What's Been On My Mind

Oh my goodness. I have been gone from here for a long, long time!
I hope you missed me. Maybe just a little bit?

A la Karen, I'm going to try to sum these last few weeks up Brain Dump Style:

Christmas was wonderful. Mike & I had to do our usual juggling act to get in all of the family gatherings but amidst all of the shuffle we realized how blessed we are to have so much family. Family that loves us & that we love back. My heart squeezed a lot. God has been so good - good to provide Christ as our Savior & good to grow us up in Him.

The week between Christmas & New Year's we both had vacation. We took that time to rest up a bit (as in, actually get about 8 hours of sleep each night!). We also completely cleaned out & reorganized our basement. When I bought the house I didn't move in for about six months due to all of the remodeling we were doing. During that time period I packed & moved a box at a time & stored many boxes in the basement. Mike & his brother were also in the midst of downsizing from a large home they owned together to separate, small apartments. Lots of their things came to live in the basement, too. In short, between the boxes & Mike's wood shop, we had a major mess. So we unpacked, repacked for storage & Goodwill, trashed, organized & struggled through all of it. The end result was well worth it & we hosted a little New Year's Eve bash at our house to celebrate. Good times were had by all!

I got a new camera for Christmas. I'm hoping that the frequency & quality of pics that are posted here will be greatly increased. But that's just my hope. I haven't actually used the camera much or figured out how to get the best out of it. Soon!

Several friends are coming to town for dinner tonight. These Girl's Nights are always a blast. I'm especially happy this time around because I won't be doing the traveling. Thank you Stephanie, Carol, & Becky for being willing to make the drive! Autumn & I are grateful.

Training for the Indy Mini started last week. I wrote all of my running schedule into my calendar today & I'm excited! That excitement will probably wear off about this time tomorrow when I have to go run. There will be lots of hard work ahead for me this year because I have NOT been consistent at all since September. Ugh - laziness is a hard hill to climb!

I have thought & thought & thought about resolutions for 2011. New Year's is just not a favorite holiday of mine. It does not seem to renew me with energy & enthusiasm for setting goals. I tend to think things like, what's so magical about January 1st? Why not set goals on February 1st? Then I thought about choosing a word that embodies what I am seeking to improve in my life over this next year. That's hit a dead end in my thinking just like resolutions did. Maybe I will come up with some goals that I'll start with on February 1st. Or maybe March 11th? Who knows. Just be assured that I am well aware of where I am falling short & it's a daily battle I'm still fighting - by God's grace!

I do have to say that one thing about the new year that I find exciting - my Paid Time Off resets! Yeehaw! Lets vacation plan!

I'm thinking this Brain Dump is now complete. Hopefully my future posts will be a little less chaotic - but no promises!