Happy New Year!

I hope you too are contemplating positive changes you wish to make in the New Year, although I am not much of one for New Year's resolutions. Apart from wishing to be more productive in general, I have a fond hope of seeing clutter drastically reduced yet again in our house. I think we are slowly making progress in the right direction--at least things are being given permanent homes and we are making some habits of tidying up paperwork right away. I just hope we are able to simplify things further in the coming year, since we are going to be super busy.

I hope you had a good Christmas, as did we. My parents had a great time with the kids and the kids are already asking when Grandma and Grandpa are coming to visit again. As it happens, that will probably occur in mid-August or so, which will be a welcome summer visit. And my in-laws are planning a trek over as well, so I am hopeful of sharing the bountiful produce from our garden with them all.

I am certainly not sorry to say goodbye to the plagues and troubles of the past year. To put them in perspective, we have really had a soft year for troubles considering what so many others are facing. Still, I would be glad of a respite for a while from home repairs and necessary projects, and would like to see us put forth our efforts toward some worthwhile but 'optional' projects instead. It would be really fun to see the kids enjoying their free playset, for example, complete with sandbox and swings. I know they would get a lot of use of it, so hopefully we can get that up by mid-spring for full summer enjoyment.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2009. Let us hope that we greet the New Year with hope and contentment with our multitude of blessings, and consider too how we can all share them a bit more in the New Year. Happy New Year!