The Best-Laid Plans...

When I started thinking about writing a post for the last day of 2010, I had several ideas. Another post on looking back and looking forward. A pictorial review of the year. An inspirational piece on why we should be setting goals instead of making resolutions. But, I rejected all of those ideas and decided to post about what's on my mind.

This past year I got tired of referring to my granddaughter as “the baby” on my blog and gave her the name Sunny. My reasoning at the time was that I love the weather, so what better way to refer to my grandchildren than by weather terms.

I will be welcoming a new granddaughter to the family in March and I started researching weather terms to use for her blog name. Her name will start with a “K”, so I wanted to find weather terms beginning with the letter “K”. Uh, yeah, I don’t think this idea is going to work out. According to the Internet, the weather terms beginning with “K” include: Katabatic, Katafront, Kelvin Temperature Scale, Killing Frost, Kilopascal, Knot, Knuckles. None of these terms bring to mind a sweet baby girl. Thank goodness the meanings of the terms was included and based on that alone I would not consider any of these.

Sunny kissing her new cousin "K"

So, Plan B. I think I will wait until she is born and then I will give her a name that matches who she is. It definitely won't be a weather term beginning with the letter "K".

Happy New Year!

Thursday Thoughts

It is very cold here. As I write this it’s in the low 40s and the high today is only going to be 51. Then tonight, it’s going to drop to freezing (32) or below for several hours. I have lived here too long and can’t handle these cold temps!

We will be renewing our lease on this house in February. I’ve decided to be proactive instead of living another year in reactive mode. As I’ve stated before, this house has no closets other than the ones in the bedrooms. Both bathrooms have single vanities, so there’s very little storage under the sink. The hall bath has no drawers and our bath has two drawers. The kitchen has two double-door cabinets, three single-door cabinets, and five drawers. I have no storage space! I’ve been frustrated by this for two years and my solution has been to (literally) move stuff from one space to another as the situation warrants. When I have no guests, the guest bed serves as storage space, when I do have guests I set up tables in the garage to move that stuff to. It’s been overwhelming for someone like me who is normally highly organized. For our third year in this house, I’m resorting to packing up some items that we can live without for a year. Just think, when we finally buy a house and unpack them, they’ll seem brand new to us!

Dan is counting down the hours until his six day vacation from Sam’s Club begins. This morning he announced “36 hours to go!”. I’m praying that he will be able to go from full time to part time at the end of January.

Sunny was over yesterday. She is just the smartest little girl! (Yes, I’m biased) She is attempting to sing. She brought me the three wise men yesterday, and was “singing” before she even got them to me. When I started singing “We Three Kings”, she nodded and “sang” along. I have a little cardboard book version of “Go, Dog, Go”. She loves that book and we read it several times each day. Yesterday after I read it to her, she took it over to Rascal, opened it so he could see it, and she turned each page saying, “go, doggie, go” until she got to the “Stop, Dogs. Stop” page, then she held out her hand in a stop motion (like I do) and said “stop doggie”, before continuing with “go, doggie, go” for the rest of the book. I wish I had the camera and had filmed it!

The wind is howling. I think I’ll make a cup of hot tea and read…

A Look Ahead...

Today I want to focus on looking ahead to 2011…

This past year I read my NIV/Message Bible for quiet time. I enjoyed it, but I am going back to my chronological Bible for 2011. If you’ve never read the chronological Bible I highly recommend it. You will never look at the Bible in the same way again. It’s like reading a book, chapter by chapter, in the order it happened in. It’s definitely a good way to set the events in your mind in a more easily understandable order.

The other day Beth Moore posted on her blog about a Scripture Memory Challenge she’s hosting in 2011. I’m going to try to participate in it this year. For the details, check out her blog. I think it will be easy and not take up a ton of time. It consists of picking a verse on the 1st and 15th of the month to memorize. I think I can memorize 24 verses in a year and I’m going to try my best!

