A New Year

[Note: Exceptionally long post...]

Jeff and I have been discussing and praying for the changes we want to make in our family and household for about a month now. Usually I make my New Year's Resolution with little thought and usually by the end of the first day I've blown it. I once knew a girl that resolved not to eat chocolate for a year... why would anyone do that?! :) So, with much thought and consideration I have made my list. Yes, list. It's not just one thing, there are actually quite a few. Some I've already put into practice, some I still need to work on. Either way, I know that this is going to be a year of growth and change... sometimes at a snail's pace, but I'm in this for the long haul because I want these changes to occur.

First of all, the easy stuff... I need to take better care of myself. The boys need to grow up knowing that not only does mom take care of the family, but she takes care of herself as well. I haven't been setting a good example in that area. I am the only female in this house and I want them to grow up with a healthy picture of women. I'm not trying to be a feminist by any means, I just know that I have the largest roll in painting their thoughts on women.

Here's what I am currently in need of: eating breakfast daily (more than coffee), a haircut, a trip to the dentist, a trip to the optometrist, and of course the ever popular trip to the shower. Yes, I need a shower. I am so busy taking care of everything else that I don't take the 15 minutes for a daily shower. My goal is at least 4 showers a week. I know this is absolutely gross to some of you that I wouldn't say a daily shower, but I'm trying to be realistic and I'm taking baby steps in all my resolutions. I want them to stick and I want to stick less! LOL! :)

Next, I want to have daily devotional time to read the bible, pray, and center my thoughts for the day. Some much needed quiet time. I have been praying for God to supply a few moments for us in the morning where I feel rested enough to actually read and pray. For a week, he has provided that time one way or another. Some mornings I'm not so well rested, but I still have made the choice to take the time before the house begins to stir. It has been so nice. I've also ordered a devotional book for moms that should be arriving any day now to help me with my thoughts and study.

I also want to be more grateful. It is so unfortunate that I pray more when I am in need than when life is rosy. My plans are for a gratitude journal of sort... possibly even posting each day or creating another blog where I can just jot down my 3 - 5 things I am grateful for that day. I don't want this to be a big to-do, just something easy for me to keep up with.

Now for the hard one: Improve my parenting skills. For years I have prayed for more patience. I have become more patient in those years because of the trials I have gone through to build it. I'd like to stay away from more trials this year. *smile* So what else to pray for? I want to see things through my children's eyes. I think so many times as adults we jump to the wrong conclusion about what the kids are doing and the kids end up punished inappropriately. I want to get down on their level and think about their point of view before drawing conclusions. Secondly, I want my face to light up when the kids enter the room. We do plenty of hugs and kisses, but I want them to see that I love them through the expression on my face as well. Enough said. I want to be more consistent in my discipline and stick to the boundaries. This is going to be a hard one, or at least it has been a struggle of mine in the past. We need to come up with house rules and stick to them. The boys need to know what the rules are first, though... ie sometimes we let them jump on the couch cushions other times they get in trouble for it. Very confusing for them, I know.

Another hard one for me: View my stay-at-home-"momship" as a job. If I had a boss that overlooked my housework, parenting, outings and how efficient and thorough I am, I'd have been fired a long time ago! Jeff has suggested (after I brought this up to him) that I view it as an 8 hour job Mon - Fri. When he comes home it is a dual effort. So, I've gone back to old habits that worked for us using Flylady as a guide. (I'll have a post on this soon showing what I'm doing.) My favorite part about the Flylady plan is to take baby steps. In theory, assigning certain tasks each day will yield to a clean house over time. (You don't have to clean your whole house everyday!) I've been "operating" this way for almost a week now and I have been busy. The house is by no means spotless, but it is coming together. Yeah!

I need to be more conservative with my computer time. With the previous resolution in place, I think this one will fall in line. I need to stop checking my email so much. Who cares how many people have visited my blog and what they looked at? I need to stop "surfing". My plans are to limit my computer time to during Nathan's nap and to one night a week. I think having a specified night will lesson the guilt and give both Jeff and I preparation for the night.

The budget. What resolution would be complete without looking at finances? Jeff and I have decided on a house plan but haven't decided on how to finance it. We need to start cutting corners and being more intentional about where our money goes. I have all but stopped my SLAH business so that extra little income is gone. I got online and checked out our phone bill - reduced it by half choosing the items we really only needed. Our plans are to shut the cable off. We are considering moving into a cheap rental property near where we want to build so Jeff can do some of the work himself and we can save money. There is a lot on our plates for this resolution. I don't have the specifics on this one either. It's going to be a work in progress.

Finally, I want to take up a new hobby: photography. I have become so entranced by Pioneer Woman's pictures that I really want to learn to take better pictures. Jeff ordered two books for me so I can learn more about photography before I invest in the camera. I am really excited about this and I hope I find the time to learn what I need to because I have plenty of great subjects (or characters) around here!

So, that's it! That's all I want to change. Nothing too drastic. Some easy stuff, some hard stuff, and some fun stuff. I'm hoping and planning towards a great 2008! Happy New Year!