happy new year!

2005 has been a difficult year. it has had its blessings too! i have grown a lot as a person and a Christian. the Lord has blessed me in many, many ways.

i made a mistake last january of taking a job that i hate. i had a bad feeling about it, and it proved to be a difficult job. i am a wimp. i don’t like to feel so helpless in difficult situations. i had a nice job before that. i like to work, but i just don’t like stupidity all around me that i can do nothing about. that is what this year has been to me. stupidity all around me and no one listens to reason.

i have to take calls from customers who are unhappy because service is so poor. they yell and scream, and these are problems that could have been prevented in the off season, but no one would listen. it wasn’t a problem then. i saw it coming and i dreaded it all year. and it came and it was worse than i ever imagined. we are just now coming out from under the backlog and troubles. this has cost the company a quarter million dollars to be so inefficient. i tried. i really tried. i saw it coming. i have been saying the same things ever since i started and i say it again and again. the president is my BIL and he hired me cuz he knew i could see through the problems, but then when i tell him what the problems are, he says no, that’s not it. well, now he believes me. and he if he doesn’t allow change next year, i will walk. BIL or no BIL. money or no money. yuk.

dau has had a pretty good year. last january she started to get to know a sweet guy. she had been snubbing him cuz he was goodlooking, smart, talented and he scared her. subconsciously i think she knew he could win her heart and that was dangerous. anyway, he won her heart and they started dating in the spring. he wants to marry her. but she has full ride scholarships and wants to finish her undergraduate education. his family will think she is a jerk if she doesn’t up and quit school and follow him wherever he goes next year, as he is older and moving on now. he is very, very good to her. she softened up toward him when she heard him talking of his faith. she then realized this guy was for real and wanted to talk to him, but she had spent months snubbing him, so how was she going to do that? i don’t know, but he made it happen. i really like him. he is sweet, talented, smart, funny, you name it. a dream come true. but he distracts dau from her studies and her room mate doesn’t like playing second fiddle to him. nor does her brother. i don’t mind. it is the natural course of things to move on, but my son is not liking it although he really, really likes the guy and wants to be just like him. he doesn’t like that dau pays attn to bf and not to her brother.

i think it will all work out as we all adjust. she has been gone from home 1 1/2 yrs now at college. we have not been around her for the “transformation” and how close she has gotten to bf. he has taken her to several weddings. he took her to one over Christmas break so that she came home later than most kids. she does not drink and bf used to a bit and saw nothing wrong with it. he knew she didn’t like it so he would not drink around her. they went to this wedding out of town and he would not drink with her there. he witnessed his friends getting drunk. dau was graceful about it, she didn’t say anything, but she was a bit uncomfortable. bf really disliked a drunk guy putting his arm around her and flirting w her. later as they drove away, he said he was disgusted and said he would never drink again whether she was there or not. then the couple they were staying with got them a motel room together. now they don’t sleep together and dau is very uncomfortable with this. they decided to be graceful about it and take the room, and they did ok. she told me cuz she knew i would understand but her roommate would never understand and would have a fit, as well as anyone else who found out about it. i am glad she can talk to me about this stuff. she knows she can tell me anything.

now they are coming home from a church camp for young ppl over the new year. i hope they had a nice time.

son has done well this year. last year he came into his own having his sister gone who he felt he was in the shadow of her accomplishments. he has accomplished his own things, and has even achieved a higher ACT score than she had, which no one thought was possible cuz hers was pretty high. silly boy. he took the test AGAIN, and it also was higher than hers. i think he wanted to prove to himself it was not a fluke, but i was worried it would be low and it would make him think it was a fluke that he got such a good score.

he has lots of girls who like him and lot of girls he likes. the one he has a crush on is not a good girl. she flirts with everyone and he avoids her. he likes her but he won’t date her because it would hurt him and he knows it. so he likes her from afar, and dislikes her a lot of the time too. but he said he can’t not like her. just shows the power girls have over guys. i hope he finds a nice girl. he does have several very nice girlfriends and i hope he eventually has a crush on someone like that. over the summer he had a crush on a very nice girl who went away to college. she talks incessantly and it drives everyone else nuts. but she liked son and he liked her back. he was just not at all going to pursue a relationship just yet. probably a very smart move for a soft hearted boy like mine. he will find a nice girl. i will pray and pray that he does.

i have been praying a lot about work and its difficulties and the Lord is blessing me amid the trials. i guess it had to get THIS bad before the boss would listen to reason. everything always works out, but not this year. the troubles could not be overcome because the preparations for the busy season were not taken seriously. they always think they will get by, but it didn’t happen this year. he kept saying we could not have prevented it, but a new person he hired as an advisor said, oh yes you could have. that is what i thought too. i like her. she has a lot of power in the company, and as long as she is on board i have hope. if she goes, i will be the lone ranger if i stick around.

hub’s job is a tough one, but he did well and he gets paid well. we bought a new washer dryer this year and it is now FUN to do laundry. we bought a van so we could go on trips as a family and take friends along. the kids have our van on this trip and took their cousins and two friends. 6 kids in the van. at least 3 of them are now over 20 yrs old so it is not so scary. it is a two day trip one way. the weather channel indicates weather is ok en route, so that is good. i just heard a beep to my cell phone. i wonder if that is a text message saying they are on their way now. i guess i will go check.

God Bless everyone! and I am SOOOOOOOOOOO welcoming the new year in! Good bye 2005. I thank you for what you taught me, but I am ready for 2006! Praise the Lord! He is SOOOOOOOOOOO good!

faith hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.