Happy New Year!

As the title implies... Happy New Year!

Our new year's plans changed the day before due to some issues that came up for the hosts of the party we had positively RSVP'd. That being said, we definitely had a better time with our kids than had we gone to said party.

My wife and I looked back on last night and felt like we had made some positive family memories for our kids. We took them to Chuck E. Cheese - not my idea of the way to spend part of New Year's Eve, but good with the kids. We invited our single mom neighbor and her three kids to join us - that was a great opportunity to hang out with them more; and her three kids get along with our three! We ate bad pizza, drank too much soda, and played video games to our heart's content. Then we went home, let our oldest child invite her friend (who was with us at Chuck E.'s) to sleep over, put in a video for the kids, put in a DVD for ourselves, and then went down to watch the ball drop with the kiddies. It was fun.

To top it off, my son and I went to a prayer breakfast at church together this morning. What was shocking was that even though he had been up til after midnight, he was up at 6:45 am, got dressed, and came in to wake me up. We had a great time. He was the youngest their, and I think the older men were really encouraged by his presence. What kept me so happy myself was the knowledge that this little guy wanted to be there, and be there with me. It was a longer than expected gathering. But we got to share at our tables, pray for one another, and then pray as a large group for everything from our families, our congregation, the community in which we worship, as well as the U.S. and the nations. We sang some hymns following breakfast, and we closed by saying together the Apostle's Creed and singing the Lord's Prayer.

Needless to say, I got home exhausted. But I was encouraged to go crash not too long after getting home, and instead, wrote an entry in the new journal my wife bought me for Christmas. It was good, and I hope to get back into the passion of regular journaling and reading of Scripture together. It was a good start to a new year.

I hope your "new year" is off to a good start. God's richest blessings in Christ!