a few of the things we learned in 2009

:: to climb alone


:: to bike alone


:: to drum


:: to read


:: to sew


:: to build


:: to build some more


:: to have some serious fun


:: to have some not-so-serious fun


:: to find fun in everything


:: to love exactly where we are and what we have

It was a year of firsts - first steps, first school year, first lost teeth. It was a year of endings - closing a business, leaving a band. It was also a year that we had our hearts stretched - the sadness of losing a dear cousin to cancer, the joy of adding a new brother-in-law to our family, the beauty of welcoming a Lithuania orphanage to our prayers and our fundraising efforts, the challenge of figuring out what could be holding back the littlest boy we love so much. But mostly it was a year of ordinary days held together by love. It doesn't get much better than that.

Happy new year!