New Year, Fresh Start (better late than never)

I realize this post is quite late, but better late than never.  I wrote it at the end of December, but never got around to posting it.  I thought about just trashing it, but changed my mind and decided to share it anyway.  Maybe we can just use this as a reminder to stay on task and not to forget the resolutions or goals we set at the beginning of the year.

We hear the sayings every year: “New Year, New You,”  “Tomorrow is the first day of a 365-page book,” and many more.  I am not sure why a new year is a chance for new goals, resolutions, and dreams, but it is.  Who first came up with this grand idea?  Why do I let myself get drawn into this trap?  Whatever the reason, I find myself each December looking forward trying to figure out what the New Year will hold for me.  What do I need to change?  What do I want to accomplish?  What old ways do I need to leave behind?  What does God have in store for me?  How will I be a better version of myself?  Then there is the usual stuff like: how am I going to lose all this holiday weight I have put on?  Luckily for me, Plexus has made that last question obsolete this year—but this is another blog post for another day—stay tuned.   All of that seems like a lot of pressure for a simple change of the calendar year, and yet I do it every year anyway.

There are three ways I prepare myself for the upcoming year. The first thing I do is set goals.  In our family, we make yearly goals for our family as well as individual ones.  I sit down with the kids and help them find reasonable and meaningful goals for themselves, we brainstorm together what God would have us do as a family in the next year, and I spend time alone in prayer trying to figure out mine.  I enter them into the computer; print them up in special fonts and colors, then, frame them.  I hang them in places that we will frequently look so we can be reminded throughout the year what we are to be working toward.  At the end of each year we go back over our previous goals to see if we have met them, and which ones we missed.  I keep the past goals in the same frame behind the new ones so they can be compared each year.  Sometimes our goals are met, sometimes not.  I find it both humbling and inspiring each year.

Second, I have added something new this year, a vision board.  A vision board is full of pictures and sayings that represent what a person wants to accomplish.  I am doing this two ways: Pinterest and a poster board.  I have started my Pinterest board, but I haven’t started my poster board yet.  I would love to get together with some ladies, a bunch of magazines, some scissors, and glue and do our vision poster boards together.  This will just be another reminder of my goals and callings for the next year.

Last, Steve and I start each year with a family motto.  This idea was birthed after a particularly rough year that left us feeling worn out, beaten down, and defeated.  We decided we needed a fresh start.  It was then that Steve said we needed a fresh 2014, and there became “Fresh in 14.”  I even made a small sign to display in our home as a reminder of our fresh start.  As 2015 was approaching Steve revealed what he thought should be our 2015 motto; “Faith in 15.”  This year is going to test our faith as we patiently, or not so patiently, wait upon the Lord for baby girl’s adoption.  Plus, when we do adopt her, “Faith” will become her middle name.  I look forward to being able to share all about her adoption with y’all this year and be able to show everyone picture-after-picture, as we have not been able to share any of her yet.  Please join us in believing!

There are a lot of ways to start off a New Year on the right foot.  For me, I am a list maker, so goal lists, vision boards, and family mottos are what I need to keep me on track.  I also make other lists for projects to accomplish and of course my daily to-do lists.  I just love the feeling of checking my list/s off and the feeling of accomplishment that accompanies it.  I would love to hear from y’all.  Do you make New Year’s resolutions?  Do you set goals like my family?  What do you do to prepare yourself for the upcoming year?  Whatever you do, I hope all your goals, hopes, dreams, and resolutions come true for you this year.  Now let’s get out there and make this our best year yet.

 Here is my "Faith In 15" project that I still haven't done (yes, I am aware that it is the middle of March).  I have faith that I will get this done before 2016!

I'm Back

     Let me start off by saying how much I have missed blogging!  I should also add, anytime you notice I have gone for a long period of time without writing, start praying for my family and friends, immediately!  I have a large word quota everyday and if I am not blogging them, then all of those around me are forced to hear them—bless their hearts.  In the past couple of months, I have actually typed two or three posts, but sadly have not made time to post them and now one of them might be a bit past due since it is directly related to the beginning of the New Year—it’s already March for crying out loud.  Time is flying by and I can’t seem to get a handle on it these days.   Today I am choosing to slow it down and spend some time doing things I need to do for me, and this post is definitely one of them.

     So much has happened in my little world since my last post in December—did I just say December?  Little sassy pants is now potty trained.  WOOHOO!  She is doing so great and growing up way too fast.  And, on the subject of growing up too fast, my oldest son is now 16!.  I can’t even deal, people.  He is growing up to be such an amazing young man, I just wish he could slow down just a bit so I can cherish these next few years a little longer.   Then, to add insult to injury, I just turned 42!  What?  How did this happen?  Why am I not more mature and responsible by now?  I better hurry and grow up fast.  I told my best friend yesterday that I believe I have hit the age that I need to start lying about my age differently.  Instead of saying I am younger; I am going to start telling people I am older.  If I tell people now that I am younger they just feel bad for me because I look so old, but if I say I am older then they think I look great for my age.  And this is how my mind works.

     Another bit of news that we received was in regards to our precious little sassy pants.  As most of you know, she is our foster daughter, which is why I never type her name, but we are hoping to adopt her.  We thought we were in the final leg of this journey and moving swiftly to the adoption hearing, but we are not…yet.  This case will go on to the Supreme Court of Virginia.  We have no idea how long this will take, nor what we should expect during this process.  We know God has a plan and we are trusting in him to take care of her, and us.  We are relying on a few verses to get us through; let me share a couple of them with you:

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still” (Exodus 14:14).

“’For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,’ plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

     These verses, as well as others, are carrying us though this uncertain time and giving us peace and comfort.  As I mentioned, I typed a post discussing the New Year, I may post it even though it is a bit late, and in it I discussed our family motto for 2015.  It is “Faith in ‘15.”   Back in December, we were looking at our upcoming year and realized there will be a lot of things that will really test our faith and require us to be strong in the Lord.  We decided to label our year with the faith we knew we would be in need of.  As this year is well underway, I can say we have definitely picked the right motto.  The faith tests have begun, but so have the amazing blessings that accompany faithfully following God’s lead.

     Our middle son is in his last year of elementary school and in a special school out of district that can better handle his special needs.  We pray he can get out of this situation and return to public school next year.  This elementary to middle school transition is critical to his success.  We hope that he will be in public school by the time he starts sixth grade, as opposed to entering public school in the middle of the year.  Let me just be honest; sixth grade is hard enough without having to change schools in the middle of the year, especially if you happen to have special needs.  This particular faith test is proving to be difficult as we are not sure what steps we should be taking.  The option of homeschool is always on the table, but our concern first-and-foremost is doing the best we can do for Tony, regardless of how hard it is on us.  This parenting thing is way harder than I thought it would be.

     Well, there it is, my first blog in a long time.  It is amazing how much better I feel verbalizing all of this.  I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to share life with me and read my rambling words.  My family appreciates all of you so much as I will not have to attack them with my words today.  Life is just better when we go through it together, living, learning, listening, and loving our way though.

Here is a picture of my wonderful Wonder Woman cookies my best friend gave me for my birthday......made by the awesomely talented, Jana Salinas!  Find her on Facebook at "Who made the cookies".