NewYear2013

We stumble through this first Monday…first of the year, first of the semester. We muddle through new curriculum and remember old routines. We re-learn how to get up “early” and how to carry and borrow and divide numbers out long. And I struggle to keep my balance as the house whirls with activity and questions and paper trails that would make some auditor proud. I forget to put the potatoes in the oven to bake and lunch doesn’t get served until 1:30. Children are still doing school at 5:05 and the oldest and I finally start dinner at twenty til 6. But we did it…we survived the first day of the second semester. We got over that Monday “hump” and it’s all downhill from here, right?

And as we get back into routines and welcome back something resembling a schedule, I get back to listing the gifts (how long has it been?!) because He deserves our praise no matter how life spins us ’round and because peace comes in giving thanks, in opening our eyes to all He has already given, already done, and opening our hearts to hope of all He is still doing.

2294. Barbies strewn everywhere

2295. blankets laying about

2296. signs of a house full of life

2297. children doing kind things – just because

2298. stomach issues and another day of not running

2299. books discussions with a good friend

2300. Christmas gifts picked up here and there

2301. my second-born – now eleven

2302. a good week

2303. cloudy, overcast days – looks like winter

2304. littlest one beginning to feel better

2305. quiet Sunday morning, home with two sickies

2306. snuggles from my Chandler

2307. winter weather

2308. movies as a family

2309. single digits and snuggling under blankets

2310. the sparkle of Christmas lights

2311. shooting stars on a morning walk

2312. hearing nothing from Haiti

2313. cough medicine for weary girls

2314. end of the week, end of the semester

2315. happy vacuumed floors

2316. oreo truffles

2317. fingerprints re-taken

2318. a day of Christmas shopping with my love

2319. holding my girls after a day of senseless tragedy

2320. a front row “seat” at the light show

2321. a heart that hurts for the hurting

2322. a God who heals

2323. a beautiful day to run errands

2324. Christmas shopping done?

2325. my girls – each one a gift

2326. Christmas break

2327. snow!

2328. sleeping in

2329. warm house

2330. UPS man that delivers packages late on rainy nights

2331. December thunder storm

2332. more snow

2333. really good days

2334. girls eager to add to the Gifts We Already Have list

2335. making ornaments

2336. a pre-holiday family getaway

2337. College Basketball Experience

2338. Plaza lights

2339. ice skating

2340. adjoining hotel rooms

2341. making memories together

2342. Christmas celebrations

2343. kids so generous

2344. a hard holiday season over

2345. helping kids learn truthfulness

2346. dear friends coming to visit

2347. celebrating another year of life for my beloved

2348. quiet days

2349. learning to wait in silence

2350. the close of 2012

2351. tentative hope for 2013

2352. cards and pizza with friends on New Year’s Eve

2353. a house sold on the last day of 2012

2354. a blank slate ahead of us; wonder at what this year might bring

2355. beautiful snow everywhere

2356. sleep for tired children

2357. hard conversations revealing a hard heart

2358. praying God to restore, knowing He is able

2359. an ugly gym run; the long road back to being in shape

2360. school plans made

2361. Haiti photo books completed

2362. the return of Friday classes

2363. a four mile walk/run in the mid-day sunshine

2364. fresh snowflakes

2365. Saturday

2366. church that gives so generously to the building project AND to Haiti

2367. being awestruck at God’s goodness

2368. the beginning of a new semester

Praying this is a year full of good habits and trusted routines and a heart full of thanks.

For His Glory ~

It’s 2013 and I’m often slow to come around on New Year’s resolutions and goals. Early in my parenting I heard Elisabeth Elliott’s quote “Just do the next thing” and it has characterized how I’ve lived so much of the past twelve years. I don’t seem to have the energy often to think very far ahead, so I simply do the next thing; the next chore, the next class, the next day. When I try to plan too far ahead I find myself trying to live too much in my own strength, not resting in my Jesus. Do the next thing keeps me kneeling. And so, I don’t often have my goals and resolutions ready on January 1. It’s often on January 1 I realize I need to think about such things and I mull and pray and ponder for a few days.

And while I don’t have my goals and hopes for the year lined out yet, I do think I have a word for the year – peace. As we come off a year of political strife and the news is filled with fiscal cliffs and killings and so much uncertainty, as we look ahead at another year for the business and the turning of a calendar page always brings so much uncertainty, as we wait and wonder over trips to Haiti and how many will there be and will our daughter come home this year, peace seems like something we are going to need to be intentional about. As we navigate these tween years with all these girls and one enters her teens this year, as we homeschool and do marriage and ministry and life together, peace is something there is never enough of.

In the midst of a wild and sin-torn world, can our home be a place of peace and refuge? In the midst of the crazy and the unexpected and the mundane, can my heart overflow God’s peace? In the face of uncertainty and doubt and fear, can we model peace to a peace-starved world? Only through resting and trusting in Jesus….May the God of hope fill you with all joy and PEACE as you trust in Him. {Romans 15:13a}

That is the challenge and goal of 2013. What is your one word for 2013?

For His Glory ~