Friends = Family

Happy New Year!
This year promises great things. The continuation of a job I love, time with friends; both new and current, more web cam chats with my Mom and Dad, and precious time with my husband and kids. At first it was hard to have Christmas without my Sister, Dad and Mom but I came to the acceptance of it and made the best of the situation. We spent time on the web cam, online, and through phone calls. It made it less painful to miss them.
As I worked through the vacancy of our home, I began to have a sense of purpose and the need to get the house in order not just for company, but for my family. These 25 days off of work for school break has given me back some time and energy to do the things that I have neglected for so long. It feels so good to be on top of my house instead of it consuming and overwhelming me. There are still a lot of little things to do, but I have full confidence that they will get done and I will keep up with them.
Debily talked about her New Year’s Goals and think that is a great way of looking at things. Goal setting instead of resolutions, as they tend to feel insurmountable and every year they go undone anyway, why set yourself up for failure?

My goals in 2008 are:

1. Keeping up with my home and cleaning tasks. I know they are attainable with some time management.
2. Keeping my marriage fresh and fun. Taking the time to spend with my husband and committing to a study time together or a renewal time for just us.
3. Being more involved with my children’s activities. Too often I am there, but I am somewhere else in my brain. Turn off the world more and connect with them one on one and in what they are doing so I can support them and their endeavors.
4. Blog more. Be more revealing and structured in my thoughts, instead of spewing out my laundry list of things I do each day.
5. Work on our debt management. With discipline and focused attention, we can reduce our load and make the improvements to our home that we so badly desire.
6. Work on my relationship with Christ. He and I need to spend more time together and I am committed to studying his word weekly.

I think that is a short but sufficient list of goals to work toward in 2008. Who am I kidding? They probably won’t all get done, but that is the best part about goals. They are what you work for in striving for excellence, not perfection.

We had a great time over at Matt and Debbi’s. It was like being with family except they like us <wink> and want us to stay more than 1 night! No seriously, they are the next best thing to having family live close and we enjoy them time we spend together very much. Friends are family and I am so grateful for them. Happy New Year Y’all!

Oh, and in true Texan tradition, I ate Black Eyed Peas for lunch for “good luck” and I feel lucky alright! Lucky that I can’t smell my own gaseous emissions. They are after all beans. Poor Jon. He didn’t eat any and he wasn’t so “lucky”. Honk!!