Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEARS! MAY YOU ALL EXPERIENCE THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN A VERY REAL AND PERSONAL WAY THIS YEAR AS YOU SERVE HIM AND CONTINUE TO GROW TO LOVE HIM WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART.

That is truly my goal this year ~ to become more and more Christlike every moment of every day ~ to truly love Him with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength. I am so full of myself and thoughts about me, that it breaks my heart when I realize how little of my life I truly spend being with or even thinking about the Lord. I know that some of the things I'm doing (most I hope) are things He has called me to do, but if I let those things keep me from worshipping at the feet of my Father, then I am letting the enemy of God win the battle. So, Father, in the midst of the daily things of life, teach me to keep my focus on You. In some things that is easier to do than others, but I want to glorify You in all that I do, say, think and dream. Help me to seek FIRST Your Kingdom, and let You worry about the rest.

In that vein...

I got my schoolwork back yesterday from the last workshop, and I only missed 1 1/2 questions! That calls for some serious praising the Lord! So, I just have to turn in those corrections, do my two worksheets, build a perineal model, and write all of my protocols before March ~ sounds doable! And then, I'm done with the academic portion of my schooling. I just have to get those clinical hours in, and they are coming. I am up to 5 personal clients (under supervision of course) and I so love working with them. They are all wonderful mamas, and I am so excited to be able to help them have the best pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum possible! Please pray with me that I would be continually seeking to grow in wisdom from the Lord regarding their care, and that I would also grow in knowledge and the instruction of those God has placed over me ~ Molly and Kim are the best!

We have spent the last 2 days getting the boys room all put together with their new beds. We found a bunk bed with a trundle AND storage drawers so all 3 are in one unit. Then we also rearranged their whole room making sure there was a place for everything that needs to go in their room. Everyone worked so hard, but the results are worth every second! It looks wonderful. I don't have any pictures yet, but I'll try to get some taken tomorrow and posted so you can all see it. At least the 3 of you who actually read my blog :-)! Interestingly enough, getting the boys room cleaned up wasn't on my list of things to do, so I better go put it there so I can cross it off!

We rang in the New Year by learning a new card game. Molly came over and taught us to play NERTS ~ I have no idea if that is how you really spell it, but that is how you say it! Another Jonathan funny here ~

• When Miss Molly delivers a baby, does she raise her hands in the air and shout NERTS?

He asked that after she left and I haven't had the opportunity to share that with her yet, but she will definitely get a good laugh out of that one! After she left, the kids settled in to watch a movie (it wasn't quite midnight yet), and Robert and I headed for bed. That makes me feel really old to know that I was going to bed before the New Year came in! Anyway, we had gotten in bed, and the dogs started barking. Neither one of them makes a habit of that, so we got up to see what was going on, and there was a full-grown, beautiful mastiff dog on our back porch! My guess is she got spooked at all the fireworks going off at midnight, and took off from wherever home was. We weren't sure what to do with her, but put her in the pen with food and water with plans to find her home this morning. But, after eating a good meal, she decided sometime in the night to plow her way through the fence and go back home. She was so sweet, and we are all sorry not to know where she came from, but it made for an interesting and unique New Years story for us!

Blessings to you~
k_ranae