Happy New Year!

It is the last day of 2008. I think we all will welcome 2009 with open arms and a hope that this coming year will bring more peace and prosperity than 2008. Trae and I have found that the holidays are the most difficult time to be away from our family. We have met some truly wonderful people in our travels. And here in Oakdale, we have grown particularly close to several families. We appreciate how they have opened their homes and hearts to us to make us feel a little less removed from home. These special families range from young families with several kids to a middle aged couple with kids our age. I hope that these families know how much Trae and I enjoy spending time with them. But, even with the hospitality we have experienced on the West coast, there really is no place like home, especially during a holidays. I am not talking just Christmas and Thanksgiving. It hit us last year on Easter. Our families are crazy, unpredictable, unbelievable, insane, wonderful, perfect, frustrating, and all ours. We absolutely love our families. All the craziness and all the greatness they bring to our lives. I think we are home bodies. Home bodies who love vacations and traveling and adventures.
Well enough venting and wishing I was somewhere else. Something God has shown me this trip out here is that there are too many moments that I let slip by not doing what I should be and not loving and appreciating every moment, memorable or ordinary. That is my New Year's Resolution I guess (which I never really have gotten into), to be in each moment, with my whole self, and my whole heart. To be a positive light and personality to those I am fortunate enough to meet and be around.
Well, I do have good news, I got interviews at both UAB and UMC OT schools!!! YAY!!! Please remember me in January and February, this is when the interviews to my future take place. A special thanks and shout out goes to those in the application process: Darci, Ginger, Ginny, Peg, Denise and of course Trae and my family. Trae is working A LOT, even some night shifts. Which is "good" for us but sad that we don't get to travel as much as we did last year. Bella is doing great. She is loving getting to sleep at night with me and during the day with Trae. She misses the snow though!