Catch Up Post

Happy New Year Y'all!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and fun New Years!

We had a great Christmas Break. I was able to be off for almost a week and 1/2 from work. It was a much needed break. We did a lot of traveling but we did get to spend our first Christmas morning at our own home. In the past we have been at my mom's or my in-laws on Christmas Day. But since we had Brayson, we have decided to have Christmas morning at our own home. And it was very nice and relaxing!

I turned the big 4-0 on the 29th! Not as traumatic as turning 30. I have actually looked foward to turning 40. Kinda weird. We went to New Orleans for my birthday without Brayson. It was my first time totally away from him. We missed him but it was a much needed break. We did a lot of walking, ate beignets, seafood, and po-boys from Mothers. Yum! I hope to post some pics later. I broke our camera over the break so we had to buy a new one before we went to NOLA and we have not uploaded the new software on our computer yet.

So it is a New Year and we all have new resolutions. This year I decided to have only one resolution: To spend time with the Lord everyday. This is the most important thing I can do this year.

This falls in inline with my word for 2011. Simplify!

Simplify - to make less complex or complicated; make plainer or easier

I want my life to be less complex or complicated. I want to make it plainer or easier where it is in my power to do so.

So that is where my one resolution fits. No list of things I can't keep up with or can't remember. Just a simple one where if I complete it, the year will be a success no matter what else happens.

Now I do have other goals. Each month I want to have a theme. This month is organization. Each theme will work with my word for 2011. I want to work on organizing my home so we can simply live and not be so suffocated by it. I know I probably won't have everything organized by the end of the month but it is a start. And by having it is a theme for the month, it is not overwhelming. I will get what I can done and move on from there.

So what is your resolution(s), goals, word for the year?

What a difference a year makes!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2010

Football Family

I thought I would post some Friday night pics since I have not posted in a while. This is my busy time of year.

Twirl

I read this blog this morning and it really resonated with me. I think it will resonate with every woman.

http://jonesdesigncompany.com/thoughts/twirl/

I have always felt pressure to do, to be more. That I am never good enough. My clothes aren't right, I am not the right weight, my hair is not the right color, I am not doing enough for my decorating blog, I need to do more projects, and on and on and on. And now that I am a mom it is compounded even more. What is your child doing now, mine child is doing this, what are your feeding your child, how much is he sleeping, etc, etc, etc.! You can drive yourself crazy. Through the past 11 months, God has helped me to let go of some of that pressure with Brayson but for some reason I can't let go of it elsewhere.

I need to remember this verse:

"The Lord your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."

- Zephaniah 3:17

I want to be delighted in, I want to be quieted with HIS love, I want to hear Him rejoicing over me with singing. Lord help me to hear You.

Pray this verse for yourself and I hope and pray you hear His rejoicing over you.

Summer Family Picture

Since I haven't posted in a while - thought I would share a family pic from this summer. This was taken in June.

Scary but fun step

So after my last post, I have decided to have a blog about my decorating journey. It is kinda scary because I am by no means an expert. I am trying to learn as much as possible. But I have to take a step of faith. If I fail or look like a fool - that is okay. So please join me here and join me on my journey.

This blog will still be about my life, what is going on in my family, what I am learning from the Lord, etc. So stay with me here too!

Here goes something....(instead of nothing)

Darling I don't know why I go to extremes....

Last night Brayson and I were dancing to Billy Joel's "I Go To Extremes". Billy Joel is one of my faves and this is one of my favorite songs of his. As I was dancing around with Brayson, I was thinking about the words of the song and how I am like this song.



"Darling, I don't know why I go to extremes. Too high or too low, there ain't no in between."



If you know me, you know that generally I am a pretty laid back person. So you might not understand how this applies to me. Where I go to extremes is goals and expectations I place on myself. I set a high and lofty goal (the high) and then fail at one point or the other and just give up (the low). And most of the time, no one knows the goals I have set. So no one knows my failures.




I also see wonderful things from friends and other bloggers that I want to do or inspire me but I get overwhelmed and don't even try because I feel like I have to make these big leaps and bounds instead of taking baby steps.




Why am I so hard on myself? Why am I my worst critic? I think I have so bought into the world's view of success and what it means to get there. I constantly feel like I am late to the party and a failure. But who says I have to be on the world's timeline. Who cares that I became a Mother at 38? Who cares that I am just figuring out things that I am passionate about? Who cares that I may fail? It doesn't matter what the world thinks. What matters is I am who God created me to be. If called me to be a Mom later in life - so be it! I love it! If I never teach another Bible Study or speak - so be it! As long as I am where the Lord wants me. If it takes me a long time to develop my passion for decoarting - so be it!





So here goes a baby step for me - I am really learning that I really have a love/passion for decorating. I guess I come by it honestly since my Dad was an Interior Designer. I love Decorating books, decorating magazines, fabrics, colors, furniture, etc. So this summer I have started my inspiration book of what I like. I am also reading Open Your Eyes by Alexandra Stoddard. It is a book I bought a few years ago.

I am debating whether to do decorating inspiration/ideas here on this blog or develop a different blog. Hmmmm.....we will see. Remember - baby steps. ;)


My other passion is teaching the Word of God. I love it. There is nothing like digging into the Word and listening to what the Lord has to say to me. But having a baby has put things on hold. And that is sooo okay! I am doing my own study on Joshua. But it is slow going. I am struggling with getting up in the morning. It is so hard when I love sleep and I am sleep deprived. So my baby step here is to get up 10 minutes earlier. Then work my way up. So I am posting it here. So feel free to ask me how I am doing.