managing the holidays & thoughts on the new year

Do you struggle with stressing about the holidays or finding time to get everything accomplished?
I used to struggle with this a lot. It took me years to get a good grip on time management and knowing what I can accomplish without stressing completely out.

I think years of experience has helped me to better manage holidays. 

I also think lowering expectations has helped as well. 
I've also learned that just because we have traditions, doesn't mean that we have to do the exact things every year. 
Skipping a tradition here and there is perfectly fine.
I used to get worked up about everything, but it really doesn't help anything to be that way.

Just like on the Grinch who stole Christmas, Christmas will come either way.

He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming, it *came*! Somehow or other... it came just the same. How could it be so? It came without ribbons!... it came without tags!... it came without packages, boxes, or bags!

The last 2 weeks of December were the slowest of the year for me. I know that sounds crazy! The calendar had so very little on it!
It was a very stress free holiday this year.

I have created a gift spreadsheet for the past few years and that really helps keep me on track.

The first full week of January is going to be the exact opposite.
A lot of appointments and events just all happened to be scheduled during January 4-9.
At least we will get it all out of the way at once!

I haven't had a lot of deep thoughts about the end of the year/beginning of the new one.

2014 was a really good year. It did have some down points- Koonta passing away, being diagnosed with Crohn's... but the good FAR outweighed the bad.

I don't make resolutions or have a "word for the year."
I'm not great about doing something that has to be kept up with over a long period of time. Especially if it is a daily thing.

I really just want to feel better in 2015. 
I want to feel better so that I can be a better me.

In a way, I'm kind of struggling with this diagnosis. On the other hand, I'm hopeful about treatment. It's just so strange to know after not knowing for 7 years.

I want to keep trying to have time to let my mind wander and to keep it more free from clutter. It's so easy to get sucked into social media, but my mind always feels so full afterwards. I want more time to think and create.

I also want to do more things outside this spring- more hikes/walks!

It's so strange not having lots of plans for the year. We haven't even planned any vacations yet. 
The year seems open to such possibility!

Do you have thoughts on the new year?
Here's to 2015 - may it be happy and blessed!

Scripture that I want to live by this year:

Romans 12(NKJV)

Living Sacrifices to God

12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Serve God with Spiritual Gifts

3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry,let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Behave Like a Christian

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Goals for 2014

I've never made new year resolutions and I probably never will. 

However, this year, I do have some goals.

I've had a lot of realizations in the past year. 
I've always been a person who has wondered- what is God's purpose/plan for me? I assumed that there would be some "ah ha" moment.

God has spoken to me a lot in the last year, and I realized that there may never be a moment like that. 
I am not called to be a missionary, to be in charge of a program/ministry at church, or to be a teacher. 
I believe He wants me to be me and to be a friend and share His love however I can. He wants me to be a mother and a wife in the best way I can be through Him. 
Truly, these things are the desires of my heart. Family and friends mean the world to me.

A hard realization for me in the last year or so has been my words. 
I've always been one to have a short temper and a quick tongue. 
Let me tell you, those two things have never once benefited me or others.

Also? Can we also talk about how I spend my time? This one is hard to admit, but I'm a slave to social media.

So what are these goals for 2014 and beyond?  Most of this I have already began working on, so this is really a continuation of goals.

Re-structure how I spend my time.
-----spending more time praying and reading the Bible
-----keeping my home clean and in order

Invite friends into our home.
-----i want our friends to feel welcome here
-----I want my home filled with joy and laughter

Continue to keep myself organized.
----I work better when things are planned out

Schedule one-on-one time with Tim and the kids.

Get active and drink more water.

Find ways that I can help others.

Speak kinder at home and no yelling.

Finish organizing our recipes and photos.

My Faith and My Struggles {I am a Work in Progress}

Right now, I'm going through a period of growth and learning in my faith. Every week, I have lessons from Sunday school, church and Bible study rolling around in my mind. I want to discuss all of them and naturally, they are not all about the same thing.

