So 2011, really...

As Charles Dickens started "A tale of two cities" :  "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,..., it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair" pretty much sums up 2011 for us our most difficult year following on 2007/2008 when the twins were small and sick.

The worst of times certainly were the 9 weeks with Lucy on sick leave, the realization that Little man L had serious issues and the incredible lack of sleep. Work issues for both Hunter and I and the high cholesterol shock I had.

In between sits the journey towards getting him back on track, the rough but encouraging ride. The changing of eating plans and cholesterol medication. The operation to the Princess to alter those very dominant ears into the "normal".

The best of times was the realization that in Little man L's reports back from school and the OT that we are seeing a small miracle in action.His eventual potty training. The absolute blossoming of Little man C in school and the Princess' incredible year in grade R. Reaching that magical 4 cholesterol count in December and having an incredible holiday - amazed at the progress in ease of camping that a year makes. The prospect of a course for Hunter and a good project for me lightens the load.

2012 is for us a year of hope - a year of looking forward and progressing onwards.  Looking back on my phrase for 2011 - "Light as a feather on the breath of God" certainly is a shock, because I was anything but light. The year was heavy, and staying light was simply too much. But this year will be filled with hope, every day. With the grace of God.

Here's wishing you all the very best for 2012 - may God bless you beyond your expectations. May God fill our hearts with hope and love.

Original source unknown

Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

So that was 2010.

Happy New Year to you all! Yes, we completely missed out on Christmas on this blog and I do hope that you all had a wonderful Christ feast. We certainly did. And that is why we missed out on it here - because we were busy with our whirlwind holiday/Christmas/ family visit. But more about that later.

Looking back on this year it's been another busy, but good one. We are thankful that we are all healthy and happy and that we can look forward to another year ahead.

• The princess left us astounded with a fast pace of growing up happening all the time. She has been a total joy to us.
• The boys have very little baby left in them - they are sturdy busy little boys, learning new things all the time. Well, mainly busy. And more busy. And then some business....
• The puppies, although 9 and 8 and a half years old are still fit and strong and being the wonderful dogs they have always been.
• Hunter had a very busy year at work and studying. He is continuing with his field guiding and helping out with the rhino anti-poaching project.
• I had an extremely busy work year with two headache projects. I temporarily gave up horse riding (although that might change again ;-) ) and have taken up a new hobby, mosaic. I did not keep up with my project 365 photos (but starting again tomorrow and am going to try and publish a catch up) and did not finish my 36 books for the year, although I came close.

As per usual I am not going to even try and do New Years resolutions, but one thing is certain - de-cluttering the house and general house items will get priority in the next year.

Tonight, we are celebrating with Hunter's old friends in Port Elizabeth and I am looking forward to seeing them all. Tomorrow we start our journey back home after heaps of adventure and traveling this holiday.

So, until 2011 here's wishing you all God's light and love.

Resolutions.

As per usual, I do not get myself into many resolutions for the new year. I do however want to resolve one and only one item: I want to live more this year, enjoy more, get past the daily runt of things. Look past the fact that we have basically just been surviving the last 2 years, getting through the daily grind of twins (and more).

As for blogging I have some housekeeping to do. And I want to try and take one picture every day, and publish it in order to force myself to learn as much as possible about my new camera. Maybe not on the same day, but shortly after. I am not going to make a separate blog for that, but will just publish them here.

I did however make my Book blog target for the year - in terms of reading, not in terms of publishing my progress, but I intend to catch up still. I made it to 39 books for the year, 3 more than my target of 36 (3 books per month). I am keeping that same target for 2010.

So without further ado:
Photo 1/365:

Post Christmas sticker heaven.
Photo 2/365:

His new favorite seat.
Photo 3/365:

On top of daddy's truck, Buks.

So it's 2010!

Happy New Year!

At this moment (about 2:15 in the afternoon) all is quiet in the home. Hunter and I have already woken up from a nice nap and the little ones and Ouma and Oupa are all still napping. We had a quiet braai at home last night and only Hunter and I stayed up, lounging in front of the TV until the fat lady sang in 2010 (ok, it was Bette Middler, beautiful and gorgeous on the British Royal Performance show. My, if only I could look like that at her age!). We had plans to go to a party at friends, we had a willing babysitting team here in the form of Oupa and Ouma, but Little man L was just not himself and we decided to stay. Turns out he was not sick - just had a bit of constipation. But that's ok - we will have parties again, we will have late nights out. Right now, this is our life - and just what we wanted.

So from my family to yours, may your year be blessed beyond words. My wishes for you this year is the faith of Abraham, the faithfulness of Ruth, the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon, the tenacity of Paul, the humility of Mary and the love of Jesus. Enjoy the ride!

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May God bless you and keep you safe in 2009 and may the best of 2008 lack far behind the worse of 2009.

And just to make you all so very jealous - (I am pre-posting this for tomorrow morning),here we are this morning on the beach - it was a perfect textbook beach day, one which you do not often find in this part of the coast - sunny, not too hot and almost no wind. We had a great morning on the beach.

Tonight we will be celebrating the new year with a party at the home of one of H's old friends here in Port Elizabeth - the first time since 2003/2004 that we are able to attend a new year's celebration - thanks to grandparents that will babysit for us.


Our little sunshelter to the right of the picture.

Our little family enjoying the beach.