Happy New Year! *fireworks, champagne, and general merriment*

I actually made it to midnight to watch the ball drop and kiss my honey, which I definitely did not do last year with a five month-old.

This past week I worked so between the working, the children raising, the wife-ing, and the home-making, I am pooped! But, there is something so invigorating about new years. Turning the page and starting afresh (and all the cliché things) is incredibly freeing, don't you think?

Do you make new year's resolutions? I am always on the fence about making them. Do I set general goals? Do I make grand plans only to be disappointed if I don't check every box off my list? Still on the fence.

But this year, in lieu of resolutions, I have decided to pray.

Pray more, pray more often, pray longer, pray unceasingly. At the end of the day, my relationship with the Lord is only as fruitful as I am willing to lean on Him completely. I need to spend more time just sitting with him in the silence and letting Him speak to my heart. I don't know what that will look like yet, but I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me this year.

And on a more practical to-do this year -- I hope to yell less. *nervous laughter*

We spent Christmas at home. The new hive. OUR home. Waking up Christmas morning, celebrating the coming of Jesus as a wee babe, and spending the day soaking in Christmas beginnings with my family was, without a doubt, the best Christmas gift I've ever received.

We gave the kids a few gifts and ate a few Christmas goodies (maybe more than a few). Paul and I did not exchange gifts because we decided the house would be our Christmas gift to one another -- for the next 30 years (am I right?).

But before I bore you with a slew of Christmasy photos, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who has read this blog and supported me in my writing. It means more than you know.