This year I’m going to continue the practice I began last year of keeping a Gratitude Journal. I have so much to be grateful for and writing five items per day is a great way to start my morning.

I also plan to keep a Christmas Jar again in 2011. I loved doing it this year. I have no idea how much was in it because I didn’t count it. For those of you who don’t know, a Christmas Jar is a jar that you put all of your spare change in over the course of the year. I pulled my coins out each time it got close to being full, rolled them, and then put the paper money back in. You give the jar away to someone on Christmas Eve (or anytime Christmas week). It can be someone you know, a stranger, a family member, a friend, whoever God leads you to give it to. It is to be an anonymous gift.

I’m also going to keep saving $5 bills this year. I used cash for grocery money this year and each time I got a $5 bill I placed it in a jar. At the end of the month I deposited the money in my savings account. I’ve saved over $400 this year!

This seems to be my year for challenges. I’ve joined the “Crazy January Challenge” and will be starting one cross-stitch project each day for the first 15 days of 2011. Then I will try to complete them all before the end of the year. I’m hoping that I not only complete them, but several other projects that I need to do next year.

I’m looking forward to the arrival of two, yes two new grandbabies in 2011. Zach and Ashley’s baby girl, Kennedy Grace, is due March 4th. Katie’s new baby is due July 20th. I am so excited!

If you want to know more about what I have planned for 2011 (and beyond) you can check out the 101 in 1001 tab at the top of this page. I also made a page for the Crazy January Challenge.

I have so enjoyed writing this blog. I’m going to keep some of the elements of it, and will be adding new ones as the year progresses. I’m also committing to updating my other two blogs more regularly in 2011.

So, there’s a glimpse into the future for me. I’d enjoy hearing what goals you have for the new year.

Happy New Year!

A Look Back...

This week, besides taking down my Christmas decorations, I will be looking back at 2010 and evaluating it. I will also be looking forward to 2011 and planning for it. Today I’m looking back:

This year it was clear that God was working on several areas of my life with me. Primarily, generosity, gratitude, and trust. As so often happens, these were the areas I was feeling prompted to work on myself!

Gratitude: I have been so grateful this year for God’s provision, for His ever-presence, for His interest in the smallest details of my life. I do not have the words to explain to you my gratitude for how God has provided for us since late 2007 when the housing market began its collapse. And if that weren’t enough, He has provided for us this year by Dan’s appraisal business increasing more than we could have imagined! It’s not back to the old levels, but it’s way ahead of 2007, 2008, 2009 levels.

Generosity: The day the earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, my thoughts immediately went to an orphanage that I had seen on TLC’s show “Adoption Stories”. There were several episodes involving this orphanage and I remembered the director’s name, Dixie. I also remembered her flaming red hair! I could not remember the name of the orphanage. I googled on what I thought it was and found it. Thank God none of the children had been injured, and although they were all very shaken, there was no major damage to their buildings. I felt this overwhelming desire to help, but was a novice at organizing a charity drive. I decided to just do it, and we collected eight boxes of general donations to send to Haiti. Then, this past summer, two friends and I joined together for a Flip-Flop drive for the orphanage to celebrate our birthdays. Our goal was 162 pairs of flip-flops and we collected well over 300 pairs. Wow! What a great experience that was! This past week I went to Family Support Resources to wrap Christmas gifts for kids living in the 20 group homes managed by FSR. I came away with a great idea for a charity drive for their kids… look for details later this week.

Trust: I read a book this summer that revolutionized my prayer life, and my trust in God. The book suggested that instead of praying and asking for the resources we need for our daily life, we should be thanking God in advance for supplying those resources. In His time. From sources He chooses. Our job is to trust that He will provide and to wisely use what He does provide. Wow, that really spoke to me and beginning that day I changed my prayers. I no longer ask God to send us appraisal orders. I thank Him for the orders we’ve received, for the orders we will receive, and I pray for wisdom in using those fees the way He intends us to use them. This has made a huge difference in my attitude.

