I am watching the snow fall...if it is going to be cold it might as well snow.  At least it makes things beautiful!  Yesterday I got a chance to catch up on some wonderful blogs (many of them on the right hand margin here) of some great friends.  Their beautiful words and sweet pictures made me really want to re-do the last couple months.  I have often stopped realizing that life is happening all around me, time is passing with or without me, and that all of it is a gift.  I cannot earn it...I am not promised it will last forever....and (just as I wrote on my chalk board yesterday) it's not all about me.

There have been moments of sweet bliss and complete contentedness, but those have been swallowed by rushed to do's and hushed children.  I have not taken notes, listened well, or been thankful enough for the love, beauty, fulness, health, and pure joy that is around me...around us.

Children have an unending ability to love, to forgive, to run wild, and to be present in the moment.  My kids have much to teach me still.  So....my 2011 resolutions are:
- listening instead of hushing
- choosing joy over guilt
- making right priorities rather than making everyone happy

I wrote on another blog this Christmas that the series of Holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years) was about being THANKFUL for what you have been given, GENEROUS with what you have, and HOPEFUL for what is to come.

I am hopeful that God is beginning a new work in me...

Addison is full of joy...ALL the time! I see God's love so alive in her.

These 3 (and Layla) have such fun together whatever they are doing!

Happy Birthday Jesus...thanks for these 2 most perfect gifts!

Ryland loves life and lives wide open.  I just want to tackle him to the ground and kiss him all over!

This is just the beginning!