Brand New Year

Can't believe its almost the end of January!  Where does the time go?  Our holidays were awesome, spent lots of time with family and friends.  Right after the holidays we went to Vermont.  Sadly, Taishauna decided not to come and she was really missed, but the boys had a blast.  They both snowboard really well and decided to try skiing.  And of course they both did great!  Nick had such a good time skiing with them.  We also went tubing, built a sled (and won the race!) went ice-skating and swimming!  They even got me up on the slopes.  Once.  Well, twice, but I don't think the second time counted!  We are going back at the beginning of March to do it all again! I'll post pics soon.

I don't think we will be able to go next year as the boys will be in school.  I know, I can't believe they are going to school.  I am sure it is the right decision, but I still have pangs of sadness.  They have such a wonderful relationship now, I am afraid they are going to go off in different directions once they start school.  Part of me wants to work really hard on school work to make sure they are ready and part of me wants to squeeze in all the fun we can while we have the chance!

A very big part of our lives now has been spending time with Amanda, Andrew, Aiden and Austin.  Andrew is my nephew, for those of you who don't know, and Amanda is his wife.  Amanda is in desperate need of a kidney.  You can read more about her here.  We had a huge fundraiser for her last October, right before Sandy.  And then she got the news they found her a match!!!!  And then the donor pulled out. :(  It all happened so fast and was so unbelievably disappointing.  So now they are just getting through the days as best they can.  Sammy and Johnley have gotten close to Aiden and Austin, who adore them.  So we've been trying to see them and help them as much as we can.

My life is about to get very busy.  I am teaching Our Whole Lives at church, which I am very excited about.  I am also re-joining the Religious Education Committee, which I have felt lost without.  In addition, I am one of two who are responsible for the Elementary Programming for the African Caribbean Heritage Camp that we go to every year in CO.  And lastly, I am trying to figure out how to help with the hurricane relief work.  We had done some volunteer work with an organization here, but I kind of lost faith in it.  I am trying to figure out where my strengths can be best used.

Ah, its so nice to get back to this.  I've missed it. :)

And look at these gems I came across...

Aren't they fantastic?

Good Night.