New Year

"Delight yourself in the LORD who gives you the desires of your heart." ~Psalm 37:4 This is my New Year's resolution. Well, the spiritual one. For me, it starts with being thankful to God and recognizing what He is giving me.

     Looking back at this crazy year that began with Robert losing his leg and continued with us nearly losing our daughter-in-law and grandchild to HELP Syndrome, we have much to be thankful for. Most recently, we have had fun times with our sweet family, our grandchild's first Christmas, our youngest son's 3.9 GPA, our oldest son joining him and sacrificing vacation time to work on the ranch, preparing to join Sacred Heart Catholic Church, witnessing the union of five generations as my grandma met her great-great granddaughter, and so much more. This year we also celebrated 25 years of marriage. 

     Additionally, we have parents who love us (probably too much at times); we work with great people; we are able to exercise our gifts in both of our workplaces (teacher and rancher); and we have friends who truly love us and miss us when these things keep us apart for long. What more could we ask for? Nothing but to be given opportunities to return the blessings and to delight in God.

     Yet, we still have our normal human struggles and trials- mostly just wanting to sleep through the night despite the ranch dogs barking or to have just one day when we don't have to clean up some kind of animal feces or vomit- BUT it could be worse. (Back from the rabbit trail...) In short, to delight oneself in the Lord begins with recognizing Him in the gifts of those He places in our lives- first of all, our spouse, then our immediate family and closest friends. A wise person recently told us, "You know, you and Christie will find that very often in your life, you'll be the only ones there for eachother. Kids grow up and leave and have their own family, parents age, friends move or come and go, and the same for extended family; but you two will always be there for one another. That's just the way it works." Thank God for that.