1. Remember my Eucharisteo post at the beginning of the year? I am pleased to say I have kept up counting gifts through my photography blog and reached 1,000 on December 31st! Now my plans are to get last year printed as a book, my own One Thousand Gifts, and a journal of sorts of our happenings. I’m excited to see what gifts are store for 2013.

2. I have chosen my ONE word for this year and will write about it soon {probably the next post}. It will take a bit of explaining, but oh, it is good and what I need to work on!

3. Thursday we were able to attend the sealing of one beautiful little girl to her adoptive family. How she joined their family, like all adoption stories, is a little miracle in itself. The sealing took place in the Reno Temple.

In our church we believe families can be together forever. When couples are married in the temple they covenant (or promise) they will stay together forever—on earth and in heaven after they die, if they are faithful to each other and their promises to the Lord. A temple marriage doesn’t include phrases like, “Till death do you part” or “So long as you both shall live.” If we keep these promises, our children also become part of this heavenly promise—sealed to us forever. We call this being “born in the covenant.” When a couple adopts a child those children haven’t been born in the covenant and so the whole family has the opportunity to go to the temple to have that child sealed to them. It is a simple ceremony, much like a wedding ceremony. You can read a little bit more about children being sealed to their parents on a post written by my cousin who has adopted five children: Eternal Families.

4. My brother and his girlfriend FINALLY got engaged!! We are “thuper, thuper” excited for them.

Isn’t she beautiful? She has a sweet spirit too and is the perfect match for my brother. Now to wait and see what the wedding plans will entail. Will they get married in Utah or in Colorado where she is from? When will it be? {Hopefully not when the baby is due so I can go!}

5. What a cold, snowy start we have had for the new year. Our average low temperature this past week has been about -12 below 0. Our average high has been about 20 degrees. It is cold! But we have snow and would be so very pleased with another couple of feet. We need the water for our crops this coming year. Farmers rely so heavily on the weather year-round not just during the growing season.