Happy New Year!

Yes, it's been a few weeks but it's still January so I figure I have time to talk about our New Year's Eve celebration! For New Year's we had a nice dinner and we ate on my Grandma's china. I have never done this before (used the china, that is, I've eaten dinner many, many times before). We've had the china for years but it was in the garage in California. I finally have space for it in our new house and decided New Year's Eve was a perfect night to bring it out of hiding. It was fun. It felt very special. We had a great night. Thanks Grandma!

I think eating on china will be a New Year's Eve tradition (hopefully we'll use it other times, as well!) Our other New Year's Eve tradition is to list the top 10 events from the year before, the good, bad and otherwise. I did it in 2007 and here's 2008:
1. Ok, the first is obvious but to put it in writing...the birth of our 4th child - Jillian Esther Skelly - the best birth ever! (I love my kids equally but the actual birth - she wins)
2. Moving to Georgia because Andrew's job transferred him. Leaving California was horrible. I still miss everyone and everything from there.
3. Lots of traveling - a weekend in Big Bear playing in the snow and sledding (first time for the kids), Jocelyn's first trip to North Dakota (where Grandma grew up) for her Great Aunt Esther's funeral, our trip across the country where we saw the Grand Canyon and family and friends we haven't seen in years, and finally our recent Christmas trip to NC, Pennsylvania, Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Our kids visited 8 new states this year, and I have now been in 44 of our 50 states!
4. Moving into our first home! Jason has asked to be in a house with two floors since he learned to talk, and we really just needed to get out of our teeny tiny rental back in Orange County. There's lots of work to be done (anyone like to paint?) but we really do love our house (if only we could take it with us and move somewhere else like NC or back to CA?)
5. New addictions for the family - Cable TV and Webkinz on the computer. Personally I watch too much Food Network and Andrew plays Webkinz too much. The kids have really improved their computer skills and having DVR on the TV means we avoid most commercials so it's not all bad :)
6. Bed Rest. This top ten event really mixes with the others as it became a big part of moving and leaving everyone and adjusting to our new home. I had to leave the safety of a world that took care of me for an unknown world here in Georgia where I knew no one!

7. First year of school for Jason...sort of. We're officially homeschooling Jason for kindergarten. We had a private school picked out in California where he would be at school only 3 days a week, what we saw as the best of both worlds, but life changed and here we are in Georgia with him home mostly full-time. We do attend one-day a week enrichment classes with other homeschoolers but otherwise we're all home together and I love it!
8. Our 1st Thanksgiving Hosting. Who thought it would be a good idea for me to host Thanksgiving at our house for Andrew's family when I had a newborn? I did :) It was fun, we ate a pretty good meal, and we were all together. I might even be willing to do it again, and maybe next time I'll remember to set the table, use a tablecloth, napkins, the nice dishes...

9. We added 2 nieces, Zemenay and Lydia, totalling 17 nieces and nephews for Andrew and me.

10. And finally, we learned that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He's the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. We found a great church here in Georgia and realized it's just an extension of the church body we knew and loved in California! Whether we're in California or Georgia, He is the same.