New Year, New Decade, Remembering!

These days, I am more aware of the passing of time. Perhaps it's because I am moving into the last phase of my life. That's not a bad thing and I totally embrace it! I'll be 59 in 2010 and I plan to make the most of what time God will give me.

But I would like to first look back over 2009. This past year has turned out to be very eventful in many ways.

~I had my first cruise and spent time in the Cayman Islands and Cozumel. Awesome!

~I spent add'l time in Florida after the cruise due to my sister's diagnosis of Colon Cancer. Thankfully God has blessed her with healing.

~Walt and Annie celebrated their 1 year anniversary.

~In May, I decided I wanted to start running and thanks to the encouragement of many, especially Amanda, I signed up for a 5K to be held in August. Lot's of work to do before then but I'm finding that I really like it! The running that is.

~At the end of June, Mike and I took off for Florida to celebrate my sister and her hubby's 50th wedding anniversary. We traveled a lot of back roads. Specifically the Blue Ridge Parkway. We camped a couple nights, enjoyed a lot of sight-seeing and made it to FL in plenty of time to enjoy the family and the big party. Walt and Annie got to come as did all my nieces and nephews. It was a great time!

~In August I ran my race and achieved my time goal of under 45 min. Not bad for a beginner.

~Fall was relatively uneventful. We spent Thanksgiving with my Aunt Rosie and her family.

Christmas was spent at home with Mike's sis/hubby and some good friends.

Got re-acquainted with some old friends and ended relationships with others.

The past decade brought changes I could never imagine, both good, bad, wonderfully amazing and ugly!

At the beginning of 2000, I was working as a nurse.

* Mom gets diagnosed with Alzheimers just before 2000. In fact, this decade brought the worst of her disease. It was hard to see her failing but when she peacefully passed in July 2001, we were thankful she was no longer suffering.

*I bought my first home in many years and fully expected to stay there the rest of my life, but God had other plans when in 2003, I met Mike Swope and in 2005, we were married. After being a divorced, single parent for 20 years, God finally brought the man He chose for me into my life. We'll celebrate our 5th anniversary in 2010!

*In Jan. 2006, I lost my dad after his struggle with Parkinsons and dementia. He also passed peacefully. My sister and I were blessed to be with both parents when they passed.

*In the summer of 2007, my son went to TX for 5 weeks to run a Wyldlife Camp for Young Life and there he met the young woman who would become his wife. In my heart, I just knew....without a doubt....that he would meet his love there. What a blessing! They married in April 2008 in Fort Worth and they live in San Antonio where Walt is a Lead Creative for Apple and Annie works with Young Life as a leader, co-ordinating 3 high schools in the South Side of SA.

*In May 2008, I ended may nursing career after 25 years. Though I'm not old enough (yet) to get retirement income, I'm blessed that Mike and I live very well on his income from the US Postal Service. I have absolutely LOVED being a homemaker, being able to volunteer at our church library, being a Stampin'UP! demonstrator, being able to cultivate new and old friendships and grow in my love and knowledge of my Lord.

2010? Who knows what it will bring!

I have a long weekend trip to San Antonio coming up in about 3 weeks. I cannot wait to get my hands on my kids!

Mike and I also have a BIG trip planned to celebrate our 5th year of marriage....we plan to take a River Cruise thru the South of France in October. Yes it's a long way off, but that gives us plenty of time to save some extra $$ for all the extra stuff we want to do while there!

We pray for our family and friends....for good health and continued job security. We thank all those who pray for us and keep us close as friends.

I know this is looooong post, but I just felt I wanted to share this with you.

Happy New Year and God Bless You!