LOOK AT THE WORLD WITH NEW EYES IN THE NEW YEAR!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas season 2011, and the start of a New Year. I had the opportunity to see everyone in my immediate family, about 47 in all at a family wedding. Everyone is so unique and adds to the whole in special ways. I love to watch my children parent their children, I enjoy how my children treat and revere my parents. I love when we all gathered for family prayer - a little quiet island in a sea of holiday and wedding preparations.

I enjoy my teenage grandkids and their bright hope and promise - and wonder if I was that strong and confident at their age. I smile when I see my little toddler grandkids using IPads with amazing skill, and giving unconditional love to everyone who smiles at them.

I got to spend several days with my youngest grandson, who is 2 and a half, and see the world through his eyes. We walked to the playground several days, so that he could run off his abundant energy, and what a learning experience that was. He saw feathers floating in the breeze, he saw a rock that was shaped like a rhinoceros, then he had to stop and watch an ambulance racing down the street with all its bells and whistles, surmising all the while, who might be inside and where it could be going. He found a dime and a penny lying by a mailbox, and then made two wishes, and put them in his pocket. When we arrived at the playground he made a dirt cake, and topped it with used green silly string he found on the ground for frosting. Then he spotted an old straw and stuck it in for a candle, so that it became a birthday cake. Then I joined him, in a fabulous rendition of Happy Birthday.

As a New Year stretches before me, I'm resolving to see the details of my world closer. To take more joy in the floating feathers, and when I find a penny on the ground, pick it up and make a wish. I want to marvel at the strength and talents of the people who are in my life, especially the sisters in the Dallas 4th Ward Relief Society. I want to love without reserve, and serve God without restraint - come what may!

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