A look back. . .

to see where we were this year. Reflection is always a good thing for me this time of year.

We started the year recovering from Andy's big scare at the hospital - Thank God it turned out to be nothing! That all seems so far away now! And his health has been stable and great - except that arthritic hip, which needs replacement, but I'll touch on that more with tomorrow's looking forward post.J made it through third grade, had lots of fun, matured and grew like crazy and for the most part thrived. He provided so much joy! He loved deeply, lost a cat and gained a kitten.I struggled with fatigue, but learned a lot of humility through that, and resolved the health issues. And got to see God work a miracle there! And I'm feeling more energetic than every, again, more on that in tomorrow's post. I started and stopped studying for the bar exam - God had such better plans for us! I took on new challenges (Mary Kay business most notably! And I changed my look!

The economy was a big issue for everyone this year, and we are not an exception. Being in business for yourself is a challenge in times like these! We had a scare that our Public Defender work would dry up as the State of Montana began to make some cutbacks, but God is good to us, and blessed us with a continuation of that source of income. But the scare put us into a good reflective mode and we realized that we needed to make some changes. So, we've learned to cut back on expenses and be more self sufficient - everything from changing our own oil, to getting groceries for under $100 a week,to relying on firewood for more of our heating, to getting a whole wardrobe for under $25 at the thrift stores. This was great because it means we are coming out of 2009 in better financial shape than we entered. Still have some goals to accomplish, but feeling good about what we did accomplish.

But we still had time to play. We enjoyed the company of friends and family who came to visit.I practice my photography and even got a new camera. So much to learn both with the camera and with the computer after the pictures are downloaded!

It was a painful year in some ways, but it was a good year. God was faithful, and we are doing our best to be faithful to him.