New Beginnings

Well, it looks like motherhood has truly taken its toll on the blog-life. We have had a million changes happening in our lives in the last 8 months (which have zipped by at warp speed), and even if I would have had spare time to blog, I'm not sure I would have had the inspiration to, if I'm being completely honest. However, for the first time ever, I have made a list of New Years Resolutions of sorts. I am not a huge goal setter, it has never been a strong suite of mine, maybe fear of not acheiving them and therefore failing, or maybe just laziness, I'm not really sure which one. BUT, I have made a list of a few changes I would like to make in my life over the next year. They are attainable, realistic, and one of them just happens to be attempting to revive this little piece of internet. I made myself a promise that I would at least TRY. I have this problem with documenting important things in my life. I tend to leave them up to my memory, but I always wish I had some tangible things to treasure and look back on over the years. Plus, as my baby grows up, I would love for her to be able ot look back at theses beginning years of her life that she cant remember on her own, and see how much happiness she brought her mom and dad. So, without further adieu, my resolutions for 2012:

*learn to use my sewing machine. My mom gave me one a few years back, and I have never even taken the cover off.

*TRULY live within or below our means. More about this later, but I feel like we always SAY we are doing this, but over the years as our income has increased, our lifestyle has increased along with it. This has taken away from our ability to give above and beyond sacrificially. So in other words, our income has increased, our spending has increased, and our generosity has flatlined. We would like to give out of our first fruits, instead of our leftovers or abundance.

*Be more community minded. Live where we are. Not for tomorrow or next year or where we wish we were, but where we are right here and now.

*Exercise more regularly in a way I ENJOY, and not let it be a burden. I need to be healthier for the sake of my sanity and my family's sanity. This is not about being fit as a fiddle or lookin' sexy. Its about finding confidence again in my skin (stretchy as it may be at the moment) so that i can quit stressing out about it and pretending my husband wants to hear sentences like "I look like a popped beach ball". I want my daughter to see a model of confidence.

*Try out blogging again. Hense this first post of 2012.

*Scale back, minimize. Lets refer to the mounds of junk we gave to goodwill when we moved recently. Holy Moly. HOW did we aquire so much stuff in the last 4 years? Seriously rediculous. Our life has gotten so bogged down with STUFF, not even good stuff. Not bad stuff, just pointless stuff. I want to scale back and fill our lives with people and things that matter, and be a better steward of those people and things. This means having fewer aquaintences and deepening a few really great relationships we have. This also means getting rid of the junk we dont need, saying no to things on sale or offered to us for free unless we need them, and taking better care of the things that we have.

*Have a quiet devotion time every single day. I know this sounds crazy like I should already be doing this, annnnd you would be right in thinking such a thought. But the truth is, since having Evelyn, it has been hard to find time every day to just be quiet before Jesus. But I have quickly learned I SOOO need it. If I don't have it, I suffer, my husband suffers, and my daughter suffers. I need my cup to be full so it can overflow to my family instead of trying to drain every last drop out of myself and all thats left for me is an empty cup. Not ok.

So there they are! I will try and blog about them all individually and what I'm doing to carry them out.