Catching up

Lately it seems so easy for weeks or months to go by before posting anything. I guess it's best to just start somewhere. So here we go...

In January I celebrated my 30th Birthday! I have been looking forward to this with excitement and enthusiasm. My life is good for being 30. I have many things to be thankful for. I love the Lord, I have a fabulous husband who gently and humbly leads our family and loves me, I have two beautiful healthy children, I have a college education, I have good health, I have a loving family, I have many friends, and I have so much more. What more could a person want when they turn 30? I am so thoroughly and sincerely happy. God has been good to me.

I took a trip to New York with some friends for my friend, Beth's 40th Birthday recently! And that was without the children. I had been anxious for month's about leaving my 9 month old nursing daughter for 4 days with daddy. I was anxious that things would still be ok if I was gone from the family. The great news is that everyone did fine! I had a wonderful time seeing as much of New York that you could possibly see in 4 days! But this trip deserves a post all of its own, so I will write more another time.

On my drive home from the airport, I got the news that my Grandpa Ray passed away. It was a strange feeling to be coming home from such an exciting trip and reuniting with my family to receive such sad news. Maybe that's why it really didn't hit me until I drove into Trout Lake and realized that there will be no more visits to Grandpa's house when I visit. And while you always count on your grandparents dying at some point because they are old and none of us will live forever, this still came as a shock. My Grandpa was in great health for his age, but a tree fell on his house and they say he died of a heart attack. I will miss many things about him, the gleam in his eye, the contagious laugh, the teasing and the visits. I am so glad that he was able to live a long and full life.

The last bit of news I share with joy. Jeb and I have been working so hard since July of 2007 on paying off my student loans. The great news is that this past week I made my last and final payment on my loan!!! It took 22 months for us to pay off the last $17,000. But we are done! We achieved this goal and it deserves to be celebrated! It was a lot of hard work and we finally made it! It gives me a lot of satisfaction to achieve a goal! Now we are so close to being debt free all thanks to Dave Ramsey and his plans!