Sometimes, the unplanned moments are the most memorable.

The happiest and healthiest New Year to you from 67sixteen.org!

As many of us have already done, the year’s beginning is a great time to make resolutions. Let’s make this the year to get healthier, to love more, to worry less, and appreciate our lives’ blessings.

Believe it or not, this past year has been one of great anticipation and frustration for us.  We keep saying to each other “This time next year…” things will be so different. It’s a fairly surreal feeling knowing that our lives will be changing dramatically this year. Somewhere out there on the other side of the world, there’s a little guy or girl in a crib completely unaware that their future parents, family, and community are incredibly eager to bring them home and make them feel safe, secure, and loved.

But for now, while we wait and I jump every time the phone rings, I resolve to remember this year and this feeling of hope. The above photo, taken when my dad tried to capture a New Year’s Eve celebration in our new Hawaiian garb from my namesake and honorary Aunt Kathleen, might be the funniest photo ever captured of my mom, myself, and my first childhood pet Missy. Though I couldn’t look at this photo for a solid year without crying, seeing it now makes me laugh. Life happens– loved ones enter and leave our lives, the news is full of surprising altruism and inexplicable tragedy… and sometimes your pets photobomb a well thought out photograph. May we all learn to accept and appreciate the unexpected joys and laughs of this year.

Sometimes life is most memorable when you least expect it.