Better Late Than Never!

We had so much fun hosting some of the volunteers for Art With Heart over for a Christmas party. This was their sweet table (don't know why I didn't take a pic of the food table). I think the kids enjoyed everything though and it was great to have them over!

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

Above is my St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake that I made tonight thanks to a recipe I found on www.tidymom.net - love her blog! We've lived in the St. Louis for over 4 years now and until we moved here, I had never had this delicious dessert! Sooooo good! Try it for yourself!

http://tidymom.net/2011/ooey-gooey-goodness/

Saying Good-bye to the Old and Hello to the New

A new year, time for new goals, new dreams, new challenges, and new changes.

We've had a difficult time the last 4 1/2 years at this assignment. During the time we have spent here, Stephen has been "deployed" (stateside though!) for 6 1/2 months, had approx. 12 months of TDY's all together, spent a year remote in Korea, and has changed jobs at Scott AFB. We've also lost both of his amazing grandparents and just said good-bye to his mother the day after Christmas. Hannah was on 8 different meds or med combos before find the "right one", she's had 2 different jobs, and made it through 3 miserable high school years here. Megan has had 3 jobs, survived lots of high school drama, and went through a friend losing a brother much too young. I have been lonely here - probably the loneliest I've ever felt - as I went though the motions of setting up a home, dealing with my husband being gone, teaching the girls how to drive by myself, working through Hannah's medical issues and a scare with Megan, and losing such dear people. It wasn't quite what we were prepared for coming here. It's been a few rough years for our family, but I can honestly say we are looking forward to 2011.

We are blessed that Stephen is currently home (and it looks like it will remain that way!), Hannah is in her second year of college and is doing great with her medicine, and Megan just graduated early and starts community college in a few weeks. We have new goals and expectations for each of us this year: (1) to find a church home that we all enjoy worshiping at, (2) to watch Hannah finish up her associates and figure out what she wants next, (3) to see Megan start into college on her own in the fall, (4) trying to sell our house this spring and figure out what will be next for us - will Stephen retire from the USAF or will we take another move? We have so many new things to figure out and challenges to overcome, but we are looking forward to what this year will bring.



Happy 2011 everyone! I hope that the year brings you just what you are looking forward to as well!