Out with the Old, In with the New!

Happy New Year everyone!
The Hope family had a great Christmas, and have really enjoyed sharing our time together. I was completely blessed to have Sean home for such a long time over the holidays...he was off from mid October to mid November due to an injury, and then just stayed off until our birthdays in December while waiting to start a new job. Most people would have considered the loss in pay (short term disability is only 70% pay) and the weeks without any pay at all (a two week span between jobs) a real worry, especially only a few weeks before Christmas...but for me and Sean and Chase, it was a real treasure to have the family together for this time---God is such an amazing vacation planner, isn't he!
We've enjoyed laying in Chase's new Big bed, reading him stories from the Bible before bed...and just talking to him about what those stories mean to him and to us. Prayers while cuddling with your little boy are the BEST!!! (of course, he's learned to s-t-r-e-t-c-h out his bedtime routine by asking for each of us to read him a story seperately, HA!)
This past year was such a gift-the gift of family! I can't wait to put all these memories in the "precious" category, and make way for a whole new set of memories in 2011!

Our memory verse for CV HISKIDS this month is fitting for my own views of 2011.

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

I didn't put that exclamation point here, it was already there in the Bible. How exciting to know that we should be eager to go into the world, to face our challenges with JOY, because we have the promise of Christ's protection to help us!! Prayers for all of my readers (few or many, I have no idea!) that you can all embrace the 'vacation' that God has planned for you this year! :)