"I think joy and sweetness and affection are a spiritual path. We're here to know God, to love and serve God, and to be blown away by the beauty and miracle of nature. You just have to get rid of so much baggage to be light enough to dance, to sing, to play. You don't have time to carry grudges; you don't have time to cling to the need to be right.
- author Anne Lamott, in a recent interview. (Source: The Washington Times)"
— Anne Lamott



Lamentations 3:22-24
The unfailing love of the LORD never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!"



"You are called to learn God's truth and pass it on."
~Denny




Wishing you a year full of sweetness and beauty and mercies and truth.

Love
Donna

Tonight we enter a New Year.

Can you see the hands of the clock whirring around?

I can. Clear as day.

Here are some of my favorite moments from 2009...




January saw Katie dancing.




April. Picture taking.







The cold snowy winter departed and spring arrived.
Spring is a favorite moment.




Our one chance for a Christmas picture came in June when we were all together for Bridget and Dan's wedding.






Matthew smiled.




The Glyman kids are all together again after a 10 long years for the wedding of Wes and Steph.





Cindy's visits to Wisconsin were a blast.




Playing four square was a big hit over the summer.
Everyone who came to visit got to play four square with us.




August took us to the Ranch to meet Ree and her family.









Katie's first visit to Lambeau field was very cool.






What can I say. My haircut was a highlight.




In November I dashed off to Arizona for Ashley and Joe's wedding.



And a very special photoshoot.





And when I look back on December of 2009 I will think of snow.
Lots of snow and when "I dropped my basket",
driving in said snow.


It's been a wonderful year.

I have a heart full of gratefulness.

Thank you for being here with me and sending me so much love and encouragement
in the comments.

As our Katie says,

Love you like a friend!

Donna

To tell the truth or not to tell the truth.
That is the blogging question.

I started reading the book Eat, Pray and Love last night.
One of the first thing the author says is tell the truth...tell the truth...

Well, yes, that is always good.

But I noticed she does not tell ALL of the truth.

And perhaps that is the way to do it.

If you are going to speak about a subject.
Tell the truth. And if you have decided NOT to speak
on a subject. Don't speak.

This is the way I have written this blog over the years. I have been truthful,
but I also keep some hurts and pains and stories to myself.

It's a matter of respect for others.





Joe Fox: It wasn't... personal.
Kathleen Kelly: What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn't personal to you. But it was personal to me. It's *personal* to a lot of people. And what's so wrong with being personal, anyway?
Joe Fox: Uh, nothing.
Kathleen Kelly: Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.



It is tricky to tell the truth about your life while leaving out big chunks.

It's like a good parts version of the story and that's not always the most 'real' way to communicate,
but it's what works for me.

Maybe when I am old and cranky, I won't care what anyone thinks and I will tell it all.
But I don't think I will be blogging then.
I'm starting to run out of things to talk about as I finish up year six of blogging.

I've been talking for a long time.

We have so much in common, we both love soup and snow peas, we love the outdoors, and talking and not talking. We could not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about.

from Best in Show




Encourage one another,
Donna

In passing, Patrick mentioned that he likes those knit hats with the brims.
In my innocence, I thought they were dorky.

I told Emma, your dad wants one of those dorky hats.

She said they are not dorky. She bought one for a friend of hers.
It is snowboard-y cool.

Oh. Okay.

So we searched around of a knit hat with a visor.

We found one at PacSun.

Emma tried them on and well....she put them on a little different than a 50 year old would put it on.
Back wards and sideways, baybee.

That's the cool way to wear this hat.


So Christmas morning Patrick opened his hip snowboarders hat.

He put it on like a 50 something.

The girls showed their dad the right way to wear the hat.





Here is Katie's take on the subject.










I think the kids have it right on this one....

I love that second look :o)




Encourage one another,
Donna

Patrick and I went to see It's Complicated on Saturday.
We both enjoyed it even tho we had to sit in the middle of the row and were stuck like sardines without
popcorn. But the movie was funny.

I had lots of advice for Meryl's character but my husband says if she followed my advice
there would be no movie.

So there you go.


I liked Julie and Julia better, I think, when it comes down to my favorite movies of the year.

I made Emma watch Ice Castles with me on Christmas. The Ice Castles from 1979.
You know. The one with Robby Benson.

Oh how I loved that movie and I actually think it held up well.
Except that Lexie sometimes looks blind before she goes blind.
But other than that....

Great movie from my past.

Do you remember Ice Castles?


*****

I'm waiting for the cable guy this morning and then we are heading over to the Luke House for lunch.
The girls are coming with me. They like to serve. Hope we have a big group that feels welcome.
We serve the same meal every month. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
Rib sticking.
Katie's favorite job is taking the desserts around.

I guess I need to think of a meal for dinner. You can only eat left overs for so long.
I could eat them forever. I don't mind left overs at all.
But I'm not alone here.

So perhaps some chicken or steak bites...

Do you get tired of making dinner?

I think Christmas Eve day took more out of me than I realize.




Aging.

It's not for the weak.


Happy Monday after Christmas!
Hope you are rested and well and happy as clams!


Encourage one another,
Donna

This is THE Christmas shot this year.

(It's especially sweet to me because Emma mentioned the night before,
"Katie watches me all the time. No matter what I am doing she just sits and watches me.
And she watches you too.")

Was Emma subtly telling me to stop screaming at cars?

I don't know if she was or wasn't....but I'm kind of, sort of convicted.





For Christmas, Katie let me take a few pictures.

I may be all natural light.

But the wind is a different story.




Katie got a cute pair of red earrings. A little while earlier she pointed to her left ear and said, "This one kind of hurts."
So I took a peek at the earring and saw she had caught an extra piece of skin!

"Oh NO!", I cringed.

"Emma can you fix Katie's earring?"

I could not bear looking at it.

So glad Emma was home to help.




Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/2.0
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 1000


This is my favorite edit.

This Eye Candy action is called Film Camera. I love it.


***


Anybody go to see It's Complicated yesterday???

I'm sure we will see it this weekend. Perhaps today. Yeah. Today.
It looks so great!!!




I sure hope you are safe and warm and with the ones you love today.


Encourage one another,
Donna