I love New Year’s Day 🙂 It feels like fresh fallen snow without a single footprint in it. Everything is new, untouched, and just waiting for me to come walk through it.

Its probably also one of the few days where my pessimism disappears (yeah, I tend to see the cup half empty, God is working on that lol). Instead of looking on the New Year with dread, I look at all the possibilities. What’s going to happen this year? My dreams all come to the forefront and I wonder if this will be the year for them. I’m a little girl, standing on the back porch with an entire yard of fresh fallen snow and I want to be the first one to put my footprint in it.

Looking back at other New Years, I know I could never have anticipated what God did that year:

1999: Three weeks in, Dan asked me to marry him 🙂

2002: A couple weeks into this year, Dan and I found out we were going to be parents for the first time… and he was only halfway through Seminary!

2005: Only a few short days before this year ended I had an ultrasound that showed two little blips on the screen. Yep, twins.

2006: The Shattering as I call this period of our lives. Dan lost his job and thus begun a long dark journey for us as God shattered us and began to mold us into people he could use.

2008: God gives and God takes away, blessed be his name! Thankfully for us, God chose to let our son Caleb live. For anyone who knows the little guy, he is a ray of sunshine wherever he goes 🙂

2010: A couple weeks in, God showed us he wanted us to move to Indiana (nope, never saw that coming in a million years lol).

So what will 2011 bring? In many ways, I am grateful I cannot see the future. I would not want to see the bad things (death, job loss) because I would be overcome with worry and depression. And honestly, I would not want to see the good things (publishing contract, surprise trip to Europe ;)) because that would be all I would focus on. No, God is wise in not letting us see what is before us. Instead, we see the possibilities, then look up at our Heavenly Father and know that whatever comes, he will be there right beside us, holding our hand.

So bring on 2011 and have a Happy New Year everyone!