cheers!

Let's pretend this is our little family toasting the new year.  In reality, Noble insisted upon toasting our Sammyversary (oh, that's right--you don't know.  Noble decided that HE should get to name this house, and we couldn't get him to understand that we didn't TRY to name the last one "the little green house," it just happened.  So he thought for about .5 milliseconds and said, "Sammy.  The house's name is Sammy."  So now when we say, "let's go home," or "...something about the new house..," Noble will say, "You should just say, 'Sammy.'"  Sigh.)

Anywho, we moved in on November 2.  So Noble has deemed the 2nd of every month our Sammyversary.  We toasted with root beer, I think, on December 2nd, and this month we got fancy with the sparkling apple juice we never drank last New Year's Eve.  So, a toast, to Sammy.


And also, a toast to a year that's off to a great start.  In the past two months, we've had more company than we had in the last year or more at our old house.  We've had friends and family over for meals, and Kayci had two sleepovers during the break.   One of the things we were most excited about when we thought about moving:  a bigger dining room, with a table to seat more than just our family comfortably.  And we've got it--our friends with 5 kids came over one night, and it was such a blessing to all sit at the same table (we didn't even have to add any of the extra chairs!).  I love--we love--having company, and it's wonderful to have places for people to BE.  We had over 20 for Thanksgiving, and the weather was gorgeous so we had seating outside.  There are no pictures of that day, apparently, or many of the other days since we've moved in...neither James nor I have taken many pictures.  I don't know if it's because we're too busy or too busy living in the moment...I suspect more of the former but we'd like to think it's the latter.  :)

So here's to Sammy.  And to 2015.  And to living intentionally, and joyfully, in close fellowship with each other and the people we love.  Cheers!