New Year's Eve + one little word

Here we sit, at home, on what is supposed to be the biggest party night of the year. But I am completely content to be here with Rob and the girls. I'm not really up to going out anyway. I caught Rob's nasty sinus infection/cold/general yuck, and Heidi has it too. Rob's started on Christmas night and Heidi and I started on the 29th. We had planned to have Rob's family and my good friend Melissa, aka George (long story) over, but canceled due to all the sickies. :-(

This is always a good day each year to think about goals for the next year and review what has happened the past year. I love the feeling of having a fresh start. So with that in mind, I've chosen the word "resilience" as my one little word for the year. If you aren't familiar with this concept, check out Ali Edwards' blog.

I chose resilience because someone recently told me that even though I have had lots of ups and downs in the past, I always seem to bounce back and get through. I never thought about myself that way before, and I think it's a really positive way to see things. So every morning, I will have the chance to be resilient, to start over and make each day better than the one before it. There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called "Next 5 Minutes" that captures this principle beautifully:

I'm livin' the next five minutes,
like these are my last five minutes,
'cause I know the next minutes may be all I have
And if the next five minutes,
turn into the last five minutes,
I'm taking the next five minutes and starting all over again


::2008 Goals::
I am not so good at resolutions, so this year I am making some very general goals, stuff I can do every day that will make things a little better.

Pray often ~ Worship weekly ~ Study God's Word ~ Exercise daily ~ Eat a healthy diet ~ Create ~ Play ~ Listen ~ Learn ~ Connect ~ Reflect ~ Simplify

"They" will tell you that you shouldn't set general goals like this, that you should break them down and make them "measurable". And I will. But I need a list of things that I can accomplish, and not feel like a failure all the time. I figure if I can do at least ONE of these things every day, then I've met my goals. I think that sounds fair.

To hold myself a bit more accountable, I'll expand a bit on each goal:

Pray often: Pray when I'm happy, pray when I'm sad, pray when I'm thankful, pray when I'm frustrated...just talk to God all the time, like He's right there ('cause He is!)

Worship weekly: Make every effort to get to church every week. It's good for the kids, and it's good for me. God gave us the gift of worship and fellowship to strengthen our spirits.

Study God's word: Dust off the Bible and actually READ it.

Exercise daily: Move every day. Even if it's a walk around the block. It's better than nothing.

Eat a healthy diet: No more diets. Just balanced, healthy eating. Fruits and veggies, whole grains, the whole bit. Cooking at home more. Smaller portions. That's it.

Create: Digiscrap, paint, do hybrid project...doesn't matter. Just find something to create.

Play: Play with the girls. Play outside. Play my flute. Sing. Just play.

Listen: Listen more than I talk. 'Nough said.

Learn: Be open to learning new things.

Connect: Keep in touch with friends. Don't take Rob for granted.

Reflect: Think about each day and figure out what I can do better the next day.

Simplify: Get rid of clutter. Don't buy stuff I don't need. Recycle. Give stuff away.

So tomorrow is a fresh start. God is so good, giving us calendars so we can mark beginnings and endings. We humans are so limited that way.

I wish you a very blessed New Year.

Waiting to finish

Yup, I've neglected the blog again. But this time I think I've figured out why keeping this updated seems to be such a problem. I'm always waiting for the next thing to happen before I post...I'll post after our vacation...I'll post when I get a few pages scrapped...I'll post after Dad's surgery...I'll post after Christmas. And guess what? Here we are after Christmas already! So I'm going to try to catch up a month's worth of living in one post. Ready? LOL

::Disney Trip::
We had a fabulous time on our vacation in early December. We took a 4 day cruise on the Disney Wonder and then spent 2 1/2 days in Disney World (Florida). It was my intention to post all about our trip, but since it's been a while and I've run out of steam, I'll just post the pages I have done so far:



I have lots more pages to do, but at least this is a good start. I plan to make a Shutterfly book...it will be my first one. :-)

::Dad's Surgery::
My Dad had open heart surgery on December 14th and came through it with flying colors. They had to replace a heart valve, and the surgeon said it was the worst one he's ever seen. He was in the hospital for 4 days, and to look at him now, you'd never guess he ever had a problem. Modern medicine and God's healing power are truly amazing! Now, we just have to keep him from doing too much. His next big project is going to be remodeling our bathroom!

::Christmas::
We made it through! Unfortunately this year seemed a lot more stressful as far as all the planning goes. I think between our trip, and Dad's surgery, I had less time to get everything ready. Plus there were many changes in the plans for Christmas Day and I just don't deal well with changes like that. It's something I have to work on...being a bit more flexible.

My brother came into town on Saturday, 12/22 and we had our big turkey dinner on Sunday (at his request) at my parent's house. Then we spent Christmas Eve at their house too, opening presents in the early afternoon and having our traditional "snack dinner" afterward. That is a tradition we used to have at my grandparent's house when I was a kid, and Mom agreed to keep it going after they were gone. It's one of those time when it's OKAY to eat snacks for dinner!

There is more to add, but I'm going to end this for now and add more later. :-)