So, maybe it’s just January again.

Maybe it’s the winter storm that doesn’t seem to end.

Maybe I really did take the Christmas tree down too early. But I feel a little blah.

2013 was a big year for us.

The fire in March…nobody was hurt but without heat we were displaced for a month or so…thanks Mom and Dad for putting us up…and putting up with us.

Selling our home of 13 years and buying a new house.

Mom and dad moving in.

Isaiah started high school

Eli’s last year in school.

Hard to top that.

I watched Star wars all 6 episodes.  What took me so long? Love it…love Yoda and the Return of the Jedi…all about redemption.

Work went from mundane, boring and mind-numbing to anything but and super busy.  I like the activity. I like the break from it as well.

Did not lose the weight I had hoped to get rid of.  Still bite my fingernails.  And do not go to bed on time.  It’s the going to bed on time that is the hardest. It’s the time I finally get a minute to myself.  Everyone is in their places.  And I have silence and time to chew on my thoughts, think over my day…it’s worth the sleepiness I suffer in the a.m.

January will come and go…it always does.  February is such a short month and by March we begin to feel the beginning of warmer temperatures. The days are lasting longer.  Little buds push their way up through the cold and snow to remind us that change is coming.  Change we count on.  The shedding of our winter skin for the lighter, more comfortable spring and summer attire.  No more bundling.  Just slip on the sandals. No more  hats and coats and boots or emergency snow gear in the trunk. Replaced instead with tennis rackets, soccer balls, beach tools and fold up camping chairs.  Time to prepare for campfires, fire flies and burnt marshmallows.

But those days are in the distance 72 days away.  And today I have the gift of winter and snow and cold temperatures.  I have the blessing of boots and gloves and a coat.  I have the gift of two teenage boys who keep the driveway plowed and the sidewalks shoveled and even built me a snowman one day…just because I asked.

Today I have the long drive in white out conditions on slippery roads.  The temptation that I give in all too often to call other drivers “idiot” for not turning on their headlights or for passing me going way too fast.  Today I have the burden and gift of a season that will not last forever.  Shorter days but they are getting longer.  Colder temps. but they won’t last forever.  Sparkling snow that looks like diamonds dancing across the lawn.

January or June…spring showers or snow showers….in the blinding snow of winter storms or the darkening sky of summer storms one thing remains the same, one thing doesn’t change. One thing does not require me to adjust, or adapt to a new normal.  And that is God’s unending, undeniable,love and compassion for me.