In Sunday school, we have just began a study on Hebrews.  It's been really great so far.  And I'm actually learning a lot.  It is a book that also has references to the book of Leviticus.  Leviticus is a book that I have read in the past, but really know little about.  It has piqued my interest to learn more about Moses and the laws in the book of Leviticus.  I've also had wow moments learning about how things in the Bible really are real and they really happened.  As well as realizing that not many things in our world have persevered through the ages and times.  Empires, governments, and countries have all fallen, but Israel was created on Mt. Sinai by Moses and still continues on in this present day.

In worship service, our pastor has been doing a series on heaven.  Well, obviously, that has created a lot of thought for me.  Of course, I wonder about death and what will happen after I die, but he has also challenged us with what we are doing for God while we are alive.  Yesterday, they showed a memorial video of Whitney Houston.  He used the video to illustrate the point that our life will have a beginning and an end.  It's the moments in between those two points that people will remember us by.  How will people remember my life? Your life?

In Bible study we are discussing The Resolution by Priscilla Shirer.  It has been such a good book for me in this time of my life.  I want to write more about it in depth.  The chapter we read for this week is called Loving my Children.  
She writes, "when our primary goal as mothers is teaching our children God's truth, the whole focus of our parenting changes."
   The resolution for this section is, I will demonstrate to my children how to love God with all their hearts, minds, and strength, and will train them to respect authority and live responsibly.  
What a challenge.  And it puts great responsibility on me as a mother.  I have such an important task for shaping my children.  This is something I have been in prayer about, because I definitely do not always feel adequate for the job.  I just do not want to fail my two precious children.  

Something I struggle with on a regular basis is my health.  I don't discuss it much because I don't like to complain and it is a chronic issue that will go on and on.  
Sometimes, I will have a new issue thrown into the mix and I will start to Google things.  Have you ever done that?  I always end up convincing myself that I have cancer of some sort!  I've been trying so hard to just let it go and have faith that my health will continue the way it is or maybe even get better!

Another struggle I have been experiencing is being a "distracted mom" at times.  I have been a little too, shall we even say, "addicted" to social media at times.  I'm working on not allowing myself to check things at certain times of the day.  I'm working on becoming more focused on taking care of my home, exercising, praying, and spending time with my husband and kiddos.  It's not that I wasn't already doing these things, it's that I was sort of distracted at times while doing them.  I don't want to be distracted, I want to be present.

Meeting Goals {even if they are contradictory!}

I know that I didn't formally announce any resolutions on my blog, but I did make some.  Two of them were- to slow down and to volunteer more. Contradictory, much?!  


I felt like 2011 flew by.  It was a year with much anticipation and I spent a lot of my time waiting for the next thing that was to happen. If you read this post, then you can see just how much happened in my life last year.


After all of that, I knew that I wanted to take some time to take it easy, slow down, and enjoy this season in my life.


There are some projects I would like to get caught up on- Organizing my pictures all the way, backing up my blog entirely, and finishing my recipe book.  These projects take time and I can't seem to find enough time to accomplish them!


My days, these days, are chopped up into 1 and 2 hour increments.  I take B boy to preschool, then pick him, make lunch, get him down for nap so I can accomplish a few things, then get him up so we can go pick up C girl, come home and have a snack before taking her to ballet and then come home to make dinner.  After dinner is AWANA study and reading and getting ready for the next day.  And that is just Monday!  Tuesdays are busy with Bible study and volunteering in C girl's class.  The rest of the week is similar to Monday!


I know next year, when they are both in school, things will flow better.


My other goal, to volunteer more, is coming along.  Slowing down and volunteering more seem very contradictory when they are used together!  I hope to find a good balance between the two!
 As I said, I have begun volunteering in C girl's class every Tuesday.  I also was asked to be a Care Group Leader for my Sunday School class.  Along with that, I also volunteer with the PTO.  I'm hoping to find more ways to give of my time to help others.  


I feel that things are opening in my life right now.  I've let go of some things that had been eating at me and I've begun to meet a lot of really awesome ladies through church, school and dance class.  


I have some blog posts that I need to catch up on.  We did some hiking at a couple of new places recently and I want to share those pictures.  I will be posting recipes here and there because I want to have a lot of our family favorites to share with you in the Recipe Tab at the top of the page.


