If I were superstitious, which I am not, I would say the year 2013 has had an inauspicious beginning.

Meaning, unlucky.

Isn't 13 supposed to be an unlucky number? 

We're 5 days into this new year and thus far, it has thrown my family some very unfortunate curves.

I show you the beautiful face of my son August to cast a more happy light onto our situation. 

And of course, this beautiful fur-ball makes me happier. Particularly when I bury my head in her soft fur and just breathe. She's very accommodating in that regard.

This is another ray of sunshine in our lives. Always.

Despite a very happy New Year's Eve in which my family did absolutely nothing more than hang out together and entertain ourselves in various ways - Legos obviously being involved...

Dorien, unfortunately being banned from the construction activities.

So far, this year, we've lost our cat, Ingrid. We've even gone door to door around the neighborhood to no avail. We are all heart-broken and continue to pray that she'll return to us. She is not the kind of cat to run away. In fact, I suspect she may have wandered into the van of our heating/air guy last week and gotten herself taken away. We're going to be following up on that Monday.

And Dorien has RSV. Hence the breathing treatment you see above. 

My poor little guy has been sick as can be for a week now and has been very demanding as it is difficult to be sick and small. 

I also tried to change phones and managed to wipe out all of my phone's contacts and pictures,etc. I managed to get lots of contacts from Kyle's phone and had backed up most of my pictures on my computer, so all was not completely lost, but it dampened my spirits considerably. And that's hard to do around Christmas time, because I absolutely love winter and Christmas!

Today, I took down our Christmas tree and holiday decorations and made the mistake of listening to a Tory Amos station on Pandora. To me, it is always sad to take down Christmas decorations, and on top of the other things going on in our lives right now, the music just made me tear up. 

I tell you all the things happening with us not to depress you. I believe God is in control and that things happen in our lives that aren't pleasant and can work to our good for His glory. Doesn't mean I like going through it, though. Any more than you do.

As Kyle told me as we were talking about these things the other day, this year is young and could very well turn out to be the best year of our life yet. 

Any way you look at it, even amid the bad things that happen, I am covered up with blessings. I hope you feel the same way, and no matter how this year has begun for you and your family,

I pray it turns out to be your best year yet.