Happy New Year!

I'm sitting here quietly alone on New Year's Eve and enjoying it for the most part. The fire is going, there is distant thunder rumbling outside, my dog is nearby - and Dick Clark is STILL on the Rockin' New Year's Eve... ;-) Jack and the girls are at the lock-in at church having lots of fun, I'm sure...

Here's a picture I wanted to share from the holidays... a snowy Christmas! I was so excited - really. I couldn't believe it when I woke up and looked outside and the ground was covered and snow was falling. It made for a perfect morning. :) I felt like a little kid again - ha. So most of us went out and played in the snow for a while and the result was the "Bunny Snowman." :)

I'm excited to say that I completed a New Year's resolution for 2010 today. I read through the whole NIV Chronological Bible this year and it's been fantastic! :) I have had many, many years where I started this, but didn't finish - and to finally finish this year gives me such a sense of accomplishment AND gives me hope for success in next year's resolutions. In 2011, I want to scale back and do a reading plan that will take me just through the New Testament so that I can spend a little more time and thought on what I'm reading. I also want to read several books on prayer (starting with Praying God's Word by Beth Moore) and develop a better 'habit' of prayer each day that I hope will lead to a greater dependence on God.

2010 has been a good year. As I look to 2011, there are some big things ahead. Mackenzie will graduate high school and start college. Anna will move on from middle school and start high school. I will more than likely be finding at least a part time job - a BIG change for me. Jack's work situation is about to go thru some changes - most likely he'll be doing the same job, but working for a different employer... SO - a year of new things ahead. I sit here right now and know that I'm really not ready for it all - but it's coming so it's time to get ready! That's what new years are for, right? ;-)

Anyways, going back for just a minute to reading thru the Bible, this was unexpected, but I was totally engrossed in Hebrews when I read thru it - like I was reading it for the first time or something. So I thought I'd share a verse from there to end out this year and usher in the next:

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." - Heb 10:19-23