I made these yesterday and that was really fun-

I'm hoping to make a Valentine's wreath using these felt flowers and maybe a headband or two for C girl.


Here's to meeting goals and finding balance doing it!

Our winter/spring bucket list

• Visit the UA Senior Walk and find Tim's name
• Visit Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park
• Visit Terra Studios
• Go to a Naturals Game
• Take a trip to the Buffalo River
• Visit the Tulsa Air and Space Museum
• Visit Pea Ridge National Military Park
• Visit the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks
• Go see If you give a Mouse a Cookie at the Arts Center of the Ozarks
• Continue our tour of restaurants
• Explore more of Beaver Lake (Horseshoe Bend Park)
• Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
• Spring Break trip to Hot Springs with my love!

My 29 things to do while I was 29

1. Take the kids to a nice restaurant for breakfast.
Check!

2. Eat healthier.
I have been doing better about this!

3. Tone up.
I've been keeping a pretty consistent elliptical workout so that is good!

4. Do 50 push ups
I gave up on this since I started having nerve/muscle shoulder issues. Now I do what I can and go easy on it

5. Do a Bible study.
Sadly, I did not accomplish this, but I am working on doing it soon!

6. Take the kids to pick berries.
took the kids to pick blueberries and strawberries

7. Make freezer jam with the berries.
made 14 containers of freezer jam!

8. Take the kids to a baseball game.
Did not accomplish, but hope to real soon!

9. Do a Mother/Daughter and a Mother/Son day.
I have done a Mother/Daughter day, but still need to do a Mother/Son day.

10. Pay off the credit card!
It will be paid off this summer, so close enough!

11. Do more crafts with the kids.
This stayed about the same, but we do lots of fun, crafty things normally

12. Cook with the kids more.
 I did some baking with them, but I would like to start teaching them more about cooking in the kitchen

13. Keep the kiddos birthday stress free.
The party was wonderful and stress free!!!

14. Learn to speak more gently.
I did a good job doing better!

15. Ride paddleboats with the kids again.
Didn't get to do this, but hopefully this summer we will!

16. Have a magical time at the beach.
 sadly, this did not happen due to the oil spill. Darn BP! But we are going to the beach in June!

17. Take the kids to see Granny Dixon.
We did go visit Granny once more before she passed away.

18. Write in my journal more frequently.
I did do this!

19. Spend more time "tech-free."
I did not do this! But I don't let it affect my family time!

20. Take some great pictures on the beach or somewhere cool
We took picture in a couple of cool places and I plan to take more at the beach this summer

21. Write our names in the sand.
also did not happen due to the oil spill, but will in June

22. Drink more water.
I have definitely been doing more of this since I found out I had IBS

23. Follow where God leads me.
This requires much prayer and something I am striving for everyday.

24. Play more games with the kids.
Check!

25. Although I can't control this---get my braces off!!!
Maybe, just maybe by the end of the year...

26. Go horseback riding.
Tim.....

27. Get a couple of massages.
I didn't do this, but I am so scheduling one the day both kiddos go to school!

28. Get photographs organized completely.
Check!

29. Stay a night at the Lodge.
Check!

29 Things to do while I'm 29

1. Take the kids to a nice restaurant for breakfast.
2. Eat healthier.
3. Tone up.
4. Do 50 push ups (I can do 23 right now).
5. Do a Bible study.
6. Take the kids to pick berries.
7. Make freezer jam with the berries.
8. Take the kids to a baseball game.
9. Do a Mother/Daughter and a Mother/Son day.
10.  Pay off the credit card!
11. Do more crafts with the kids.
12. Cook with the kids more.
13. Keep the kiddos birthday stress free.
14. Learn to speak more gently.
15. Ride paddleboats with the kids again.
16. Have a magical time at the beach.
17. Take the kids to see Granny Dixon.
18. Write in my journal more frequently.
19. Spend more time "tech-free."
20. Take some great pictures on the beach.
21. Write our names in the sand.
22. Drink more water.
23. Follow where God leads me.
24. Play more games with the kids.
25. Although I can't control this---get my braces off!!!
26. Go horseback riding.
27. Get a couple of massages.
28. Get photographs organized completely.
29. Stay a night at the Lodge.