Happy New Year! 

2012 was an awesome year for us!  We were abundantly blessed. 

It is important to look back and remember the good things God has done.  In honor of 2012, here are 12 things I'm thankful for (one from each month on my blog):

1.  Josiah's first year. (Story of his birth.)

Jan 1, 2012

Dec 31, 2012

2.  Our refurbished thrifted chalkboard table.  Still loving it.  Most days you will find our family of seven crowded around this little table instead of our big table.  

3.  In March, we renewed our commitment to bring our children up in the Lord.  We were honored to stand before God and promise to continue to raise our first four and now our newest (5th) child to love and serve God. 

4.  Judah turned 5 and Katie turned 14!

5.  The Chief and I led our first online small group.  Family Devotions for the Young and Restless. 

6.  My nephew graduated highschool.  We traveled to Virginia and had a blast!

to be continued...

Well folks, Christmas is done at our house!  We kicked it off with our own celebration and then made the six+ hours trek to my dad's for two celebrations, then to my mom's for another celebration, followed by a celebration at my brother-in-law's. 

We're home.  We have too much loot (aka, presents to grandchildren from grandparents!) and too many sweets (mom, mom-in-law, and stepmom sent all the homemade goodies with us). 

By any standards it was an epic Christmas!  It had all the right elements - time to reflect on Jesus' birth and celebrate by having communion, lots of squeezing on nieces and nephews, grandparent love, lots of squeezing on Josiah (who celebrated his very first Christmas), eating, movie-watching, laughing, talking, visiting with 20 year old nephew and his girlfriend on his Christmas birthday and hearing lots of special plans he has for the upcoming year (it's going to be a momentous year for sure!), napping (cold medicine was part of my Christmas diet, ugh), hanging with our favorite people, and more eating! 

Our first Christmas with five kids was extra-special.  Still shaking my head at all God's blessings. 

Some highlights to remember:

1.  Stopping in Charlotte to attend Elevation Christmas Service and replace the starter on our van.  A new bible (long story), tow truck (longer story), and a chunk of our emergency savings later we were back on the road to Virginia. 

2.  Captain America.

3.  Moving our luggage many times (sorry, Chief). 

4.  Coming home to a broken washing machine (sorry again, Chief). 

Despite any hiccups, Christmas 2012 was Merry and Bright! 

I hope yours was just as blessed and memorable! 

Let the un-decorating begin! 

Snowman on the door.

Roses still in bloom.

Christmas in the Lowcountry. 

I can barely talk above a whisper.  I lost my voice late Sunday night.  Not having a voice is challenging.  Way challenging.  

Tuesday morning the carpet in our hallway was strangely wet.  There are five kids in my house.  Statistics say, somebody spilled something.  A couple hours later it was wetter.  It was time to phone the Chief and launch a bigger investigation.  The culprit was a pinhole in the plumbing.  With the amount of water pressure coming into the house, that pinhole was a constant little spray.  Commence operation fix leak, restore water.  My handy husband (thank God for youtube and texts to my stepdad) spent all of his evening working hard to get water restored.  We live in the middle of nowhere.  The hardware store closed and the final fix couldn't be made until this morning when the store opened.  The Chief got our part and within minutes I could hear him saying, "Now we're cookin' with peanut oil!" (Phil - Duck Dynasty).

Josiah learned to jump.  Video evidence below.

Judah has started wearing glasses part-time.  The doctor expects him to outgrow his eye strain and not need the glasses later on.  In the mean time, we think he is pretty cute. 

Our nativity scene has added a few characters.  One is obvious.  The other additions are tiny and harder to spot.  See anything that doesn't belong? 

Preseason basketball practice got a little overcrowded.  Good thing it was time to start regular season practice.  Check out Gracie taking a foul shot (during preseason practice) below. 

Hoping the weekend finds us with dry carpets and restored voices! 

"But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield." (Ps 5:11-12)

(Thanks to the Chief for loaning me his iPad pics and video.)

Katie ran her first official 5K in Kingsport, TN on Thanksgiving Day along with 800 others including her dad.  (How is that for a run-on sentence?)

She did great!  She finished 314th over all and 15th in her age division.  So proud of her!  She is already planning her next 5K.  

 Her next one is in South Carolina and I am so glad.  I did not love FREEZING!

The Chief ran his first 5k in Bluffton, SC yesterday evening.  He RAN.  All of it.  Without stopping.  Unless you count the few seconds he stopped to tie his shoe. 

The kids and I cheered him across the finish line! 

The kids joined the festivities in their costumes. 

Our friends came to cheer him on!

I'm so proud of my husband.  Katie's next.  Who knows?  Maybe the running bug will bite me before it's over. 

Oh my, how serious it is. 

Thanks all who wished me a happy birthday (cards, emails, fb messages, lunch with friends, gifts)! I'm a blessed girl. I had a great birthday and an awesome year. 

We started celebrating last Thursday when Gracie, Emrie, and Judah surprised me with a little party after zumba with Katie.  We continued celebrating over the weekend when my mom and step-dad came for a visit.  The party was delivered to my mailbox Tuesday in the form of birthday cards.  More celebrating over lunch on Wednesday with a sweet friend.  Handwritten message from my favorite five today and lunch at the Japanese restaurant.  

Woot!  Woot!  That's how you celebrate 36.  ALL WEEK LONG.

God has been so good to me.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings! 

My birthday song, "God's Been Good to Me" by Crystal Lewis.

Chase the birds.

Eat the sand.

Take a nap.