Good Riddance 2010

I can't say that all of 2010 has been a bad year because it hasn't.  We've had lots of great times throughout this year, but on the whole, it's been a year filled with losses and events I would have happily avoided.

Our family lost six members in 2010.  Our most recent loss was Bryan's grandmother who passed away this Tuesday.  Some of the losses were expected.  We knew Bryan's grandmother wasn't well and hadn't been so for a while now, so we can't say we were surprised or caught off guard by her passing.  However, it doesn't make it any less sad.  My children no longer have a living great grandparent.  Several of our losses were totally unexpected.  The loss that sticks out the most to me is that of my Aunt Florence.  If you had told me this time last year that she would no longer be with us I wouldn't have believed it.  Same goes for two of my uncles.

There were plenty of other unexpected things that cropped up in this past year that I think we could have done without.  I would have been happy to not have termites, but I suppose finding them before they could do any damage was probably a very good thing, even it if was a very costly discovery.

Despite all the losses and annoyances that have cropped up throughout this year, I'm not blind to all of the good that has come of this year.  Our children have been happy and healthy.  Ellie has hit some milestones like learning how to swim and read.  And Madeline has been doing plenty of things that make us proud.  She had her first straight A report card this year.  She also was chosen for the school safety patrol and chorus.  She even decided to be an altar server so she could be involved at our church.  It does my heart good to see that I've raised a child who wants to contribute to her community.

I'm hopeful that 2011 will be a year with less sadness and loss than this year has been.  I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year.  I pray that God will bless us and keep us all in the coming year.

Bring on 2011!