Happy New Year.

Yep lately that is me always running behind....

I have no idea what the New Year holds in store.  The New Year finds us still living with our friends.  We sleep in their daughter's bedroom.  There is an office where my children can sleep but often they choose not to, and they sleep at the foot of our bed in the floor.  We share the room with our three cats (which some nights is completely unnerving) and our dog.  I know we are very blessed to have this space and a roof over our heads.  There is plenty of food to eat, and my husband still has his job.  There is much to be thankful for.  Still I have to be honest, I have been angry alot, feeling like we failed somehow, and I have struggled with feelings of ungratefulness.  This is something I will be taking up with God, and I am joining our church in  21 days fasting and prayer. Something I have never really done before.  I am not doing a traditional fast of food, but I have made a commitment to let prayer and God's word be the first thing I reach for in the morning. (instead of facebook or some other social media outlet).

As a family for the next 21 days we will avoid spending any money on food outside of the grocery store (so essentially we mean no eating or buying any drink or food out.)  Personally I want to also work on giving up excess sugar in my life for these next couple of weeks.  At night we are making a commitment to pray with our children and talk with them before bed.  To pray together about what is next for us, where are we going, what will we do.  I am looking forward to this next 21 day journey, and I hope to be able to share it with you as we go along.

That being said, our family was blessed beyond measure for Christmas.  I struggled with accepting additional blessings from other people when I can never repay them, and to be honest I felt we did not deserve those blessings. Over the last few weeks, we had friends visit from out of state, some family also stopped by, and we only got an hour or so with them, but it was wonderful.  On Christmas morning my beautiful 10 year old son began the morning privately in our room with the story of the birth of Jesus from the Bible in the book of Luke.  He was able to enjoy opening his gifts and played for about 20 minutes before becoming ill.  The next couple of days drug on as the illness went down the line of our family.  I personally didn't get the same illness but a sinus infection instead. The financial setback is frustrating, when your husband misses two days of work he will not get paid for and has to have a doctor's note, so you have to pay that fee on top of not getting paid. We are feeling much better now, the kids have officially opened and played with each of their blessings.  I have been working to find a place for them to fit into our borrowed space.

Two nights ago we finally got to have the Christmas dinner we never got to make.  We enjoyed ham, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, and cheddar bay biscuits.  For dessert there was chocolate cake, and what my daughter has deemed "Grinch punch."

We officially welcomed the New Years with laughs and cheers!  Happy New Year from our family to yours!