Day: January 7, 2012

Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s 2012, I could never imagine to see such numbers when I was little, but sure feel blessed to be able to live them. 2011 was a very blessed year, I am trying to re-cap in my head all that took place and will do my best to put it so called “on paper” when in reality is this post  We met 2011 in the circle of my side of the family and it was absolutely wonderful. I remember Barry bought me a camera on Christmas Eve and I could not wait to take that thing for a “spin” and see all that it had to offer. I am certainly grateful for the wonderful time and pictures we shared that night and lifted our glasses to meet 2011. Again and again we saw God’s hand in everything that took place this year. It definitely seemed much busier than others and the only reason I say that is because of all the events that took place, trips we got to go on and just the sense of belonging. To re-cap some of our blessings this year:
Meeting 2011 with family, Isabella turns 1 (1/11/11), I ran my first half marathon on 2/6/11, 5/14/2011 we found out we were expecting another blessing, Oleg and Lilya became one on 5/22/2011, we celebrated our 6th year of marriage on 5/28/11 (what a blessing it has been), Barry and I turned BIG 30 (one of the best birthdays), we were blessed to go on a trip to Palm Desert (what a fun adventure), in July Barry did his first “Death Ride” with crazy over 8,500’ elevation (I am so proud of him), in August Barry joined network fellowship business group, which has been great, 10/15/2011 Bobby and Sarah tied the knot, we also got to go to Carmel in October. Family time has been absolutely amazing during this year with all that has been taking place. Barry’s business keeps growing, there are always ups and downs, but God has been very gracious to us. I have been watching Lissy on Tuesdays and Thursdays and working for TW Photography on Mondays which has been an absolute blessing! All in all, it has been a year full of adventure, joy, busyness and of course challenges 😉
It still takes my breath away that I can reflect every year and have the ability to do so with God 100% behind me, giving me health and energy to do so. Thank you to our precious Father for taking care of us all, even when we do not understand why certain things happen the way they do. In the midst of all that, we re-gain faith and hope. May God bless all in 2012!

I have always loved Christmas time, I would say the most since we have moved to the United States. Christmas is celebrated differently throughout the world, but to me it can not be better than going to church and celebrating with family. Jesus Christ was born, what a precious baby, so it can not be anything less than a huge celebration of life! When I was younger, presents were definitely on the higher level of excitement, you just can’t fight the curiosity of what you are getting and whatever it is that you get, just always seemed perfect. As I get older, it has become more about giving than receiving and there is no better feeling. Kids definitely change your prospective on gifting and you wish you could gift them the world, but at the end materialistic stuff is what looses value really fast. The memories created, time spent, hugs and just pure love is what stays. Which is why family and time spent together so important to me. Having hot chocolate while bonding is always a plus 😉 I am glad the hot chocolate only happens during the Christmas season, otherwise we would be in trouble 🙂 It’s great that each year will be different than before with building our own traditions, watching kids interact and understand what Christmas is truly about. We read the birth of Jesus to Bella various times during this beautiful season and the more we read it, the more she remembered it and was more excited to read about it. Listening to her sing “Oh Holy Night” is another story and each time I can’t help but get so grateful that I can teach my daughter more than just “Jingle Bells” or “Rudolph” One thing we did this year as our little family was we worked on a ginger bread house (we thank Nonie for gifting it) Even though Bella was coming down with a cold that night, she still enjoyed “gluing” the candy on the house, while licking her tiny fingers from the frosting  I think it might be something we will do each year. We also loved watching her open her stocking on “Christmas morning” (as we celebrated earlier) and all she wanted was Lollipops. Every time we would ask her, Bella what would you like for Christmas, her only response would be: “Lollipops” with a huge grin on her face  I looked at Barry and said, if only she would ask for the same thing for the next 20 years, it would definitely make our lives less complicated 😉 Indeed, out of all the things that were in the stocking, she could not stop smiling when she pulled out the lollipops. Normally she would have one maybe once a month or so and never on an empty stomach or before meal, but we broke rules and let her have one right then 🙂 She could not believe it.
Our schedule went something like this: We went to church on the 23rd this year and the service was amazing as always. Close to 41,000 people attended Bayside Church this year and around 2,500 raised their hands to accept Christ- wow, what a gift! We have invited a couple of our friends, but they unfortunately could not make it. There is always next year 🙂 On 24th in the morning, we celebrated our own Christmas and let Bella open her presents. She loved everything she got. In the evening we went to my parents house and of course had the most amazing and delicious food that one can imagine. It was not only breathtaking looking but oh so delicious! My parents have truly outdone themselves. We loved every minute there. On Christmas morning we gathered at my parent’s house and had one of our favorite breakfasts of the year, which included hot chocolate 🙂 The rest of the day was purely to spend time together with exception of one of us going on a nice bike ride and leaving the rest behind 😉 we will not mention any names. On the 26th we had Barry’s side of the family come and spent a great time visiting, sharing a meal and exchanging gifts. Below are some pictures from the beautiful season. Merry Christmas!