Happy New Year!

I hope 2008 will find each of us growing in God's grace in our relationships with God, our spouses, our children, and our friends and family. May God draw us ever closer to Him and continue to conform us to His image through this year.

It's been several years since I bothered to make any New Year's resolutions (mainly because I don't end up keeping them); however, in the past year my life has seemed to be more and more unfocused for a variety of reasons. Blame it on the emotional stress of two miscarriages, the overwhelming busyness of trying to do too many things, recent lack of sleep, or my lack of consistency in finding time to read my Bible and pray. Whatever the causes or causes, I'm certainly ready to try to bring my life back into focus before the new baby arrives so I decided to set up some goals for this year that I can work toward accomplishing.

Physically:

• Improve my eating habits by:

1. Drinking more water and less caffeine free Pepsi
2. Having a least one fruit or vegetable with every meal or snack
3. Using my bread machine to make more homemade bread
4. Eliminating soy from my diet
   

• Becoming more active as best as I can for the first half of the year and reestablishing a more consistent exercise program for the second half of the year.
• Remember my daily vitamin

Spiritually:

• Spend time daily on a more consistent basis in reading my Bible and praying
• Try to read through the entire Bible (whether I can stay on the daily schedule or have to finish up next year)

Mentally:

• Start memorizing my way through the Psalms
• Read and work my way through the book Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit
• Try to read through at least one book a month for myself

Relationally:

• Try to spend some non-school quality time with each of my children individually twice a week
• Spend more time talking or doing something together and less time watching tv in the evening with DH

Other:

• Steam and put together the crocheted squares for Violet's blanket that have been sitting in a bag for over a year.
• Reorganize what's currently in my office to make a bedroom for the baby
• Work through the pile of stuff that I have set aside to sell either by listing it on Ebay or getting it ready to consign this spring.

I may or may not get through all of these goals this year, but at least it gives me a place to start and a direction to focus my energy.