This has replaced the coffee maker.

And this has replaced most all of my meals.

Today is January 2nd.

Bethany's birthday.

Today, we would be celebrating her sixth birthday.

She is never far from our thoughts.

She is always in our hearts.

We've healed, but we will never stop missing her.

She is as much a part of us, as if she were here with us.

But, today, I will miss her more and she will be

in my thoughts and on my heart more.  I will

think of what could've been, what I wished would've been.

I will remind myself that God's plans are not our plans.

I will be sad. I will remember. 

I will remember holding the beautiful, sleeping little girl that

I miss so much my heart hurts.  I will remember the heartbreak

that our family endured. I will remember it all.  But,

I will thank the Lord that

He has been with us, comforting us, healing us, leading us.

I will thank Him that he has never left us.  I will thank Him that

we have hope of seeing our sweet little one again someday.

I always remember that.  It is what has gotten me here.

It is what we cling to. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Happy New Year

To

Friends and Family.

Praying it's a blessed

year for us all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We were all up late last night, so hoping everyone sleeps in a bit this morning.

Pizza and wings for snacks.

Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve on TV all night.

Lots of family time, laughing and just having fun.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When we moved into our house, it was actually divided into two apartments.  One upstairs, one downstairs w/ a side entrance for the downstairs.

The upstairs used the front entrance.  In order for that to work, the previous owners had to cover, board over 3 doorways in the front hall, so that it

wasn't accesible from the downstairs.  First thing we did when we moved in was open two of the doorways....the one leading from our bedroom to the front hall and the one connecting the front

hall to the downstairs living room....But, the doorway connecting the front hall to the dining room needed a bit more work, as they had paneled over the doorway on the dining room side.

So this project was put on the "little bit later" list......Ever since we moved in, I always felt like the front hall seemed cut off from the rest of the house...it just seemed like closed in space....

Well, one day a month or so ago, Jake was nice enough to tackle the project for me...While I do miss the extra space in the dining room for the buffet, I like having the doorway open, it makes the house feel more connected....it gives a certain flow to the rooms, ties them all together....

Here are the before and after pics:

Before:

 (standing just inside the front door, looking into the front hall)

After:

Before:

(From the dining room side of the wall)

The door was behind the buffet, right next to the other door in the pic.

After:

(Excuse the messy dining room.....we still have to trim the doorway up,

since I'm sure they removed the trim in order to make it flush w/the wall

when they covered it up.

 One of my favorite days of the week.....

next to Sunday, of course. 

 Everyone's home early tonight,

so we get to sit down together to a family meal

and then relax for the evening....

Pork chops, mashed potatoes, muffins and corn....

then maybe catch up on our two episodes of Last Man Standing.....

it's also the night that the younger 3 get to stay up as late as they want...

sadly, they always outlast both Bob and I.

Cleaning on tap for today..........

Looks like another beautiful weekend weather-wise.....

lots of sunshine.....

awesome!!!!

~ this is a pic of my view when I'm sitting at the computer

desk....it's our front porch and yard.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I love this pic.~

Even though you can't see all of that pretty face,

you can see her smile.

Just by looking at her eyes.

Love it!!!!

Just ask my kiddos and they'll tell you I am incapable of making decisions.

Give me too many choices and uh-oh, we're in trouble.

For most of my life I've been drinking my coffee black.

No cream. No sugar.

Lately, I've fallen in love w/ all the different flavors out there.

Currently, we have all these flavors of coffee creamers.

Do you have any idea how long it takes me to decide

which one to put in my first cup of the morning????

I do have to say that it all started w/ the little blue cups.

They are just your typical French vanilla flavor,

also known as Nikki's creamer. Because she has never taken her coffee black

and has always used that brand, that flavor in her coffee.

So, then I decided to add the hazelnut creamer, because I love hazelnut, of course..

Well, the other day, we went looking for the

Pumpkin Spice Creamer because I've had one too many

bad cups of pumpkin coffee from the coffee places this season.

4 grocery stores later (it ended up being at the smallest

little grocery store in town)

and these are what we ended up with. 

We actually bought 2 of the pumpkin ones