Happy New Year!!

The birthday boy and his dinosaur cake

I hope that everyone had a good holiday season. Mine was great. I went over to Texas and spent the week before Christmas with my sister Devon and her family. I got to be there for my nephew's fourth birthday party which was blast. He wanted a dinosaur party so me and my sister's made him a pretty cool dinosaur cake and my sister rented a jumping castle which the kids loved.

Eli in the jumping castle

The twins and their Christmas crafts

Lindsey and Matt were going to his family's in Laurel, MS for Christmas so I hitched a ride with them and  then my mom came and picked me up from there. It was a long drive, but it wasn't too bad. Eli stayed entertained by watching his favorite movie (Cars) over and over and Lindsey and Matt had just bought a minivan, so we were riding in style :-).
On Christmas Eve, my parents, my grandma, Matt's mom, and his brother and wife came over for dinner. It was my first time doing a big Christmas dinner on my own (though mom did come over and help me stuff the turkey and get it in the oven). Everything turned out good and I managed not to burn anything, so it was a success. Then we spent Christmas day going to church, then out to Matt's dad's, and then finished off the day at my parents' house.
I can't believe that the holiday season is over and it is already 2012. Time is flying by. We got to ring in the new year with Matt and Lindsey who came to visit for a few days, but I have to admit, we were in bed  before 10:30pm (had to get up early to run :-)). Looking back on 2011, it really was a good year. While it had its struggles, more memorable were its triumphs. The biggest thing that sticks out to me when reflecting on the past year is how faithful God has been. He always provided what I needed exactly when I needed it, even though His timing didn't always seem to make sense to me. It's pretty cool to be able to look back on things and see how God was orchestrating things and creating the bigger picture. So often we go through things that we don't understand until we look back on it and see God's purposes for it, whether it be to teach us something or to carry out His plan for us,which is so much better than any plans we can come up with. It's a tough lesson to learn, but this year I'd like to grow in my faith so that I can trust Him in every situation that He is doing what's best for me. I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store and I'm excited about the adventures that it will bring
Speaking of adventures, the next one coming up is my marathon in two weeks. Me and my mom are running in the Houston Marathon on the 15th. Training has been going well and I've been feeling good so I'm excited to see how it goes.