I'm in 2011 already

Yay for living in Australia and being in the new year already. Well it's nearly 2am. Why am I still up? It seems I have become accustomed to 'holiday time' - staying up late, pyjamas till at least noon. hmm, I have 3 weeks to enjoy and break this habit.

Tonight I went to my church's new years eve party. It was typical church event - most people went home by 10. At 9 a bunch of us stood by the lake and watched 4 different firework shows around the lake. It was a pretty spectacular view - expecially since we were watching shows that were 2 hours drive from each other.

I spent the next hour and a half playing 'break the safe' (a very cool game that can get super intense) with some kids. I spent most of the time telling 6 year old Z that he needed to actually count the squares as he moved his piece (not just count, and move the piece to where he wanted to be - it was a brand new concept for him) & telling his big brother L  "no, that's cheating" (pretty much everything he did). We had heaps of fun & we even broke the safe 2 of our 3 times (the first game we were ALL in jail for most of the time)!

For the last part of 2010 we had a time of worship and reflecting on what God has taught us this year. It was pretty cool! I don't think our church is heaps good at sharing the real heart stuff. So it started with real surface level praise points - grandkids, babies etc (not that they're not good things), but then the conversation reached new depths when people shared some real things they had struggled with this (last) year & how God had brought them through it, grown them and proved His faithfulness time and time again. It was awesome to bring in the new year singing "Blessed Be Your Name."

For me the most significant thing I learned in 2010 was that God has called me to my now (even if my now looks different to the now I want and the now that other people have), and I've also grown alot in my understanding of His grace. Yep there is 12 months of heartache, pain, tears, laughter, love, pondering, prayer & conversations summed up in 1 sentence. (please refer to the past several months of blog posts for more detail. haha!) What has been the most significant lesson God has taught you in 2010?

Happy New Year blog-world friends!