New Beginnings.

My word for 2016, was health.  I started out the year with the determination to improve my health and to work on healthy relationships. I had no idea the journey I was about to take.

I started by working on my health. The last 3 years had taken a huge toll on my health. Starting in February I made some lifestyle changes and lost a good bit of weight. But the more weight I lost the worse  I felt. In October I made the decision to see a holistic Dr for my health. There is a God story behind this one too. A divine appointment in  where  God showed me that he was in this too.
I learned just how much damage, the stress and the way I handle it, had done to my body. Thanks to a whole body health approach I am feeling so much better.

Along with managing my stress, I am working through some complex relationships in my life. I put up some pretty strong boundaries during our tumultous journey through Bubbie's journey. Now that we are strong again and as my health improved, we are working finding a healthy balance in those relationships.  I discovered that is hard work, especially when one is supposed to keep the stress level down.

There has been a lot of healing in the past year. A lot of positive changes. I feel like I am getting the old me back, but maybe stronger and wiser then ever.

As a symbol of the changes in my life, I went to get my hair cut. Strange I know. But I only get my hair done once a year or so, so this is kind of a big deal. Through connections of a friend, I found this hair salon called New Beginnings. There is a long story about this, that involves lost keys, missed appointments but divine appointments that only God could orchestrate. I got my hair cut,  and I was incredibly blessed by people who care. Once again I was blown away by how God works out things. I have been gifted a year's worth of free hair cuts..

God cares about us. He knows the stress I have endured and the damage it has done. He knew the right Holistic Dr for my health, a Dr that worked with my finances to make sure I could get the help I needed. He knew the lifestyle changes I had to make to get healthy. He led me in the direction I needed. He has then gone abundantly above what I could imagine and also blessed me with the hair care that I need. (this is something I would never spend a lot of money on) I am excited to see what God has in 2017 for us!

Now for the lamb story. This is the God given wrap up to my 2017 story.
 It's a long story. But we have trying to get a lamb for Lee. We had a bit of run around. The night before Christmas eve, the farmer stopped by with a weak, cold, tiny, baby lamb for us. We took that little lamby and put it in a box with a heat pad. We attempted to used  a syringe to dribble warm, sugary milk into its mouth. It was not interested. It could not hold up it's head. It was so weak and frail. I truly did not think it would live. I was kinda frustrated and not in the mood to deal with this. But felt like God had something in this for us.
 A couple hours of warming the lamb, we gave it some honey on our fingers. That seemed to strengthen it a bit. By bedtime we were able to get up to 3 oz into it's mouth. It was still weak and we had to hold it's head up to get it to drink. We got up once during the night to feed it. It looked so much better already. By morning it was standing up. We had hope. She was a fighter.Tonight she is running around my house.
 There is something so incredible special about a baby lamb at Christmas. she loves the kids already and follows them around. It seems fitting that this lamb, a Christmas miracle would represent my year.
God is giving us new memories, new life, new beginnings. I am looking forward to what God is going to do in the next year.

We are making of a bucket list/dream big list for the next 6 years until the kids are adults.
take a week long trip to Florida
take a trip to Romania
take a long trip to explore the West
have each kiddoe continue building their own business
take a mission trip to a 3rd world country