Welcome 2011

Hello and Welcome 2011...I'm glad you are finally here.

The past year has brought with it a continued turmoil, a second child loss, and also some great times of fun and rejoicing withfriends, our family, and our boys. I am praying that 2011 will usher in a new beginning on all fronts.

That God's ministry will spread and that we, as a church, will be able to find new means to reach people for the Lord.

That a new start to the year will bring a lasting effort on the part of my family to become more healthy and LESS stressed. The tumultuous events of the last 2 years have really left us in poor shape...dealing or not dealing with with recurring anxiety and unrelenting stress that has had negative effects on all of us both mentally and physically. I for one, am sporting some extra cushion all over and find my fuse getting shorter with each heart palpitation that passes...YES all of it is from anxiety.

That a new more positive attitude will sweep through our home and allow us to really enjoy our time together. It is such waste to let outside influences that are out of our control ruin what could be really great memories with the people we truly love and are present in our lives. This life and the time we have are gifts from God and waisting them away in anger, resentment, and fear of what might happen next or who will hurt us next is....well...it definitely isn't how God wants us to spend our time alone or with those we love. This attitude has been a dark cloud looming over our home for over a year now and let me just say that I am over it, my husband and sons are over it, and I am ready to get our REAL life back.

That this new year will bring a new outlook and set of goals for our oldest son. Over the Christmas break we, as a family, decided to walk through a door that the Lord has opened for him. Starting January 3rd, 2011 he will begin a new grade at a new school. We loved our Christian school, but had for some time been considering returning to the public school system for several reasons and have been apprehensive for several reasons, but low and behold the door was opened and just as we have since Rick and I have been together, we prayed, felt peace, and walked through the door. So my prayer is that he is a light to those around him...a picture of an alternate way of life. I feel that this transition holds a burden for our son to stand for God and the way He wants us to live.  By showing others that it is ok to say no and refraine from the not -so-good-fo- you activities that so many of our teens are exposed to and get roped into.

That I will lighten up on the heavy load of expectations that I place on my family...not to be perfect by any means, but to take care of business the way I would, rather than the way that they need to handle things. This is a definite shortcoming in my make up.

In keeping with tradition...here come the resolutions...

My two goals for 2011 are to become more healthy by loosing weight and increasing our family's physical activity AND getting our finances under control.

True to form, I already have a plan ready for both items on the list and am itching to place check marks by both of them. It is the following through of the plan that I have found to be so elusive to me...did you know that lack of focus and a shortened attention span is a part of anxiety??? I didn't either until it happened to me...it is very frustrating...squirrel!!! Sorry about that...that was a shout out to all of my Up movie friends...anyway the lack of focus thing actually is a part of anxiety issues.

So here is my health plan....We as a family joined the YMCA, I just signed up for our local Biggest Loser group with a team who is sure to kill me...in love...if I don't produce results, and got a new Taste of Home Comfort Food DIET cookbook that has a super realistic take on using food as a tool to become healthier. I am excited about all three things and thanks to a few of my blog creepers (Miss A and Mrs. S) who reminded me that I haven't blogged for a while...I am going to track my progress here... at least every two weeks on weigh in days. Maybe having even MORE accountability areas will make me stay on track.

Finance plan...STOP SPENDING MONEY!!! In the next few days, I am realigning my budget and I am looking into the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University program and plan to take those classes as soon as I can get into one.

I hope that all of you have a FABULOUS  and SAFE New Year celebration and am looking forward to Welcoming a new year with all of you!!!

I'll see you back here on the 5th...initial weigh in day for the Biggest Loser and yes, unfortunately I will be sharing the dreaded number here...yikes!!!

Have a Blessed Day!

April