Goodbye 2009

We are home alone tonight, just Rob and me. Robert is at work and the other two are at his church for the lock-in with the youth. He fixed us a good, simple meal and we ate a quiet dinner together in the kitchen with a small candle and cleaned up together. This is how life will be in just not that much longer.

Then as we cleaned up the last things he took me in his arms and said a few things about 2009 and then asked me to blow out the candle with him. I said goodbye to 2009.

2009 has brought us bills and more bills (many I can't figure out how to pay) but God also brought us our own home (a major miracle and a first for us). It has brought us a job Rob is not the most thrilled with, but on the other hand God brought us a job that provides a roof over our head when he lost his job and could have been without work. It brought us difficult work situations, but then it also brought us the joy of helping kids. It has brought us lots of blessings for our classrooms through family, friends, and strangers who gave to our classroom projects online. It has brought hard times, good times, sorrow, hurt, and joy. But God has been in it all.

God is more than a year on a calendar and He has blessed me oh so much more than I deserve.

Goodbye 2009. Thank you God for all You've done for us, for how You've been with us in it all, and always have in our whole lives, for the good times to rejoice and the bad times to grow. Thank You for another year to be alive and live for You.