Saying Good Bye to 2009 and Looking Forward to 2010

It seems my list for 2010 continues to grow as I reflect back on the last year of my life. While there were many things to be thankful for, there we also many things that brought pain and unhappiness. Each year as I get older, I seem to understand more and more of what my purpose is in life and what it is that I am called to do. Its not always easy to accomplish those things and some times I even fall off the right path, but some how my heart, mind, having wonderful caring friends and my faith seem to bring things back into perspective for me.

Some of my goals for this upcoming year are to.... 1. Re-read The Purpose Driven Life Book again. To apply this for 40 days and begin the habit and routine of spending daily time with the Lord. My life can get so busy, that there are times that there seems to be very little time for me. I know that when my spiritual life is on track, my whole life seems to run much more smoothly. 2. The winter months living here in MI get to me the older I get as well. I'm always cold, I miss the sun and blue skies, being outside and feeling free. It also makes it very hard to be in my creative, artistic mind set. I am going to try harder in this area. To be more positive, force myself to get my camera out more and appreciate the beauty of this season. (this will be tough) 3. Exercise is another area I need to get into the habit of doing on a daily basis. For many years I was so disciplined. It seems each year as we added another child to our family, this too, was an area that got left in the dust. However what is not getting left in the dust is my ever growing arse! lol THAT is something that just needs to GO AWAY!!!! lol And with my oldest daughters upcoming wedding, having 4 children still in the house, I need to set a good example of being fit and taking care of myself. So, to the gym I go! And I am going to try and go "happily". lol 4. Let's talk about my blog. Sigh. I have let that go and have lost touch with so many of you. I am hoping to be better at that again. So if you want to de-lurk and have a blog too, I would love to add you to my side bar and hopefully meet some new people this year! ;) 5. Finding the world of photography has been nothing short of a wonderful outlet for me. I find it very rewarding and it has brought many new friendships into my life that I cherish very deeply. The group of woman that I have formed friendships with are very inspirational. We all help each other when questions arise, problems in daily life pop up and I want to make sure that I make a conscious effort to maintain these relationships. The fact that we all live in different states makes it a bit of a challenge, but I realize the "specialness" of each of these gals and I love them to pieces. 6. The world of marriages. David and I have been together for 19 years this year, married for 18. We know when things aren't good, why they aren't good and we know what we need to do in order for there to be harmony in our home. We both have made it a priority to check in daily with each other, to talk about our day, even when we are so exhausted and to pray for our marriage and family on a daily basis. My life as a full time Mother at home and his life with his own business can make it for very little time to be together. We are going to improve this. 7. Church. This has been a huge challenge for us since this past July. Our Pastor and David's best friend for the past 10 years took another call in California. For many weeks I would go and be in tears as the interim took the stage and I heard his voice. Many times I would walk out of the sanctuary at this point because I truly could not take it. It was not what my heart wanted to hear. It was not the man that I admired so much over the years and it certainly has been far from the uplifting, thought provoking sermons I have been use to. Emmie has struggled as well, so you can imagine the unhappy faces on Sunday morning. However, we realize that we have 3 other little ones that need to be attending class to see and learn what it means to be a follower of Christ. So, we are going to try and be better parents in this area. 8. The next 3 months I will be spending quite a bit of time in the hospital. I have appointments for Sophia, Andrew and Daniel this month. I have no doubt Fia's tonsils and adenoids will come out, Daniel is still in question for tubes in his ears and we are going to try and have Andrews heart repair surgery done before we leave for Maui. To be honest, I am not worried about Fia and Daniel. I know that I can get through those and that the recovery time will be minimal. But if I am honest with you about Andrew, the thought that they will be cracking my little boys chest open nearly puts me in a state of frenzy. I will be calling out to all my prayer warriors when this is scheduled. 9. Emmie still is struggling with the migraines and this is another issue I will be addressing at her next bio feedback appointment. I really want to take her to our Chiropractor and she is fighting me on this issue. However, I think she is going to lose because I think we at least need to try it. Now, fitting it into the schedule is another story. Here is another area that I need to be better at. Time management and our daily schedule. 10. Vitamins. I have a boat load that I take. And I forget to take them. Again, from past experience, I know that when I take them on a daily basis I feel so much better. Another area I need to improve on.

11. Returning emails. I have been terrible at this. Especially when I get them on my blackberry. I read them when I am out and about and then forget about them. Need to be better at this too. 12. And finally......I know many of you are wondering if we are adding to our family again or not. For those of you that have followed our journey over the years, you should probably know the answer. However at this point I need to be cautious for several reasons. But I promise you that if and when I have something more to say about this, I will. ;) I wish you all a wonderful 2010. And I pray that many, many more children come home to their forever families.