Good Bye 2009 & Hello 2010

Thank-you Lord for providing for our family in 2009! We had to get creative at times but you provided all that we needed!

Thank-you for our jobs; John is learning more about his job all the time and was blessed to travel to Little Rock for training twice this year. If I have to work outside the home I could not be more thankful for the job that I have! I love working with children & really believe God has lead me to work with children with special needs. My student improved scholastically & behaviorally by leaps and bounds in 2009. I took at week long class at the state school for the blind this summer. It was very hard to be away from my baby girl but I am thankful I went because I learned a lot. I totally love the time off I get with this job.

Thank-you for our daughters! Amanda turned 16 in April, she got her license and is a good driver. I had the privilege of spending the afternoon with her this summer while, because I was close by taking a class. She loves her Digital Media/Graphics design class and is quite the math whiz; taking a collage algebra course for college credit this semester and next semester she takes trigonometry. Our baby is turning into a little girl with opinions of her own and 2 year old emotions to get her point across. LeAnne's vocabulary keeps expanding, she runs instead of barely toddling and she is SLEEPING like a champ which is a huge blessing! Sleep is awesome! We are working on saying good bye to her binky too!!! Today is night # 1 without it.

Thank-you for our beautiful home in the country! John did an amazing job of landscaping our front yard. We are both hoping the Crape Myrtle survives the winter. John repainted our front door, did some fancy paint work to the upper portion of our house, and scored a riding lawn mower on Craiglist for $25 and LeAnne makes a great helper in the shop.

Thank-you Lord for our health & keeping our family safe from harm! Yes, John has struggled with neck and back pain a lot this year but it could be so much worse. My mama was in a serious car accident and we are so thankful she was not hurt worse and is on the mend.

Thank-you for the many family members who visited us throughout the year.

Mama bear says thank-you for her new found obsession, entering blog giveaways. I have been blessed to win some great giveaways and be exposed to a lot of amazing products. :-)

2009 is ending similar to 2008 in that Amanda was with us for Christmas last year, last year she stayed an extra day due to an overbooked flight and this year she's here and extra day due to not checking in on time. UGH! We feel really bad this happen, us parents were too nice, should have been a lil more forceful with our 16 year old procrastinator.

Also similar to last year, on this extra day we did enjoy a few more laughs together, and LeAnne about knocked her sister over with her good night kiss.

In 2010 here are a list of hopes and/or things I am excited for: (in no particular order)

1. Reading through the bible in a year with my husband & LeAnne close by playing.

2. Getting connected to a church. We ARE going to church this Sunday. We need to get connected, to grow and give back!!!

3. Amanda says she is excited 2010 is one year closer to 2011 when she will graduate from High School.

4. When I asked John his hopes for 2010 his responses were fish, food, gloves, wood. Then he said "Show me the money" & even did a little dance. :-) Alrighty then...my comedian. My greatest hope for him this year is to be pain free as soon as possible!!

5. LeAnne will be moving to a booster chair for meals and hopefully start using a potty chair.

6. Wii & Wii Fit (maybe tax return)

7. All of us look forward to making new friends.

8. Fun family outings & date nights with my husband.

9. Mama bear would love to find a group of people to scrap book with. She's need to get caught up on her scrap books

10. Taking LeAnne to see the Ocean for the first time.

11. We will be praying about adding to our family .

12. Organizing LeAnne's room & our storage room.

13. A few trips to see family on the other side of the state & in Oregon

14. Big blog wins!

15. Mama bears biggest hope for this upcoming year is that each of us would never lose sight of God's amazing provisions in our life. I pray that we would see his guidance for all things in our life.

Happy New Year to you all!!! Many 2010 bring you and your loved ones great joy!