A lot of people were filled with hope yesterday as the new president was sworn into office.

I too did a lot of hoping, here is what I hope for:

I hope he can really do what he says he can

I hope he can create jobs without driving us further into debt

I hope he can lower taxes while increasing services.

I hope he can create jobs out of thin air, while taxing small businesses into closing.

I hope he can pull people out of poverty, without driving the middle class into it.

I hope he can ask all his billionaire movie star friends to give up their second and third houses to help fun his programs, and not put it on the shoulders of the middle class.

I hope the United States of America is ready for socialism.
(and here)
(and here)

I hope we don’t become like Canada, Australia or Europe

I hope those bail outs work.

I hope God forgives us for electing a man who will kill a baby, (and here) because they aren’t wanted.

I hope we all still “cling to our guns and religion” and that we are allowed to do it.

I hope his presidency doesn’t become one big Human (Black) rights rally, like his inauguration was.

I hope he doesn’t make us become a society of entitlement. The Constitution only guarantees us a right to pursue happiness, not happiness and houses and cars and Wii’s.

Hope for Change…..

I am a creature of habit and routines. I like to do the things I do the same way all the time every time. Not that I won’t ever try something different, that can be so fun, I just have to think it through for a while and once it is all thought out in my mind can I comfortably try it.

Because of this little OCD quirk of mine Christmas time is a little hard for me. I enjoy Christmas, but the whole month of December I feel a little off, and life around my house just doesn’t run as smoothly and it stresses me out! When January rolls around I am so happy to be done with Christmas, I have no feelings of sadness when the tree comes down and the decorations are put away.

I know…ba-humbug!

This Christmas season was especially bad, when Dadzoo fell and injured himself he threw a wrench, or two or three into my well planed out Christmas. I now had a 300 pound man to take care of! I never before realised how much he does around this house and how much he helps me until he could do nothing. (For an update on his progress and a report on the Orthopedic appointment go here)

Christmas went on pretty much as usual, I did the big dinner on Christmas Eve (Dadzoo ate on the couch) and I laid out all of Santa’s gifts (even putting together a doll cradle as best I could, until a medicated bedridden Dadzoo had to take over). As much as I tried to keep things as normal and traditional as possible, it just wasn’t possible, poor Dadzoo slept through most of the festivities and I was so busy keeping everything together I never really had time to enjoy anything.

That being said I have learned so many things. I have come to learn and feel of the kindness of others. I have a wonderful community of friends around me who dropped everything to help out, whether it be a ride to the doctors, taking care of my kids when I needed it or shoveling me out of the drive way at 6:30 am (another post for another day!). I am go grateful for the wonderful people that the Lord had surrounded me with, they have truly been my angels on earth.

I am happily anticipating this new year. Dadzoo is slowly on the mend, we will have a long year ahead of us regarding his recovery, but at least he doesn’t need surgery (at this point anyway) and his company is going to let him work from home for another week, so we won’t have to go without a paycheck, and Dadzoo will get the rest he needs.

I am looking forward to a new year, with new goals, new plans and a new way of doing things. We are going to be healthier, happier, more self sufficient, less debt and closer to God in 2009. After a rocky end to 2008 I am excited for 2009!

The month of December has been a really hard one for me. I love Thanksgiving, it is one of my favorite holidays, and for some reason this year there was a little bit of a let down once it was over. I haven’t been able to get into the whole Christmas thing. We have the tree up and decorations spread about, there is a closet full of gifts neatly tucked away. All the preparations are done and I am going through the motions of a Merry Christmas season, but my heart hasn’t been in it.

I occurred to me last week and I was looking out my window at the dead plants and leafless trees that I was restless for a change. I love the changing of the seasons, there is always something new to look at and to anticipate. I love Spring time when the wind is warm and soft and there is always something new popping out of the ground. I love Summertime when there is a new flower blooming or a new veggie just coming into season, and there is nothing like a warm summer night. I love the cool days and frosty nights of fall, the smell of the harvest and warm soup for dinner. I love the cosy winter nights, when the world is covered in a blanket of sparking snow and we are all tucked inside nice and warm.

This year it seems that fall slipped into winter, the frosty night turned into cold days and all the leaves fell from the trees and lay on brown dead grass.

I needed a change, something concrete to usher in the cosy winter time.

Then finally Monday night I got my wish and we woke up to this:

On this Thanksgiving Day

I am thankful for: