My 2011 List

Inspired by Sprittibee's Big Fat Annual List, I decided to make my own goals for 2011. Hopefully I've made it realistic. Notice I didn't include scrapbooking. As much as I love it. It doesn't seem to happen. Maybe I can add it later. What's on your list?

1. Develop a stronger prayer/devotional time
   
2. Take down the tree/Christmas decorations
3. Put John's schedule on my calendar
4. Go out to lunch with Gabriel
5. Go out to lunch with Hannah
6. Attend Holly's Christmas concert 1/13 (postponed because of snow)
7. Go shopping for things Gabriel and Hannah need for their second semester
   
8. Find a reading aloud routine
9. Send Gabriel and Hannah cards or letters weekly
10. Find a new career - subbing isn't working for us
11. Get family pictures taken in the summer
12. Lose 10 pounds
13. Plan Holly's 8th grade school year
14. Make - and follow - weekly and daily to-do lists
15. Read 5 non-fiction books
16. Reestablish the habit of blogging
17. Begin an exercise routine
    
18. Lose 10 more pounds
19. Organize/declutter our bedroom
20. Begin Art and Science with Holly
21. Practice clarinet
22. Join orchestra at church
23. DON'T have any major dental work done (I can hope!)
24. Make weekly menu plans
25. Have my hair professionally cut and highlighted
26. Write a letter to my grandmother each month
27. Get rid of clothes that don't fit or I don't like
28. Lose 10 more pounds
29. Organize dining room buffet cabinet
30. Sell or donate books that won't be read again
31. Buy new clothes for the summer
32. DON'T find lost pounds
33. Visit my friend/former roommate Mary Ellen
34. Visit my friend/former roommate Cindy
35. Work on writing a book about our life in Romania
36. Encourage Holly in things that interest her - writing, crafts, cooking, photography
37. Visit the Creation Museum in Kentucky
38. Visit my grandmother in Kentucky
39. Learn Spanish with Holly
40. Reconsider 2011 list - add and revise as necessary
    

I Have Been Held

This year did not go how I had planned.
This year did not go how I had hoped.
The enemy stepped in and wreaked havoc in many areas of my life.
The wounds are deep and some will leave scars.
But through all the trials, I have been held by Almighty God.
The God of all comfort has held me in His hands.
He has hid me in the cleft of the Rock.
He has gently reminded me that trials lead to patience.
He whispered to me through His Word, reminding me of all His precious promises.
Reminders that He is always with me.
That His ways are not my ways.
That He knows the way that I take
And these difficult times will draw me closer to Him.
I am blessed with the knowledge that not only does He comfort me in times of tribulation
But He gives me hope for the future
In that I may forget those things which are behind, and reach forth unto those things which are before,
And when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Once Again

Christmas is over and the tree needs to come down. Some gifts still need to find a home. Laundry has piled up with the arrival of our two college freshmen home on their Christmas break. But I find myself with a more urgent need - the need to write. I began blogging in 2005 when an online friend told me I needed to and I fell in love with the concept. It quickly became a daily habit, a fixation even. But somehow the online obsession was quelled by the extreme life changes our family went through.

There was a trans-Atlantic move, a major career change, the need for me to work as well, high schoolers to homeschool and life in general. Our two oldest graduated from high school and left for their first year of college. Life with only one child at home has been different indeed. We have settled into somewhat of a routine but blogging has not yet found its way back into my life. I miss it. So here I am trying once again.

I know many long time blogging friends who have also gone through some major changes in their lives. Dear online friends, how do you keep blogging a part of your daily/weekly routine?