Happy New Year 2009!!

My,oh,my.....another year has already begun!

Christmas was quite wonderful with a fine family reunion attached to it.

My long,lost big sister,Becky, came home for the first time in more than sixteen years!
David,Laura and me met her at RDU airport on Friday morning Dec. 26th.
We were all so "giddy" with excitement!!!!!
And praise and worship to The Lord who is so very faithfull.
Her flight was only delayed a very few minutes inspite of the snowy weather across much of the nation.

We drove her directly to Ma's townhouse where she stayed from Friday until Tuesday afternoon.
When we arrived...Ma' had Smithfield BBQ waiting...something one can not get in California!!
We all had lunch together.

Then she came to spend Tuesday and Wednesday { New Years Eve} with me and Do.

We had our big family celebration on Sunday at Ma's.
Laura and I bent over backwards to pull out all the stops!
I did the turkey,dressing, fresh cranberry sauce, veggie tray and Fresh apple cider.
Laura cooked EVERYTHING else under the sun!
We had Ma' do the greens...yummy.... turnip and collards and some Mrs. Smith's pies.
Laura made her pies.
She did good.
With Pansy's mom still being in the hospital for seven weeks....I only asked she and David to bring rolls,ice and soft drinks.
They had no clue what all we had cooked.
We were happy to surprise them.
Carol Hart came and joined us which was the icing on the cake....Becky being the cake!!
I was asked this time to Bless the food.
I was quite honored to do so!
I praised and thanked our God soveriegn for his love and blessings upon us so consistantly.
We joined hands.
It was quite special....I still can not belive that I did not cry.

Also, another special treat showed up by Joshua....
He told me about the surprise Xmas Eve while he and I were driving over to Davey's parents to celebrate with that side of the family.
{ it was very warm that day and night!}
Josh told me that he had invited Trooper Mark Smith to Ma's house Sunday.
And made me promise not to tell anyone except Do.

Trooper Smith was first on the scene after Ma's car accident on May 5th 2002.
She was hit head-on by a drunk driver who had been celebrating the mexican holiday of,"Sinco De Mayo."
Ironically, Trooper Smith is the very best at "crash reconstruction."
He has used Ma's accident in teaching since.
He states that it was as "straight head on" as one could ever get.
He understands,more than most, what an absolute miracle it is that she survived.
Trooper Smith was a tremendous blessing to Laura and me throughout the entire ordeal!
We came to both love and admire him.
Now that Joshua is in Law Enforcement in the same area he has gotten to know Mark and his wife, Cheryl, who is a magistrate.
Mark and Cheryl came and met with Ma'....she was so happy to meet him!
As she was quite "under it" at the scene nearly seven years ago.
They were able to give us details that we had wondered about for years.
I took their photo,but it came out quite blurred.
I had to wonder if it was just meant to be that way considering who they are!??!
It was an added blessing to have them there if even for a short time.
And even cooler that Josh has become a cop and gotten to be friends with them now.
Josh had considered going into BLET prior to Ma's accident,but going thru all that sort of decided for him.

Becky had a great time that day too!!!
We played "White Elephant" which has become a fun family tradition.
Ma' is not too good of a sport with it though......
Becky loved all the southern food that she has missed from living in San Francisco all these years.

Wednesday night...which was New Years Eve...we suspended our usual "Fiesta"with our neighbors and stayed home.
Laura spent the night too and we had a special celebration.
She was the designated driver,so I did have a few drinks.
Becky is heavily medicated from cancer { in remission} so she does not partake at all.
At one O'Clock a.m. we layed down in the living room,but would not go to sleep in fear of not being able to wake back up at 3:00 when needed.
We got Becky right up via alarm clock and left here at 3:15 a.m.
It was bitter cold!!!
Like 18 degrees F.
Traffic was light,ofcourse....mostly taxis on the highways. Which is very good!

We saw her off at 4:45 a.m. and made ourselves NOT CRY.
I gave her a very nice coat and gloves to take home with her.
Even the weather in San Francisco has changed somewhat of late.
She called when she got back home and all is well again.

I am very excited about Jonna being so very pregnant and expecting our grand-daughter very soon!!!
She and Josh and Kristy have done an awesome job on the nursery.
I have yet to begin here,but plan to.

The "empty nest" syndrome that Do and I are facing has turned out very differently than we had anticipated......
I suppose we went through some "anticipatory grief" and got it out of our system ahead of time because....trust me.....
THIS IS WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are loving it!
Ofcourse, it helps having Gabe stop by frequently and The J's so close down the road.
I am so excited about this new season in my life that I am planning to give away my dogz!
This is HUGE for me.
I believe God has changed my heart on this matter.
It's just that I want to be free to up and leave whenever I choose or The Lord chooses for me.
Also, I want to be more available to The J's to help with Ellie-Mae and/or Brook Anne.

I can honestly say that this is the most exciting new year that I have ever had so far......

The Lord continually reminds me that He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. ~Psalm 23~
Meaning that even though the world is in such crisis and there is much concern for provision ect. God will bless His people and the best is yet to come!