Happy 2010!

The last few days have been plagued with feeling under the weather. I started getting a sore throat on Monday, by Tuesday I was feeling pretty yucky and on Wednesday I was really feeling terrible. Achy, stuffy, sore throat, the whole nine yards. I try to take it easy, but I tend not to let the excuse of illness keep me down if I can help it. There were just far too many good things this week to allow my sickness to take them from me. Tuesday evening I met up with some friends from college in Lakeland. Our friend Kaci had flown in from San Francisco and us girls enjoyed some great sushi and catching up with one another. Kaci came back to Tampa with me and spent the night with us. She and I both laid around (not sure if we had the same bug or not) the entire day on Wednesday because neither of us were feeling well at all. Thankfully Elyse was a dream child that day by taking great naps and keeping herself thoroughly occupied playing with her toys. My friend Kaci said "It's almost as if she just knows we needed to rest." Whether Elyse really knew or not, I have no idea but I was thankful for her content spirit and restful demeanor none the less.
We had a wedding to go to about an hour out of town for New Year's Eve on Thursday and I wasn't sure I'd even feel up to it but Matt ensured I got a good nights rest and took care of Elyse until I got out of bed which wasn't until after 10am! I must have really needed the sleep and I felt so much better, still not 100% but definitely better and I was glad we would be able to go to the wedding after all. Unexpectedly my mom was sick and she was unable to babysit Elyse for us and I was amazed we were able to find another sitter at the last minute on a holiday like that, but we were. Our usual sitter happened to be available and came to the rescue. We even had another friend from small group offer as well but we had already secured the babysitter at that point. We are truly blessed with great friends and family and it really shows at times like that.

The wedding was nice and the New Year's Eve theme was very festive and cute. One of my favorite parts was an isle of sparklers they had the guests make. It was hard for us to photograph but I'm sure the professional shots came out wonderful for the newlyweds. We left the reception before midnight because we were pretty tired and wanted to get on the road before a lot of other parties ended so we were home just after the beginning of 2010.

New Year's has never been a big deal to me. I've never been one to like staying up super late or making resolutions that I may or may not be able to keep but whether I enjoy the holiday or not, another year has once again passed and I look forward to everything 2010 has in store for us. 2009 will be a tough year to beat, but I have yet to live a year that wasn't better than the one before. Sometimes the circumstances may have seemed better in the past or looking back things may have seemed more in my favor but as cheesy as it sounds each year I live, I laugh, I love, and I grow. Each year I do those things over and over but always a little differently than the year prior. This year my "living" has been filled with more passion and purpose and what I'm truly living for is defining me more and more. The "laughing" has been more often than not at myself as I establish my role as a mother and make my way in the kitchen. Elyse's laughter is a new part of our family and a new sound echoed in the walls of our home. She's still trying to figure out how to express that overflow of happiness and it's just so darn cute when she tries. The "loving" aspect could probably go unspoken. It's the indescribable love that can only come from having a child. Love has been redefined and has added such fullness to my life. Experiencing maternal love has blown me away but so has the new way I love my husband and the kind of love I feel in our marriage now that we have a family. It wasn't lacking before but our cup definitely runneth over now. Growing, ahh growing. It's something I often resist out of fear or insecurity but it tends to happen regardless which is a very good thing. Thanks to a wonderful church and great friends along with personal conviction and a God who searches, stretches, and leads me, I've experienced a tremendous amount of growth this past year. Once again it's been a very, very good year.

Happy 2010!