2011

I've had a word rumbling

around in my head the last few days.

Telos.

It is a Greek word I learned in seminary.

It means END-

but not just end like tonight is the end of another year and tomorrow we start all over again.

Rather, it is an end with a purpose. It is like the fulfillment of all things, the end of the story, the point of all this, the final answer to all the questions, the strivings, the wonderings of why we walk on this earth, the final fulfillment of all our aches.  And it is bigger than us and our individual stories, but it is not complete without our individual stories.  It is the answer to all the stories.

For most of the year the world tells us that we are just spinning in circles on this globe and that our tiny individual minutes, our own stories, don't really matter.  "Let the Great World Spin!," they say.

And then New Year's Eve comes and every major network, newspaper, and periodical is devoted to a recap, a Best of, a Worst of, a most  (you fill in the blank).  Why?  Because we humans want closure.  We want to sum things up, tie them in tidy memory boxes, and look forward to hopes of change and newness that a new year brings.  This is because deep down, in the fabric of our created beings, we know that our lives do matter.  The years matter, even as they pass at warp speed, because we know that the miracle of our redemption and the redemption of the world has both already begun and is not yet complete.  As you reflect back on your last year there are many days you cherish and some you'd like to forget.  But all are significant, and they matter...

as do you
in this story God is writing.
Happy New Year.

And for some highlights from
the Little family's 2011.

Our FIRST winter in Chicago
which happened to be one of Chicago's
 coldest and snowiest.

Celebrating our 10th Anniversary on the sands of 

Tulum, Mexico

Enjoying seeing my brother for the first time in a few years
and meeting his Thai girlfriend Chompoo!

Getting the girls on skis for the first time
with Dad in Big Sky, MT 

 Going on a Colorado Backpacking Trip 

with my sister-in-law Gretchen for the first time

Getting Braces ON

And Getting them OFF 

(right before Christmas!)

 Learning to Ride a Two Wheeler

And Learning to Read Independently

 2011
wasn't all coconuts and snow skis.
It also included

Another move to our FOURTH address in FIVE years.

A goodbye to our sweet Weimaraner Roscoe.
Jason getting to know all about PICC lines and infectious disease docs.

But there is so much more for which to be thankful 

Jason turning 40 and climbing the Grand Teton

Lots of great visits with dear family and friends

Reading one of the best books of my life 

(Anna Karenina in case you missed it!)
Watching my children grow and learn

But it is time to go pour the champagne...

So from the fourth floor

in our little corner of the world 

we say,

"Goodbye 2011!"

Just in cased you missed it...
that is our Christmas tree throwing itself off the balcony.