Keith got a text at 7:00 pm on New Year’s Eve that he had to work New Year’s night. At 7:00 pm. So 24 hours away. And he’d slept all of three hours, since he’d assumed he’d actually be, you know, off, for the holiday. Let’s just say it sucked the fun out of the remainder of the night. And the next day, which was new year’s day.

But not the joy! Well, for me, anyway. I’m pretty sure after working for like, 16 hours and driving in ultra bad road conditions, and being stranded on the side of the road in his semi for part of that 16 hours on less than 10 hours of sleep in 48, Keith was lacking in joy. But I was trying.

Today has been spent preparing for WINTER DEATH 2014!!! Or, BLIZZARD!!!! Or, SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW. Whatever. We’ll probably get like 1/2″ of nothingness and all of my super thought out “what can I cook over a candle or the grill” meal planning will be all for naught. I would love nothing more, though, than to get 14″ of snow and have our city shut down for two or three days. It would be wonderful to be “trapped” inside with my boys with nothing to do but spend time together. I say “trapped” because Keith’s truck can get us out of anything, and we share a power grid with the local fire and police stations, so in the fourteen years Keith has lived here, our power has only ever gone out for three hours, max.

On to warmer thoughts!! I booked our vacation today! We are going to Gatlinburg this summer. We are camping for eight nights. I am so excited I want to start packing right now. Should I admit I’ve already stated my lists and my budget sheets, so I can start saving my dollars in envelopes? Last summer we came home from Hocking Hills with cash. It was a wonderful feeling to go on vacation without a single concern about money, and it was even MORE wonderful coming home with enough for pizza that night (which I already listed as an expense for Sunday night’s return dinner!). And we aren’t big vacation spenders. We’ll be doing a lot of swimming at the campground, hiking at the national park and playing in the stream running behind our camp. Not to say we won’t visit the aquarium, but that’s about the only “big ticket” item we’ll probably schedule.

Unless you can absolutely convince me there is something we ABSOLUTELY CANNOT MISS WITH A FOUR YEAR OLD BOY in Gatlinburg. In July. With a million other people.

Julie asked me to share my joy verses. I will be honest. I opened the YouVersion app on my phone and searched for “joy” and copied out what looked good and felt right. But as I start to memorize them I will share them here on the blog.

I know I made a joke about the weather, but I hope everyone stays safe and warm this weekend. It’s cold and snowy everywhere, I think. I hope everyone has milk, bread, eggs (and syrup for French toast!), electricity and family snuggle aplenty!!