I am so thankful that we have all been given another year together and I'm looking forward to seeing what God brings us in 2013. The last couple days I have been delighting in visions of a new year, a fresh start, and an opportunity to plan what I would like to accomplish in it. I have decided that I enjoy planning way too much...if only I enjoyed doing to the same extent! Planning gives a feeling of accomplishment without any actual work. =)
While planning, this snippet of life in mind kept coming to mind:
A couple weeks ago, I was determined to rake up some of the leaves in our front yard. The untouched drifts of leaves had been really bothering me. I put Evelyn in the backpack and Nate tagged along. He has recently discovered the little row of "woods" along our yard and likes hiding behind the trees and crunching through the sticks and leaves. He had been in the trees for a couple minutes, not far from me, and was quietly doing something.
I thought victoriously, "So, this is how moms with young children get things done! This is not that hard! I just have to bring them along with me and do it!"
About 5 seconds later I looked over at Nate and thought, "He has been standing next to that one bush for a while. I wonder what he is looking at so intently." Then I realized that the bush was covered in some kind of bright red berry, which look very appealing to a small boy who delights in all things fruity. I rushed over to him. Nate looked up at me, pointed to the berries and said, "Yuuummm!"
It did not look like he had eaten more than one or two from the number of empty stems, but I was scared anyway. We went into the house and I gave him a drink. Then we spent a long time researching "poisonous berries in GA". I eventually concluded that they were not poisonous and Nate, obviously, is fine.
The moral of the story is: whatever I think I can get done, with both children along for the ride, I should probably half my expectations. And then I should not be disappointed. And a second moral: some things are more important than getting things done, such as keeping my children safe.
However, I must attempt projects anyway. Otherwise, nothing will ever get done. I seem to vacillate between two views of thought here. First, that this is a season, a difficult time in my life during which I should not attempt large projects. On the other hand, if I take that approach I will not attempt any large projects for a very, very long time! Most people are only intending to have two children, so from here on out projects are going to be easier and easier. But if I am going to continue to have children, with which I am hoping the Lord will bless us, the future for projects looks rather bleak with the "seasons" mindset. If it is difficult to get things done with two babies, what about with two while I am pregnant, and then three, and then four and homeschooling, etc.
No, there will be no "easy" time in the near future. So I must gird up my loins and get done what I can get done and be content with that. It is hard to have high expectations and then be graceful when I fail. At the same time, I must have goals, expectations, plans or we will just watch way too much Netflix (now that we have a Wii)! While there certainly are seasons during which "extras" should be attempted and seasons during which they should not, I don't want to use that as an excuse.
All of that was a grand digression from my original thought, which was my joy in this new year and my hopes for it. My main, and very broad, goals for this year are:
1) to grow closer to my Savior and to seek Him more diligently. I hope to read through the Bible this year, which I have not done for several years. Brett and I are both working towards being more faithful in personal and family devotions.
2) to foster an atmosphere of joy and peace in our home. I want our home to be a taste of heaven for those who live in it. This has always been a goal of mine, but I am thinking of practical ways to make our home more beautiful and inviting...inwardly as well as outwardly.
I hope to blog about a few more specific goals for this year. Writing them out lends weight to my commitment.
A happy new year from our house to yours!!
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