Happy New Year!

Does your family do anything special for the New Year?  We usually just stay home in a low key family party.  We really do not like to be out and about with the drinking and such.  Honestly, the older we get the harder it is to stay up until midnight.  LOL!  But we will try our best.

I have not been feeling well this week.  I have been fighting a kidney infection.  The doctor put me on some really strong medications that make me sick to my stomach!  So they added an anti nausea medication on top of that.  Geech!  So I am starting to feel better.  I decided I wanted to make some fun stuff for my family for New Year's Eve.

I made some stuffed croissant rolls.  They are stuffed with cream cheese, bacon, parmesan cheese, garlic, and onion.

Next I made some chicken wing dip.  We just love this stuff.  It is so easy to make.  I just throw it all together and bake.  So yummy!

As I type this up I am thinking about the past year.  We had a quiet year in comparison to the past few years.  My focus word for 2014 was "JOY".  This was the first year I had picked a word to focus on.  Let me tell you it really helped me stay on track.  I was able to find joy in everyday, even when I didn't want to.  I kept a small journal of joy related Bible verses.  Even when we reached a trial in life last year I was quickly able to redirect my focus on the joy in life.

The one major event that happened was the restored relationship with my oldest daughter.  I cannot tell you how happy it has made me. 

She has rededicated her life to the Lord.  She is once again that sweet girl I have been raising.  She has met a wonderful Godly man.  It is great to see God bloom their relationship.  She still struggles with things like every other person on this Earth.  But the growth I have seen in her this year is tremendous.  I love her to pieces. 

We endured a long hard winter last year.  It seemed like the snow would never stop falling.  Just when we thought we were done with snow....more fell.

It was really amazing at the amount that fell each time.  We have been spoiled with winters here in NY.  We have really had minimal snowfall in the past few years.  When I was a kid it snowed a lot.  I was chatting with a friend who had a neighboring farm growing up about the snow in 1978.  School was not cancelled, churches still held service, everyone went about their business.  One day my dad had to pull our school bus out of the snow with the tractor.  Another dad plowed a small strip in the road so we could all get to our small country church. 

So that is probably where my love of snow comes from.  Even now that I have to drive in it, I still love it.  It is actually the others on the road I'm not too fond of.  LOL

Last year I really worked on my photography.  I took the time to really learn the settings on my camera.  I took picture after picture.  Honestly, when you are learning something new it is best to just start doing it.  Learn by doing has always worked best for me.

I learned about lighting and how it affects my pictures.  Most of my subjects were family, food and snow.  Haha!

I'm not sure my family finds joy in my food photography.  They have all learned not to touch the plate until I take a picture.  LOL!  Then its usually 10 or more shots until they can eat.

The one of the peppers is my favorite picture.  In February my husband got me my first set of "big girl knives" for the kitchen.  He got me a set of Cutco knives.  I just love them...and they are made right here in NY!

In 2014 I made my first quilt.  I took all of the old jeans and cut them into squares to make a rag quilt. I made it for Andrew.

It took me about a week to put it all together.  I love the way it turned out.  Especially since it was my first one.

I used a fleece camouflage backing.  Andrew just loves it. 

Hannah made great strides this year as well.  She has been showing me she can do more things everyday.  She amazes me everyday! 

Her greatest success this year was conquering her fear of the dentist.  This fear was so great she would get physically sick at the thought of going. 

She is also forming relationships.  She has developed a relationship with a young man.  It is so sweet seeing them interact together.  They exchanged Christmas gifts this year. 

This young man is also a nice Christian man.  It was sweet, he called my husband to ask permission to be her boyfriend.  {smile}

This year our son was able to fulfill a life long dream of his to join the fire department.  He has talked about this since he was able to talk.  He learned how to read because of his love of fire fighting. 

He just lives for this now.  Even his science project is about fire!  I knew at the age of 5 he was destine to become a fire fighter.  Why you ask?!  Well because I caught him on our barn roof "pretending" to vent a fire.  {Sigh!}

Almost always if I cannot locate him I know he is at the fire hall!  He has decided to join the military when he graduates in 3 years.  He is seriously looking at the Air Force.  He wants to do fire fighting.  This is his calling in life.  We have heard over and over from the men he works with that he was born to do this. 

This year we tried to plant a garden.  It was growing beautifully when the wildlife got to it.  No matter how hard we tried they ate the entire garden.  This was the second year of trying to grow a garden here with no luck.  Its funny to us because when we lived in the country we had 3 beautiful gardens.  Here in the village we cannot even grow one!

But the Lord blessed us with fresh produce to can for the winter.  Our dog groomer gave us a lot of tomatoes!  Which I was able to turn into juice and sauce.

My friend gave us grapes, and peppers.  My mom scored a ton of corn for me to freeze.  So we learned this year that through disappointments God will bless.  We just need to rely on Him and Him alone to supply ALL our needs!  I pray you all have a wonderful 2015!  I am excited to see where God takes us this year.

Linking up with So Much at Home for the New Year's Eve hop.