ANOTHER YEAR OF BLESSINGS

Another year of God's blessings has gone by, quickly, and I am now a year older.  Yup, I had a birthday this past week.  Hubby and I went all out in our celebration this year, and we went to Fleet Farm!  Be still my heart...... ha ha ha.

I really did receive some wonderful gifts.  Daughter Kari gave me the cutest Christmas tree ornament....a pair of tiny tiny mittens.....

Aren't they sweet?  I love them!  And hubby came through with a charm for my Pandora bracelet that we've been building with charms that remind us of places we've traveled.  He got the palm trees that remind us of our time in San Diego.

This picture is kind of dark and the palms are hard to make out.  The piece right in the middle of the charm is a tiny gold coconut.  Maybe you'd like to see the whole bracelet? 

Let's see if I can tell you about each charm.  The green colored beads remind me of the color of sea glass that I love to discover along the ocean.  The red with hearts is the first bead I got for Valentines Day.  The rest, from left to right, probably not easy to make out, are:  my favorite green, a Snowman for my Dec birthday, a horsehead for time spent in Texas, a multi colored turquoise and coral for Arizona, a spacer, another green, another spacer, a Bible because that contains my eternal life, another spacer, a suitcase for my love of travel, another spacer, another green, another spacer, the red with hearts, a fish for my love of Alaska and fresh fish from the cold waters up there, a sea shell for Florida, my new palm trees and another green.  Next I want the cute little Viking guy.......he will stand for New Foundland, the landing spot of Leif Eriksson, the Viking explorer.  The silver beads all look black on this photo......believe me, they aren't!  Very poor lighting and photo.  I'll try again sometime!

And I received a wonderful surprise gift that came from Amazon.  Some wonderful son of mine who lives in Alaska, and who was home recently and apparently did not like my kitchen knives, sent me this!

I still can't believe it!  My very own Wusthof knife!  I was so excited!  He doesn't know that I have been trying for five years to win those knives from Pioneer Woman when she offers a give away, along with 50,000 other loyal readers!  Well, you all will have a better chance now, because I have my very own Wusthof!

It was a good birthday.  The morning sun was lovely

and I finished a table runner I made for my table.  Yes, it was a good day.

No, it was a good year.  We had no health issues, we bought a place and moved into a home we love, we are blessed with a wonderful family, with many friends, and with a great church and church family, and we look forward to the same for next year.