2015, the stomach flu and a charm bracelet

I love new things.  New calendars, new list of goals, new journals, new books, new reading goals.  I think you get the picture!  I especially am enjoying them this year because I am ready to put 2015 behind us.  It was a hard  growing year for us.

One of my friends shared that we often yearn for the mountain tops but valleys have lots of growth in them and are often very beautiful.  I did see lots of growth and many blessings in 2015 and I am sure I will see more and more as the years go on.

7 years ago we were headed home from a family vacation from the happiest place on earth- WDW.  I came down with the mother of all stomach bugs.  We left Valdosta, GA about 6 AM Eastern Time and  my frequent stops to gas station and rest area bathrooms began about an hour later.  It was a rainy day.  I remember because we couldn't roll down the windows and my poor family that was in the back, well, bless their hearts.

We did watch a movie called Hoodwinked on our trip.  There was a scene in the movie where a mountain goat knew an avalanche was coming and he wasn't prepared.  Kaitlin and Marisa could tell when I was about to have a shall we say a 'reversal of fortune' and to each other they would say 'There is an avalanche coming and we are not prepared!!!!'   Long story short- I went thru all my clothes, clean and not clean and we had to stop at a motel in Tupelo, MS and my sweet family took my yuck clothes to a laundry mat and washed them while I was in a bed.

When we recall this trip we laugh the hardest about the trip home.  When our trip popped up on my Timehop app showing what we were doing 7 years ago I just smiled and thought about 2015.  I am sure that soon we will be laughing about all that went on there too.

A new day/ year/ beginnings are coming!

Below are some of our Christmas ornaments.  Some are older than I am.  My friend, Cindy, said that when she decorates her tree it is like looking at a charm bracelet.  You recall all the memories and that is so true!!!  Some of the ornaments below cost .25 cents and were ordered from an offer on the back of a Frosted Flakes box in 1951.

Some of the ornaments we bought in 2015 and I am sure that we will look back and think of all that we learned and see all the ways we have grown.   

I am so thankful for my church family, my friends, and my God that doesn't change. Ever.

Hello 2016!