Happy New Year!

Well, this is my first post of and we've just returned from our whirlwind trips across Missouri! :) It's sooooooooooooo good to be back home after almost a week! The funeral went 'well' and then we had a nice time hanging out with Steve's parents and two brothers in Branson. Then we spent New Year's Eve with Steve's cousin, MariNelle and her husband and four children. It was a delightful time to see them again after about 2 1/2 years! We had a great time seeing so many people over the past week, from Steve's extended family at the funeral to his brother David being back home from Puerto Rico. It was great to see everyone! But, it was a lot of time spent on the road and we're glad to be home and ready for a bit of rest and relaxation!

Brennan enjoyed attending the OneThing Conference and The Call at Bartle Hall here in KC while we were gone. He was able to go with our old youth group from Iowa and it was a great experience for him, and a wonderful way to 'ring in the New Year' by going deeper in his relationship with the Lord and spending the New Year in prayer for our nation! He loved it and was pretty 'psyched' when we met up with him again today! We missed him so much and were glad for our 'family reunion' tonight, though! Thankfully, we were able to access some of the conference via internet, but it wasn't the same. We definitely plan to be there next year, too!

The boys have tomorrow off from school yet, so we're looking forward to sleeping in and having a nice, relaxing day together before they head back to school.

Happy New Year everyone! May God richly bless you all in