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As another year draws to a close, so many thoughts and feelings rush at me.  Another year has passed.  Am I any different than I was this time last year?  Am I any more patient?  How is my walk with God, my trust in Him?  Deeper, firmer, stronger?

In so many ways I have simply treaded water.  In other ways I have grown tired and at times lazy and felt life rush by as I sat on the sidelines. I started and failed to complete Bible in 90 days...twice...this year.  I lost weight and was roughly five pounds from my goal, then gained from Thanksgiving until now 😢.  I have had plenty...and I mean plenty...of opportunities to practice patience (my word for 2014) and I still stumbled, griped, snapped, and complained most of yesterday when asked to wait.  *sigh*

But you know what?  Today dawned.  His mercy is fresh and new and an entire 24 hours stretches before me.  I look back to learn from my mistakes, but then I strive forward today.  A fresh new calendar year begins tomorrow, I am excited.  I talked to my husband and he helped me pick a word to steer my focus for 2015.  Frugal.  I got a book called 7 by Jen Hatmaker and am ready to flip my calendar over tomorrow morning.  May God bless each of you, may He prepare your heart for what He has for you, may this be your very best year yet!

Oh My

I read Peace Like A river, oh my word, but that was a beautiful book.  I cried like a baby at the end of it.  This story delighted my heart, an epic journey of faith tested and tried.  Oh my, you have to read this!!  Speaking of books, my family and I picked up a copy of The Green Ember and are about to embark on the journey later today.  We also have a game of Clue and/or Monopoly scheduled today, still decked out in our jammies, cinnamon rolls in our tummies, mug of pipin' hot decaf at my elbow...ahhhhh bliss.  Shabbat Shalom!

My hot cocoa recipe

I have tried several different things, but I think this one's my favorite...

1 cup milk heated VERY hot
2 level teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I've tried Hershey's and Tollhouse, loved them both)
1 generous squirt of vanilla syrup (you can find in the coffee aisle of most grocery stores)
2 TBSP coffee mate coffee creamer
Sugar/sweeten to taste

Heat up your milk (I pop mine in the microwave).  While it's getting nice and hot, combine cocoa and vanilla syrup with enough water to make it liquidy (add water slowly, too much is not good).  When milk is hot, stir well, add in cocoa mixture, creamer and sweeten to taste...YUMMY.  Oh and I have used cool whip instead of creamer, whatever you have on hand.

Things we have done

Sometimes our days can be unpredictable, sometimes the weeks whir past and I forget what we did to try to make the time special...

We love, love, love read alouds and audio books in our house.  Sometimes we want something quiet to do while we listen...so we made goo, gak, play dough, and cut out cookies this past month.
My two favorite recipes (these are NOT my original):
1) gak...equal parts glue (regular white school glue, the glittery glue didn't work as well), liquid starch (you find this down the laundry aisle), and a couple of squirts of food color.  Such fun!!
2) And I found a cream cheese based sugar cookie recipe that was really, really good.  We made dinosaurs, teddy bears, ducks etc; with our cut outs.  Sooooo good.

Our favorite audio book from this past month?  Riddle of the Prairie Bride,  an American Girl stand alone mystery through history.  The author is Kathryn Reiss.  It was a fantastic audio book.  We are currently listening to the Rebecca series, also American Girl, sooo good.

We visited a science museum, played at the park, went on a loooooooong walk in a quest for hot chocolate, had friends over for Thanksgiving, oh and I almost forgot made our own finger paint.

I hope you guys are having an amazing holiday season!'