a new year, day, & goal

we decided to get out of the house today and go do something outdoors.  the temps were a little cool, but the weather was great.  scattered clouds allowed for the sun to warm us up on and off.  we had a great afternoon together.  here are a lot, and i really do mean a lot of pictures to give you a feel of what our day was like.

 



 

 

 

last night as a family we wrote down some ways in which we felt blessed and thankful to the Lord during 2012.  everyone had a few things to put on the list, with the exception of Little A of course.  our oldest decided to get out his mini spiral notebook and copy down some of the things that we were adding to the list.  i loved how he got it when it came to writing these things down.  then as we drove in the driveway this afternoon from the park he had added another item to his own list and shared it with everyone before we got out of the car. 

this just melted my heart.  it was one of those moments when you sit back and think to yourself "okay, we are doing something right when it comes to this parenting thing."  then he helped his little sister by getting her baby doll out of the car and bringing it to her, without being asked to help out.  mark said something to me like "can you believe how sweet that was?"  we have moments like that more than i realize i'm sure, but lately it seems like the kids have been in this funk, arguing often, etc.  this was just such a sweet way to end an already great afternoon.

as this new year kicks off i'm starting something new, a goal for 2013 that i want to keep up.  two years ago i participated in the ssmt put on by Living Proof Ministries.  i had every intention in the world of memorizing the twenty-four verses of scripture and even trying to fly to Houston for the celebration at the end of the year.  well, the Lord had a different plan.  i found out that i was pregnant with Little A in june of 2011.  shortly afterwards i was hit so hard with morning sickness that mostly everything fell on the back burner, including my memorizing verses for the ssmt.  well, here i am starting again this year.  i will try to post all twenty-four verses here, the 1st and 15th of each month.  let me know if you are doing this as well, will you?!  here is my first verse for 2013, do you remember it from my previous post?  i loved it so much that i thought it was a great way to the start out the new year.  it's not too late to join in on the memorization team.  just follow the link above and join!

i pray that you had a great first day to the new year, and that in some small way you were encouraged as well.  i'd love to hear how you spent the day or about some new way that you have been encouraged lately.

the end of 2012

well, here we are at the end of another year.  i'm not much for new years resolutions or anything like that, and maybe that's because i'm horrible at actually sticking to them...but at the end of this year i do feel the need to look back at the things that the Lord has blessed my family and i with in 2012.  i'm not going to list them here, but i'm just saying that in my opinion it's good to look back and think about ways in which we have been blessed.

 

"how can i repay the Lord for all his goodness to me?" -psalm 116:12

 

this year in particular has probably been the hardest year of my life so far.  we were blessed with child number four back in january, and it really does seem like from the day we brought her home that our lives have been forever changed.  changed in many more good ways than we will ever know, but at the same time changed in ways that have been so hard.  it's hard for me to even put into words most of the time.  the best way i can explain it is that this year has just been hard.

 

in the midst of this past year we have also received many more blessings than i will ever know.  the Lord has been good to us and especially to me.  seeing me through day after day after day of feeling like i just can't do this, and to be honest, feeling like i just plain don't want to do this. 

 

i am looking to this new year as just that, a new year.  the baby is almost a year old, not as fussy and not as needy (although there hasn't been one night, not one, where she isn't crying as i get her dressed and ready for bed at night).  the boys don't need as much physically from me anymore.  number three is hopefully going to potty train soon.  and i won't need to buy formula or wash bottles anymore pretty soon as well.  those things may seem small, but to me things are looking up in many tangible ways.  maybe you have some small ways that things are looking up for you this next year.  if so, i'd love to hear about them.  i do believe that seeing the blessings in the small things can help with how you go about your day.  really, it's not always easy, but it is helpful.

 

"how can i repay the Lord for all his goodness to me?" -psalm 116:12

 

the verse above has been in my mind this week after i received it in an email.  the Lord has been good to me, to my family.  i will never know to what extent, because in reality His goodness is unfathomable to humans, but i do know that His goodness overflows.

 

so, as i look at the picture below of Miss L, our number three, i can't help but smile.  i also wish that i could bottle up that happiness that exudes from her daily.  oh to be a child again.  this year i want to be a happier wife and a happier momma to those four precious ones that i care for daily.  i don't want to get in the poor me rut.  i want to seek out the daily joy in this house that we call home.

 

happy new year.