Just have some stuff to share! A little bit of a chatty Cathy coming on! LOL.
I've begun the process of spring cleaning! Yep in December. My goal is to be finished with the inside of the house this week, well by Thursday {A is having company over}. I did our room, our bathroom, and re-organized the Christmas bins. I have dreams and plans for our bathroom. D&I are going to redecorate in there when I get back from my mini trip, so excited!
This was our Christmas Day!
We had such a wonderful time! It was peaceful and relaxing, I love that. We had so much fun this year and we are very blessed!
I'm leaving soon to see my wonderful friend, Sarah! So excited!
I am about to dig into
this!
Isn't it the cutest! It's all laying on my desk awaiting me to play with it! I did make a card, but I can't share that yet! :) Something about red, pink, and white tickles me so!
Its amazing to me how many of us take time out to reflect upon our lives. Where 2011 has brought us and how we are headed into 2012 with hope. I am thankful to say that nothing major happened to me and my family in 2011. That isn't to say that stuff didn't happen... The valley I was in for most of the year stunk, I am not gonna lie. But it was needed. Its funny how painful things may seem, and then when we are out of that part of our journey we look back and realize it was just a blip. Just a moment really in the big scheme of things. I am at peace. I am okay with where I am in my life. I got through the valley with the Lord. Sure there were days where I still kicked him out of our car, but for the most part I just breathed and let him be in control. There was a lot of stillness and silence too. It was needed. A lot of this year was spent internalizing inside what the Lord wanted me to see, learn, understand. From seeing special friends, quitting my job, starting school, finding a "new" way to be my own friend, and becoming closer to the Lord in ways that I never thought possible was amazing. I am happier for it all, even in the painful days. I feel like I've matured, grown up if you will and have found solace, peace, and an essence of calm I've never experienced before. it makes me even more ready for 2012. I don't really know what's in store but like you, I am full of hope. Because of everything I went through this year within, I am ready for 2012.
This New Year's Dayv and I are spending it alone. Alyssa will be with her youth group at church while we'll be in the quiet of our sanctuary, which pleases me so!
With the impending New Year are you making resolutions? Have a word? Lists? Goals?
I think I stopped making such outlandish resolutions, lists, goals for myself years ago. I do still like to make goals and resolutions though. Sticking to one's that I can really actually do within the year. One's I know I can achieve. Nothing like making resolutions and feeling like a looser at the end of the year, or even a month in because you aren't doing them.... LOL.
That's why I do one's that I can really obtain!
1. Be more joyful. Seriously. In all things. Not just when I feel like it, but even when I don't.
2. I've decided to do 365. I even have a button on the right side of my blog. I'll be posting them in there on my photo-bucket and update them on my blog sometimes too. Also the thing with this is, I may or may not scrap them. My goal is to enjoy the process of taking a photo every single day, capturing our lives, and along the way trying to figure out my camera.
3. Save faithfully for Dayv's boat. It's his biggest dream, owning one. Sure we could go out and buy one right now, but saving with cold-hard-cash makes owning the boat that much sweeter. It doesn't matter if it takes years what matters is that we are choosing to save faithfully and pay cash for it.
4. Keep journaling. Nothing has brought me great joy this year than journaling. I don't do it every single day but I find myself being drawn to writing more so than I ever have.
5. Keep changing the habits of eating poorly created over a life time. It takes time to make this kind of change. I am doing good, but I want to do better. Being healthy is very important to me.
6. De-clutter.
7. Exercise faithfully.
8. Enjoy life.
9. Be open to what the Lord has in store for me!
10. Be thoughtful, kind, caring, and loving.
11. Do well in school.
I am excited about starting the new winter quarter for school. I won't be going to classes on campus, both of my classes this term are online and I LOVE that! It will allow me to do all that traveling I have planned for the up and coming year! I am going to MO, TX, GA, TN to visit friends and family! I am excited about it!
On a sad but peaceful note today is my mom's birthday. She would have been 67. I can attest that time does heal one's heart, but you never really fully recover from loosing a parent. I can hardly believe it has been almost 3 years. It feels both like an eternity and yesterday all rolled into one. Death even after all this time is so foreign to me. I am almost certain that is why the entire experience from once mom left our home until her passing was filled with peace and solace. The Lord knew I needed it that way. I miss my mom a lot. I think about what she'd be doing had her path been different. How she would have visited us here in WA many times. I still feel her daily and am glad of the gentle reminders that our loved ones never fully leave us. I love and miss you mom, happy birthday.
