According to all the comics and editorials, most people are relieved to see 2008 end. It has been a scary, disappointing, sad year for the world as well as for us personally. Last night Russ and I took a trip down to Cincinnati planning to go to a popular light exhibition at the Cincinnati zoo. Angela's family drove down to meet us there along with Victoria and the kids. As we got within several blocks of the zoo, we began to notice the stream of people parking cars and lining the sidewalks, all headed in the direction of the zoo. When we finally got to where the signs for the zoo were, the crowd was rather daunting. We were arriving about 6:30. It opens at 5 and closes about 9. Looking at the line just to enter the zoo, we figured that by the time we found a place to park, got all the kids out and managed to get into the zoo to see the lights, it would be time to turn around and go home. At the risk of having some very upset kids, we made the decision to give up the idea of seeing the lights. We immediately began brainstorming other ideas of how to spend the evening without spending a lot of money. Ironically, out of the two cars with kids, the only one really upset was the one that was too young to even know about the plan in the first place! Little Brooklyn (15 months old) had fallen asleep on the way to the zoo and had awakened when we stopped to discuss the issue. She was ready to get out and didn't like it when we started the engine and kept driving! We decided to crash a party we knew was going on. John terHorst (our "unofficially adopted son") and his family were having an early New Year's Eve party since he had the all-too-rare opportunity to be home. Being so loving, generous, and hospitable, they let us all in the door. You can see by the pictures that everybody was happy just to be together, even without going to the zoo.
They had quite a feast laid out and were willing to share, even though the group we brought outnumbered the family members they had planned on. We publicly promise that we will have them over for dinner or take them out to dinner or something sometime in the future!
Our New Year's emotions are a bit more subdued than usual. We sincerely hope for 2009 to be a "good" year. Miracles do still happen, as long as there are people with faith. Anyway, we'll just keep plodding along and see what happens. You can't count on the economy. You can't count on politicians. You can't count on the weather. But we are so grateful for the greatest joy in life, something we can count on: the love of family and friends. Happy 2009!
They had quite a feast laid out and were willing to share, even though the group we brought outnumbered the family members they had planned on. We publicly promise that we will have them over for dinner or take them out to dinner or something sometime in the future!
Our New Year's emotions are a bit more subdued than usual. We sincerely hope for 2009 to be a "good" year. Miracles do still happen, as long as there are people with faith. Anyway, we'll just keep plodding along and see what happens. You can't count on the economy. You can't count on politicians. You can't count on the weather. But we are so grateful for the greatest joy in life, something we can count on: the love of family and friends. Happy 2009!
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