The last photos of 2009

Bring it on!

I've been trying to think of what to write on my blog during these last minutes of 2009. Much has happened this year, so there is much to write about. However, I think I'm going to sum it all up in this way: 2009 began with vomit (not mine) on my bare legs, while still in bed. 2009 is ending with a long, hot, relaxing shower (and this blog post). This past year has been full of some great times and some tough tough times for me personally. I have to say that this has been the toughest and most taxing year of my life. I am blessed and grateful for my family, whom I love more deeply than I think I can even understand. And I am ready to move forward with my family in this new year, which is only one hour away.

So here's to a clean fresh start for 2010! May it bring peace, joy, blessings, love, health and happiness to all!

God Bless ~ Colleen

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas! We are trying to have the best Christmas possible, despite being a little "under-the-weather." Happy Birthday to Jesus, and God Bless us everyone!

Beautiful Kelly turned ONE today!

Pizza and cupcakes!



Kelly's totally awesome cupcake poster!



Kelly the day before her big day.


Kelly braving the elements!

Amazing sunset after the storm passed!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

The Ladinos were out in full force for the first big snowfall!

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.

He grew up in still another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30.

Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book.

He never held an office.

He never married or owned a home.

He didn’t go to college.

He never put his foot inside a big city.

He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born.

He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness.

He had no credentials by today’s standards.

He was only 33 when public opinion turned against him.

His friends ran away.

He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial.

He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.

While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth.

When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race, the leader of mankind’s progress.

All the armies that ever marched,

All the navies that ever sailed,

All the parliaments that ever sat,

All the kings that ever reigned,

put together,

Have not affected the life of man upon earth as much as that…One Solitary Life

James Allen Francis