I gotta feeling (woo hoo....)

that 2011's gonna be a good, good year.

Whether it's because I'm through the transitional holiday season or because the fresh-startedness of the "New Year" is upon me (or because I'm in the mood to make up my own words...), I'm feeling bouncier, a bit fresher, and a little more optimistic about the coming year.  Plus, a lot has happened these first few days of Two Thousand Eleven (or is it Twenty Eleven?) that have me thinking I've got the world on a string.

In the past 3 days alone, I have...

~enjoyed 3 new pairs of pajama pants all of which are long enough to meet my anal-retentive pants-length requirements.

~witnessed my son's first buzz cut, courtesy of Sam whilst I was at the grocery store curing the DT's from not having grocery-shopped in over three weeks.  (Sam's description of the experience was more accurate than I would have hoped to return home to - "With all the hair I cut off that head, it looks like we have a dead animal in our trash can.")

(If I'm being honest, I woke him up from near sleep to take this picture because I wanted the world to see nearly-hairless Ben.  The way his hair grows, it'd be back to a mop by morning if I had waited.  Just be glad I spared you the picture of the trash can.)

~felt and loved the return of seasonal temperatures after an uncharacteristically warm New Year's Eve and Day.

~begun the B90x challenge (so as to complete #35 on the list a wee bit faster than 365 days) on my new Kindle. (Best present ever...thank you, Sam!)

~received email notification that I passed the PE.  (Like how I threw that in there like it's no big deal?  HA!)

(For all you know, I could have copied that off the internet - you'll just have to take my word from the poor quality that it's a screen shot of the pdf that told me I passed.  I swear I might as well have won the lottery.)

All of these things are great.  I can't tell a lie.  But I'd be remissed if I didn't mention that even without every single one of the above blessings, I'd still be the recipient of blessings and grace far beyond that which I deserve.

To my faithful prayer warriors, thank you from the bottom of my heart for praying me through the studying process, the day of the test, and the irony of losing my job while I waited for my results.  I did not pass that test.  I passed because God brought me to it, sustained me during it, and delivered me through it.  And that's because of your intercession.  I am eternally grateful.

And to Sam, thank you for so many things - for being patient with me while I endured no sleep during the month of October, for encouraging me to study when I absolutely didn't want to anymore, for suffering through the consequential kidney stones from a month of living off caffeine alone (though that was never identified as the culprit, I suspect it didn't help), and even for finding out my results before I did.  You saved me from the paralyzing, heart-in-my-throat fear of opening the link in that email.  (It's a good thing I passed.)

With my new-found springy steps, I hope to tread across this little blog a bit more than I have in the past month or two.  Hopefully you don't all think I'm just that petty for finding happiness in such a thing as a little old letter from a testing company.  But hey, maybe I am...just that petty.  For today, I'm going to relish in it. 

Happy 2011, everyone!