New Beginnings and A New Year

 

 

Baby Michael’s First Christmas

               

 

           Baby Hope’s First Christmas

Hope, Tesa, Jenna and Courtney.

 

 

It seems strange looking back when we have a New Year ahead of us with new beginnings. I haven’t had a lot of time to reflect on this past year, but one thing that stands out for me personally is what a Blessing my Family, and my Grandchildren are to me. Life and Family are precious treasures that I hold dearly. Friends are treasures I hold dearly also. I am so Blessed beyond measure. I have so much to be thankful for.

This past year I have been Blessed with two more of Grandma’s Little Angels as I like to call them. :)

Hope was born premature back in May, and with God’s Grace she has come a long way, and is doing just fine, and just had her first Christmas. Thank you for all who kept her, and us in your prayers for her safe arrival. God heard each and every prayer.

Baby Michael arrived not long after and experienced his first Christmas also. We as a family are so Blessed. Thank you for all who prayed for his safe arrival also.

I now have 5 Grandchildren. Time keeps ticking as the years come and go. Life goes on. We can look back and reflect, and then must move on, and look forward to a New Year and New Beginnings. I am reminded of Ecclesiastes 3 in the Bible, where it talks about “There is a time for everything under the sun.

 

As a New Year is upon us we hope for a Happy New Year filled with good things. We all have things we wish for ourselves, and those we hold dearly, friends and family.

The reality is that life is full of good things , and also many hardships, and even disappointments. It is filled with many Happy moments, and also sad moments and even losses. None of us know what is down the road on our Journey Of Life. None of us know what this year will bring but we have Hope for a bright future. In saying all of this I want to wish and pray that each and every one of you will have a Happy and Healthy New Year, and God’s strength, and endurance to get over the times when the road may be a  rough. Keep loving, sharing with friends, and family, and your neighbors, as well as new persons you will meet along your path. There may even be those you will need to forgive, and hopefully reconcile with. Life is too short not to show one another Grace.

I know this post is wordy and long. I haven’t been able to post as much but many of you remain in my thoughts, and prayers. Thank you for your friendship, prayers and support. I look forward to visiting you and your blogs when I can.

Love and Care

Dianne :)

 

I will leave a portion of Ecclesiastics 3 for those who may want to read it.

God Bless each and everyone who may stop by and those who leave their heart prints. Thank you.

Happy New Year !!!

 

…….. 

 

 

Ecclesiastes 3 (New International Version)

 

A Time for Everything

¹ There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

¹⁵ Whatever is has already been,
   and what will be has been before;
   and God will call the past to account.^[b]

Wishing You A Happy New Year

 

 

I didn’t go shopping on Boxing Day, but I did find a few Boxing Day Specials.

 

 

I got up early and went out with my camera and took a few shots. It has been awhile and it felt good to be out in the fresh morning air with camera in hand. I went to a friends house to check out her bird feeders. The birds slept in , but the squirrels were out and about, hustling, and bustling, gathering up some nuts for breakfast. They were fun to watch and photograph, as I swept the dust off my camera so to speak , and starting clicking away.

 

 

 

 

There were Black, and Grey Squirrels, and some in between. They never cease to amaze me, as I watched them running across this fence with barbwire on top, and it didn’t seem to hinder them at all. They are so sure footed as they run on almost anything, and jump from tree to tree, up and down and all around. I had so much fun watching them. Soon after a few birds flew in to see what was on the bird feeder menu. I will save them for another day, or maybe until next year. Ha! Which isn’t too far away. :)

 

 

 

 

 

I want to thank you all for your friendship, and all that you have added to my life through your wonderful and unique Blogs, this past year. Thank you for visiting my blog also, and leaving your comments, and kind words. Thank you for your love and support, and encouragement, and sharing.

I am not sure where this new year will take us or the world. We live in a fast moving world where things can change very quickly for the good, or the not so good. I am an Optimist at heart and I do look for God's Beauty in His Creation that surrounds me each and every day. I see the good, and I see the bad in this world, but I try to live my life by Faith, Hope and Love, and that is what I pray for each one of you, as we continue this journey of life. May we all embrace it, for life is precious and each one of you are Precious!

Have a wonderful and safe time as you celebrate the birth of the New Year. In closing I leave you with this little story called, "The Optimist".

 

The Optimist

The optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimists, the hole.

                                           Quote by: McLandburgh Wilson

 

Their is a story of identical twins. One was a hope-filled optimist." Everything is coming up roses!" he would say. The other twin was a sad and hopeless pessimist. He thought that Murphy, as in Murphy's Law, was an optimist. The worried parents of the boys brought them to the local psychologist.

He suggested to the parents a plan to balance the twins' personalities. "On their next birthday, put them in separate rooms to open their gifts. Give the pessimist the best toys you can afford, and give the optimist a box of manure." The parents followed these instructions and carefully observed the results.

When they peeked in on the pessimist, they heard him audibly complaining, " I don't like the color of this computer... I'll bet this calculator will break... I don't like the game... I know someone who's got a bigger toy car than this..."

Tiptoeing across the corridor, the parents peeked in and saw their little optimist gleefully throwing the manure up in the air. He was giggling, "You can't fool me! Where there is this much manure, there's got to be a pony!"

Source Unknown

 

I Hope this New Year is kind to you all!  May you have a Happy, and Healthy New Year, filled with many Blessings.

xx’s Dianne :)