Out With the Old, In With the New

Well, it's finally here.  Happy New Year everyone! 2010 sure came fast!  I can't believe another year has pass and gone.  Here's a recap of how the Lord has worked in our lives in 2009.

January - Tim turns 28.  Arinda trying to keep morning sickness at bay.  Natty takes her first trip to Disneyland.

February - Arinda turns 26, and feeling fabulous to be expecting another baby.  Our family takes trips 2nd, 3rd, and 4th to Disneyland.  Kudos for their get in free on your birthday promotion and park hopper tickets.

March - We find out we're expecting our first son!  His name would be Nathan Joel.  We place an offer on our 1st house.  And our offer is accepted!  We're going to be homeowners!

April - Signing paperwork away.

May - The house didn't work out.  We had to back out of our offer.  We move across the street to rent another year.  We also find out that we are going to have a niece!  Yay for Matt and Maggie!

June - Arinda watches her first full set of 8th graders graduate.  This was the first year she had her students as both 7tha nd 8th graders.

July - Welcome to the world, Nathan Joel Fanning.  After being told he'd be early, Nathan decided to teach us all a little patience and came just about 2 weeks overdue!  Arinda went in to be induced, fining out she was in labor, and Nathan came later that afternoon.

August - Loving our family of 4!

September - Tim and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary.  Arinda goes back to work from maternity leave, starting her 4th year of teachimg - all 8th graders.

October - Finally getting the hang of having 2 kiddos, feeling more confident about going out. 

November - Natty has her first dentist appointment.  Our princess turns 2!!!  We celebrate with a Curious George themed party in her honor.

December - Nathan gets to celebrate his 1st Christmas!  Tim finds out he will be teaching his 1st college-level class!

As you can see, our year was full of ups and downs.  One thing remains confident, and that is the fact that our God never leaves us, nor forsakes us.  Through everything we've been through this year, we know God is with us, watching over us, and strengthening us.  We are stronger followers of Christ because of 2009.  While unknown, I can't wait to see what 2010 brings for our family.  Here are some of my goals:

• Get a nice chunk of our bills paid off.
• Save up for a downpayment for a house.  (Goal is 10%)
• Be consistent with putting money into the kids' saving accounts.
• Start my Bible study earlier on in the week, so I'm able to learn as much as I can.
• Stick to our budget.
• Help Natty with her potty training
• Stay withint our $600 budget for groceries, food, and diapers.
• Help Natty finish learning the rest of her alphabets

Basically, I want to be a good steward of all the Lord's given our family.   I want to offer our time, money, and resources to helping others.  I want to be a godly example to my children.  I want to make God my priority.

I am not much into making resolutions.  I do want to reflect on what I didn't accomplish or areas I could have done better in, commit them to the Lord, and fix them.

Happy New Year 2010 everyone!

I know ours is off to a great start!