I am so sorry not to have been here for such a long time but this has really been a season of busyness, both joyful and heart sore, this year. We have celebrated a third birthday party, been to a funeral of a very dear family friend who died of cancer a week before Christmas, had a family outing to van Gaalens cheese farm, celebrated Christmas with family and then danced the night away on New Years Eve to ABBA.
In the midst of this celebrating and grieving it has been difficult to focus on the reason for Christmas, as there have been so many other things vying for attention.this year. This year it has been too easy for me to have my heart turn away from Jesus and focus instead on the gifts and other celebrations. Maybe it is because it has been easier to focus on outward things than to remember the death of a family friend who I have know for nearly half my life or to focus too much on the fact that my first baby would have celebrated her sixth birthday this December. On top of that I managed to miss three Carol Services and a Christmas day service, so I do not feel as if Christmas really happened this year.
However, I am anticipating 2013 with a great deal of optimism and looking forward to all the year holds. I have decided to take the Joy Dare. I stumbled on Ann Voskamp's blog and it has really inspired me. I have decided to take her Joy Dare and make a list of all the things I am thankful for for the next year. I do this with some trepidation, as I am generally a cup half empty person. I tend to focus on what I do not have instead of being so thankful for I do have. So follow me over the next year as I add each day to my gratitude list. I will be blogging about the weeks list every Monday and I would love for you to share with me on this journey.
Next I want to get involved in the Birthday Project which was started by Robyn Bomar. She decided to do 38 random acts of kindness for her 38th birthday and I encourage you to visit her blog. It really is inspiring. I wanted to try something a little different and try for one act of random kindness a week. Watch this space as I will be blogging on this every Thursday evening.
I have just finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and while I do not necessarily agree with all she says in her book, it has certainly given me food for thought as to what makes me happy and how I can increase this. I will be doing some thinking over this and will share with you as time passes. Two things that I have decided to do this year is complete one craft project a month and write a letter/ birthday card to all my penpals and family. This makes me feel good and I love receiving letters in the mail.
This year will hold challenges but that is life. When I started this blog in April 2011 it came from a need to put into words what life is like as a working mom. My life has changed over the past two years, as it should. I have grown and been stretched, sometimes very painfully but mostly I love this season of my life with all the challenges and joys it brings.
Happy 2013 and I look forward to having you on this journey with me
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