From Old to New

The annual journey from the old year to the new has occurred and we are all feeling fresh, invigorated by new beginnings, the chance to reorganize life's priorities and throw out a lot of 'stuff' that has accumulated over the 'old' year and been replaced by all those extraordinary boxing day sales.
Okay, so we aren't throwing out a lot of stuff, but it is a theme in North America around this time of year. have you noticed the heaps and heaps of things at the curb come garbage day? (like the 'old' exercise equipment -still in package,tables, kids toys, mirrors, artwork, etc) I find it amusing and suddenly i'm inspired to go door to door with the idea of Freecycle for all these folks who received new things while the old still had many years of life left.
I have been further amused by another custom we hold to in Canada.....while glancing through the adds in this weeks paper, i noticed a trend: organizers. bins. storage sales. Every major store was having a storage/organizer sale!! (which is awesome because i love organizers and bins and making my house look like it has some order to it......one day one day...haha)
So the cycle will always continue i suppose: buy stuff, use stuff, get new stuff, need new stuff to organize old stuff and new stuff. (the repetition was not due to poor grammar skills, although i do have poor grammar skills, it was more for emphasis) :) haha.

Ah, the last Christmas party of the season. Mama Naus held a family reunion at her home complete with relatives, food and chatting. We left early to prepare for the adventure of a weekend away! yipppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Saturday morning we left as soon as possible for Brampton, and our journey was enjoyable. Around noon we arrived at our friends' home where warm fellowship, good food, and much spoiling-of-the-naus' was awaiting us.
The kids are so so soooooooooooooooo adorable....unfortunately i didn't get any snapshots of Jacob, the latest addition to the family! arg, silly me. i didn't take a lot of pics of the weekend, but we had a lovely time, and you will just have to believe me even with the lack of picture-proof.Micah is hilarious. janet says he has a mischievous streak, and you can almost see the sly twinkle in his eye while he sips his hot chocolate here (pic above). Below, Micah sports his new 'crown' as Julia looks on, "Queen Micah" she says. hmmm...we'll have to work on titles...

Our days and nights included: talking, tea, games, kids, games, kids, food, church, friends, rain, kids, tea, really good ice wine, games, kids, staying up until 2 am playing Scotland yard and Catan, visiting the Clarke's ( they are so so fun), and driving home listening to Mark Driscoll talk about the Gospel of John.

Great weekend. THANK YOU J AND P for opening your home to us!!!!!!!!!!! It is wonderful to spend time with you and your lovely family!

love from the four of us.