephanie and her husband, Kyle, both found new jobs and have relocated to Maine.
• Jessica was accepted to all 3 colleges where she applied for next fall and received some awesome scholarship offers.  She has selected her first choice school and will be attending Franklin Pierce University in the fall of 2016!
• Both Jess and Ben are able to take advantage of early college classes - both online and on campus locally - to accelerate their education and amp up their learning challenges.  
• I've been able to do a lot of fun sewing and quilting - even finding an outlet to sell a few things!
  

All-in-all it's been a pretty good year in the grand scope.  There have been hard times of course - this is life!  But we have Jesus and we have each other - with that combination life is do-able in spite of whatever may come.

Praying that our Gracious and Loving Heavenly Father will bless each of us with all we need to glorify Him in the coming year.  To reach the goals He has designed for us and to grant us peace & joy in the journey!

Welcome 2016..... looking forward to whatever God sends our way as I am confident that He will walk the road with us and give us all we need to cling to Him on the journey!
 

First Project of 2015

We've been fairly quiet on the house projects since early summer when we did the hang-out space for the kids.  I've been busy with lots of sewing projects and we've had a fair amount of just regular life happening around here.
Since we generally have a two week vacation with Christmas and New Year's, Steve wanted to tackle something good sized with the time.  He knocked off quite a few smaller projects last week and this week we did a really fun photo wall in the living room that I just love and then we started working on painting Jessica's bedroom.  This might be a record... we started on New Year's day in the afternoon and I finished it today (Jan 2nd) just before dinner time.
Of course I don't have before or after photos because it was a marathon of painting and I didn't stop to take any.  Bad excuse, but I'll try to get some shots after we put the furniture back tomorrow and update this post.
The one fun thing we did tonight was this neat little art photography project.

Photographs of signs by my amazing hubby

Sorry for the really awkward picture, but I took it with my phone and it's on a tiny wall just by her door that is awful for trying to photograph.

Steve went out this afternoon and photographed all the street signs in a few different towns and we printed, framed and hung them tonight as a surprise.  She actually hasn't even been upstairs to see it yet.  Hopefully she's going to like it. :-)

Her room done is the 8th room painted in the house and leaves us just 2 more rooms and 2 hallways to paint - all since we moved in less than 2 years ago.  I'm stunned at the progress we've made in such a relatively short space of time.  

Actually her room wasn't awful as it was painted and was fairly neutral in color, but she wanted a light, brighter color on the walls as a backdrop for her eclectic style.  She chose the same light color she'd had in our Merrimack house (Creamy Buttermilk - by Glidden) and we had the very nice paint guy at Home Depot color match it in Behr paint for us.  

Now to figure out some window treatments, and get some things hung on the walls.  Then Steve is going to build her a custom book shelf & storage unit against one of her knee walls (she has a windowed dormer on one wall).  A great way to start the new year and the last semester of high school! 

Praying that God blesses all our projects in 2015 to be as fairly easy as this one. 

Blessings on the journey~

Welcoming 2014

**photo credit Steve (my amazing husband) 

2014
Wow!

I am really looking forward to seeing what will happen during this new year.  Last year saw so many changes in our lives... things that I never imagined could actually happen, yet God moved so powerfully in so many situations that I was awed in all new ways by His grace and loving care.

The new year is always full of promise - similar to the Fall for me when I feel on the verge of big changes due to the magnificent display of color changing around me here in New Hampshire and the beginning of a new home school year with the kids.  But a new year is also fun because it gives me a chance to read and ponder the goals and resolutions that people have published around the web.  A new-ish thing seems to be choosing a word to be the focus of a new year.  People choose things like "faith" or "change" or "give" or "breathe" or "whatever strikes their fancy".  Others choose a specific verse of scripture or some other personally meaningful phrase.  And there are those who go the traditional route of making a list of resolutions (exercise more, save more money, smile more, learn to knit, etc.).

I have done exactly none of these.

Boring?  Perhaps.  

Unambitious? A case could be made for that adjective. 

Realistic? 

I would choose that last one.  While I am a list person generally speaking and like to have measurable goals to work towards in different areas, right now I'm in a place where God is in the process of teaching me contentment.  There is a definite learning curve to what it means to have 'enough' in various areas of my life and how to deal appropriately with the areas where there is abundance or scarcity.

2013 brought enormous changes in pretty much every area of my life and that is not easy for a person who doesn't really 'do change well' as I've been known.  I think it is safe to say that the changes were all good ones and things that were welcomed and rejoiced over in most cases.  That isn't to say there were not struggles and stresses and tears, but those are not the memories I'm choosing to embrace.

All of this means that for right now I'm not making big huge ambitious lists or choosing some lofty goal for the new year.  I have a few things muddling around in my brain but they are more mundane - like the potential for a vegetable/herb garden, some sewing projects, helping J learn to drive and find a part-time job, reading through the Bible entirely again, improving my cooking skills and learning to like some new vegetables. Nothing earth shattering, but movement in positive directions is generally a good idea even if it is boring at times.

I look forward to seeing how God will move in our lives and the lives of people we know this year. Watching Him work is never dull.  The beginning of our life in the country has been positive in terms of building new community and friendships and I'm very hopeful of seeing that continue.

Happy 2014 everyone - may this new year bring fresh gifts of grace that allow us the opportunity to give praise to God for all things (tears and laughter).

Blessings on the journey~

Change of Focus

What do you see in focus here?

How about here?

In January of 2011 I read Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts and it started something... something that my kids and I have continued through the year.
We began counting the gifts God gives - not every day, but taking the time purposefully to notice the things God gives us each day that we appreciate... or even the things that are HARD but help us to grow as people and to lean heavy on the One who holds us in His nail scarred hands.
As of yesterday we finished 2011 with 1111 gifts counted.  I hadn't really thought much about that number until early this morning when I wrote this on the top of a fresh page in our journal counting book:

Praying that we will continue to count the gifts that 

God allows in our lives each day.  

Welcoming 2012 with the full expectation 

that we can see God's fingerprints in our lives

each day when we remember to look for them.

Then I began the counting numbers on the page: 1112
That is the first number for our new year on the first day of 2012.  I smiled.

When I went outside with the dog this morning I saw the clothesline on the deck in the sunrise - laced with icy drops.  If I only look at the drops on the line - I can see in the background -hazy - the sunrise firing the dawn through the trees.  If I look past the drops glittering I can notice the leaves of orange still clinging to bare branches and the haze of moisture between the dark tree outlines.  Beautiful in either focus really.
Like my life.
Some days I focus on the drops, the daily routines & errands and 'to-do' lists.  And other days I have the glimpses of how God is using the drops to frame the beauty of His light shining in my bare spots to fire a new adventure.
New Years is a time of reflection and of looking forward.  I wait anxiously to see what new things God will show us this year.

See, I am doing a new thing!
   Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
   and streams in the wasteland. ~~Isaiah 43:19

Blessings on the journey~