New Years Resolutions?

Do you make New Years Resolutions? Do you keep them?

For some time now I've eschewed resolving in January. Not so much because I don't like the idea of committing to make positive changes in my life, but more because I don't like to set myself up for failure. And January 1st always comes too early.

Here are my hopeful plans, to begin sometime this Winter:

1. Go back on my allergy diet. As much as I didn't love it, it really did make me much more healthy. I felt a lot better. Plus, eventually I have to stay on it long enough and faithfully enough to maybe pinpoint exactly which things I'm allergic to, instead of simply 10 things I'm not.

2. Enjoy my kids more. I don't know how much more there is to say. I find myself feeling resentful that my kids horn in on my "me" time: time to spend with my husband, time to spend on the Internet, time to read, write, craft, etc. I put them off a lot to keep house and cook too. But Eve's only going to be 4 for 10 more months, and Israel is growing and changing and becoming someone new every day. I don't want to miss this. It's precious and fleeting. It's a gift I don't want to squander on selfish pursuits. Not long from now, my little girl is not going to think I'm the coolest person ever, I won't be the center of her little world. For the time that I am, I want to enjoy it.

to make #1 and #2 work together, I may have to learn new strategies for food prep. I can't be spending all my time cooking the way I was this Summer and early Autumn. But quick things like quesadillas and spaghetti are definitely not in line with the sort of diet I need to be on.

3. I say this every year, and in fact, renew my intentions frequently throughout each year, but I'll repeat it, because it really is important, the MOST important, in fact. I want my life to be subject to God's will for me. This means spending more time praying, more time studying the bible, more time contemplating spiritual matters, more love and compassion for others, more grace and mercy, more service, more giving, less selfishness and self-absorption, a great deal less anger (especially toward my kids and husband), more God-glorifying and a lot less self-aggrandizement. Always challenging, always worth it.

4. Get more sleep and help the rest of my family get more sleep too. I'm not really sure how to accomplish this yet.

5. Finally, I intend to begin my handmade Christmas gifts for next year long before November, because I'd really like to relax a bit more during Advent, and not make my kids watch quite so much TV in December. Plus, last year I sacrificed crafting for my husband and kids in favor of crafting for friends, this year I mostly sacrificed crafting for friends in favor of crafting for my family. I'd like to manage to craft for both groups next time around.

And a happy new year

Well, I imagine by the time I get around to those promised pictures, even all *my* Christmas decorations will be repacked for the year.

Last night was the first night in a week that Israel went to bed for the night after only 1 wake up, that Eve went to bed without any wake ups, and that Israel did not get up at 6. Thank goodness, because the secret to my success is that Eve didn't go to sleep until 10, and Israel not until 11. Needless to say, getting to sleep in was a welcome relief, but ill-timed since today is a work day. I was so late that the gal I share a desk with had moved in for the day, expecting me not to come in at all.

This has been a year of high highs and low lows for us.

We welcomed a new and wonderful son, a new and wonderful niece, and a new brother-in-law. We were blessed so much by friends and family, and the mysterious and yet tangible ways in which God provides and loves us. We truly became a part of our new church and feel at home there, and continue to strengthen our friendships, even as we add to them. We received a Christmas card from an old friend I was quite certain had been killed in action (so regular was his correspondence prior to 2006), so I'm delighted to have, in essence, received him back from the dead--and with a wife as well (now I know what was keeping him so busy, or rather who.) In light of the highs, the lows don't really matter so much.

My hopes for 2008 include:
Healing, both emotionally and physically for Tom.
That my son will continue to grow as issue-free as he has so far and as his sister has.
That my daughter will continue to grow more delightful and accomplished, and perhaps just a little more tempered and tractable.
That Tom's side of the family will have no more alarming and devastating health diagnoses, and no deaths either.
That my side of the family will meet with life, health, and success. I wouldn't mind if my brothers' wives turned up expecting either.
That my crafty skills will increase and that I will be able to accomplish a rather ambitious to-do list which I've laid out for myself.
That I might have just a bit of money to spend on myself, and maybe obtain a pair of truly flattering trousers.
That I would love others in such a manner that they would know so and be blessed.
And last, but probably most importantly, that I would increase in love and knowledge of Jesus Christ.