This year has been exciting in a variety of ways. Dan has taught me more about the administrative side of appraisals so I can be a partner of sorts in DEK Appraisals. He plans to teach me more next year, which I’m looking forward to. I like to be a contributor to the success of his business.

I spent time with friends this year, read lots of books, enjoyed time with my kids and granddaughter. I didn’t cross-stitch as much I wanted to, but there’s always next year.

In 2010, I really felt the difference of being out from under some of the stress-load of the previous three years. I felt it emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically. It was wonderful! It’s funny how you don’t realize the weight of the stress until it starts to lift. You actually feel lighter.

All in all, 2010 was a fantastic year. Now, I can turn my thoughts toward 2011…

Christmas Day 2010

What a great Christmas this was! You know how some years just don't quite hit the mark? This year was a really good one. Everyone liked their gifts. Having the three different celebrations was something new for us. I don't want to do that every year, but it worked for this year. The food was good. I don't have tons of left over goodies for us to eat. It was just a fun year. Here's the pictures from yesterday. I know a couple of them are blurry, but they make up for it in cuteness!

Sunny peering at her new Cabbage Patch baby

Katie

Jessica

Great Grandpa

Gabe

Gabe always looks forward to a Lifesaver's Book in his stocking!

Dan

Me with Great Grandma looking on

This baby looked so interesting...

that she climbed on board for a closer look!

Christmas Celebration #2

Merry Christmas!

Last night, Dan and I opened our gifts alone together for the first time in 27 years. Oh my goodness, who knew it was going to be so much fun?! We both got lots of books, Dan got several John Wayne DVDs, I got some serving bowls I really wanted. I surprised Dan with a new wedding band (he thought we were waiting until our 30th anniversary in April). And, Dan actually surprised me with three gifts - two gorgeous necklaces and a Wii game! We also opened our gifts from JD and Janel - thanks you two, we loved them! This morning we're gearing up for Christmas Celebration #3 and our Christmas dinner.



Christmas Celebration #1

Last night we celebrated Christmas with Adam, Ashley, and Zach. Tonight we'll attend Christmas Eve Services with Jessica, and then back home for Dan & I to open our presents. Tomorrow is Christmas with the rest of the family.

Keepin' it simple - pizza, veggie tray, Christmas goodies

Katie and Gabe

Jess and Adam

Zach

Ashley

Sunny



Early Christmas for Sunny

Great Grandma and Tia Jessica came over on Wednesday to play with Sunny. Grandma brought her an early Christmas present… a purse! She knew just what to do with it and slipped it over her arm to model it for us. Cute!

Lending a Hand

Katie invited Jessica and I to come down to her office to help wrap gifts for the kids in the 20 group homes they manage. What a great experience! It was impossible to wrap gifts and not pray for the little boy or girl or teen that would be opening the gift on Christmas morning.

I was able to talk to one of the women on staff there and gain more general information about the residents of the homes, their odds of going back home to their parents, and their needs. I'm planning a charity drive for the homes next month. I just need to finalize what needs I want to provide for. Look for an announcement the 2nd week of January.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from that morning. My thanks to the staff at Family Support Resources for allowing us to help.

At first I thought Jessica and I were the only wrappers,

thank goodness there were several teens there to help.

My daughters; always willing to help others.

I'm proud of them.

Since I normally watch Sunny on Tuesdays,

she came along to help.

A Walk in the Park

On Monday, Jessica & I took Sunny to the local park for some fun. And what fun it was! We played on the play ground equipment, fed the ducks & geese, studied two trout one of the fishermen had caught, saw lots of doggies, tried out the swings, visited the dog park to see even more doggies, walked the perimeter of the “lake”, and watched Sunny slide down the slide on her own. When we got back home, it was time for a nap with absolutely no protest! There’s a short video at the end of the still shots… enjoy!