You say goodbye; I say hello

Hard to believe another month and year has flown by!  This year has been full of ups and downs, highs and lows, and goodbyes and hellos.  New jobs; goodbye to Ben Lippen, hello to real estate.  Goodbye to ERA hello to Russell and Jeffcoat.  Goodbye to the library, hello to finishing up school.  Goodbye to high school, hello to college.  Goodbye to single life, hello to married life.  Goodbye to a son, hello to a daughter-in-law.  Goodbye to kids running around the house.  Hello to just Mike and me!  Goodbye to a single mom, hello to a married mom.  I don't know if I could have handled much more, but the Lord has been gracious and we are full of joy and happiness to be blessed with such wonderful opportunities and such a wonderful family.  We are so proud of both of our children.  Emily finished her first semester of college with all A's!  Josh and Allison have settled into married life.  They have a lovely apartment, Allison finished her undergraduate degree, and Josh is working in the photography world.  We are so proud of their accomplishments and are so blessed to have such a beautiful, fun, talented new daughter!  Mike and I are still wandering around an empty house and wondering where the time went, but are also starting to see the benefits of less responsibility and being alone together.  For those of you following the progress of our flip house,  I should be posting new pictures/videos in January.  A lot has been accomplished although there is still much more work to go.  It has been a fun learning process and we are enjoying the journey overall.  We are looking forward to what the New Year has in store;  I hope it is a little less eventful then last year!  I know with the change of presidents and the state of our economy we are probably in for some difficult times but we know that the Lord is in control and He works all things together for good.  With that in mind, I know that whatever is ahead will be for our good.  That's exciting!  Happy New Year!