Good bye Old Year

I always like to stop a moment at the end of a journey and the beginning of a new one and ponder over what has been. I tend to hesitate on the brink of the new and wonder what lays ahead. I am always hoping to do better and be more than I was the year ahead. The new year holds so many pleasant surprises and the old so many pleasant memories.

January: Our relative Christopher was married Jan 1, 2011 and it has been a joy to see how God led them together and how happy they are. He waited a long time for her.

We also had a lot of snow last year and we so enjoyed the winter wonderland.

February:  Our Mom's group was still going strong and we enjoyed songs, stories, and crafts together with the other Moms and kids.

March: I have so enjoyed painting scarves and ties this last year for my little online store. Silkiness. In the past year I have made about 22 sales. I am delighted with how my business in slowing growing more steady.

April: We had the privilege of again heading to America to visit my family. A few of the highlights of April were:

• Amelija celebrated her first birthday.
• We had a lovely time being together for Palm Sunday and Easter.
• The playgrounds
• The children's museum
• Mom's cooking
• The zoo in Omaha. 
• Seeing my grandma. 
• Meeting my niece Ariana. 
• Shopping and garage saling (they don't have garage sales here in Latvia)
• Our visits to my parent's home are always long remembered and treasured. 

May: We spent the last part of our time in the States on a road trip from Fremont, NE to Tucson, AZ. We saw so many amazing national parks along the route. Janis got to fulfill his dream of seeing the Grand Canyon. And we saw my Aunt Karen and family- whom we had not seen in 18 years.

June: Daniel celebrated his third birthday.  Matthew my brother made it to our door step on a cycling trip from London- Latvia. We were thrilled when he arrived!

July: We enjoyed the bounty of the land. We gathered a lot of wild blueberries this summer and made jelly and froze those. What a treat they are now. We were also excited to welcome my sister Rachel, her daughter Ariana and Rachel's friend Shaina for a visit.

August: We did a lot of site seeing of the Latvian countryside. I enjoyed showing the girls around. We also were delighted with a visit from my parents. And Janis, Matthew and Daniel put in the foundations for an extension on the house.

September: Was a quiet month of readjusting into normal life. We finished our canning of the fruits of our garden and froze a lot of green beans.

October: I had the oppotunity to again made a wedding cake. It had been a couple of years since the last one and I was delighted to try my hand at some new techniques and even more delighted with how much everyone loved eating it.

 We also had a beautiful Fall and enjoyed the leaves. The kids loved playing in the leaves.

November: We enjoyed celebrating my birthday with friends and having a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with relatives.

December: There have been so many nice things this last month. A few of those include:

• Our visit to Rome to celebrate our 5th Anniversary
• Seeing our baby in our first ultrasound. 
• Publishing my first little book- a family cookie book of recipes and stories. "The Story of a Cookie."
• A wonderful Christmas with relatives. 

 

As you can see God has been overwhelmingly good to us. I like this verse from Romans 5: 2 (New Living Translation)

Because or our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. 

The phrase "undeserved privilege" really jumped out at me because I feel that way often. God has been so very good to us and we are thankful and humbled by that. Thank God for His protection and provision in 2011.