Good morning 2015! Its great to see you. I'm up and ready to face whatever challenges and or blessings will come my way in this brand new year.

It is certainly a cold start to the new year. It is 26° and mostly sunny this morning with a good layer of frost on most everything. There is a slight wind and the sound of my new Corinthian chimes is beautiful and deep. We have three sets of chimes out there ranging from tiny high pitched to the Corinthians. I really need to get a better pole for the two larger sets and I need to concrete it in. The standard iron poles that they sell at bird feed stores are really too flimsy. There is a place in town that does iron work that I'll bet has what I want. And, if they don't have it, I bet they can make it.

December has come and gone. All of the Christmas decorations around our home have been put back in storage. We had to make room again for furniture in the living room. Our youngest daughter, Lisa, and her family are making a turn around trip to our house. Ms. Kate and I are getting a dining room set from her aunt so we are giving our set to Lisa and her family. Ours is a massive, Philippine mahogany set and is just getting too heavy for us to use any more and she said years ago that she wanted it. The biggest prolem is that Ms. Kate has a wealth of beautiful glass ware and dishes that I'm not sure where she will store now. The set that we are getting is a lot smaller than what we are using. Any way, Lisa and family are leaving North Carolina this morning and will be here tomorrow around noon. They will pack up all of this set and then they will head home on Saturday morning. That is not enough time for hugging and kissing family that we see once or twice a year. But we'll cherish what we get and call it first blessings of 2015.

As I look out, I see that several of my feeders are empty this morning. I guess I need to get myself properly dressed and fill things up again this morning. That's going to be a cold job.

My prayers this morning are varied and long. God gave me a wonderful 2014 and here I am, asking for more of the same in 2015. I pray my brother-in-law's PSA numbers continue to drop. I pray that Kathy's aunt will receive whatever comfort God can give her and that she not be forced to live a long life paralyzed and unable to function on her own. There are things in this life that are far worse than death. I pray for the spiritual health of my two congregations and that God will help me daily in my leadership of them. I pray for my wonderful Ms. Kate and my wonderful family. I am so very blessed. I pray that Julie will have a good year with her RA and that the pain she deals with on a daily basis become tolerable.

Yes, I am certainly loading up God's plate on this first day of 2015. But I always have faith that God will do and provide whatever is best. Happy New Year.