January

I am a little stunned to find myself at the end of January already. This month has flown by, although I seem to feel that way more and more. It's been a full and truly wintry month. We had our second big snow a few weeks ago giving both Josh and Juden another unexpected week at home. My sis-in-law had the idea to all get snowed in together. So our families and a few more friends got snowed-in, in the lovely home below and spent a few days getting kids in and out of layers, trudging around in snow, sledding and sipping cocoa. It's been a sleepy month as my belly grows and sleep is more elusive and the cold makes me want to hibernate with books and fire and my precious family. I don't suppose I'm much of a resolution maker, but I do like when the calender turns and it's a new day, a fresh start and time to set new goals and hopes. Josh and did some talking and planning and re-evaluating. I think the one goal that has been the biggest blessing has been being committed with Josh to read the whole Bible through this year. It has been so grounding and unifying to meet together in the Word, gaining strength for each day. Other reflections and hopes for the year:
Read and pray more,
Learn to say no sometimes,
Create one-on-one time with each of my kids regularly,
Have more dates with my husband,
Eat whole and fresh foods as much as possible,
Purge and simplify the house regularly,
View people the way Jesus views them,
Make a practice of hiding his Word in my heart,
Don't stress when life doesn't look like my tidy little lists,
Love people. every. single. day.

(above photo by John Hawbaker)




I thought I'd end this post by sharing another post that after reading I felt I could have written. It talks about the choices we make in our journey and respecting those that make different ones and it so resonates with me. You can check it out in the next post.