Another year!  Sometimes I look back and wonder where the time went.  Other times I wonder what difference I made in the life of those around me.  For several years now I have had one word that I have wanted to use to describe my life and that is 'intentional'.  Yet, as I look around, I am not very intentional.  However, I am hoping to really change that this year.  After following a blog for several years, I have been inspired to finally put some realistic, attainable goals on paper.  Like she says "if you aim for nothing, you will hit it every time".  So, I have come up with financial, relational, spiritual, personal and family goals.  As the new year unfolds, I hope to chronicle some of those goals in hopes of keeping me accountable to them.

I have started on t-shirt quilt #4.  My second oldest niece graduates from High School late May (which will be the overall reason for Summer 2013 road trip).  I have finally gotten smart and enlisted the help of a friend who quilts quite a bit (she obviously has grown kids!).  She has her own sewing/quilting room.  I went over there the other day to officially get started.  Boy, she had lots of advice for me.  She was just cracking up..I am sure she wondered how someone could get things so catty-wompus (however you spell that).  She saw the last quilt I did and although it was fine, to a quilter's eye, it needed some help.  So help she has provided!    Interesting how those that are great at what they do have lots of little tid-bits of advice that make things so much easier.  Not that it saves me time in the here and now, but will save me lots of time in the long run.  After all, it is easiest to put a quilt together when everything is precisely measured (I mean, does a 1/16 of an inch really matter).  So, Steener, am excited to see how your quilt will turn out!

Recently went through the boys clothes and paired down some more.  My little J-bird just cracks me up.  He has decided that the only 'church' shirts he likes are button down.  He does not like the pull over collared shirts - only the button down, you know those that usually require ironing!  I know well enough not to try to pick them out without him.  So today we ran into a store and found 2 that he really liked.  (He had several long sleeve so he just wanted short sleeve - for the warm weather that will be appearing in a few months.)

Speaking of pairing down, one of my unwritten goals is to pair down even more.  The less I have, the less I have to take care of.  The less I have to take care of, the more time I have to devote to those things that I enjoy.  I recently read about a family that logged everything they had and decided to do the math and get rid of 25%.  In the end, they did not even miss the 25%.  I am hoping to get rid of 1,000 items this year.  That might be a stretch, since I am not a huge pack rat, but if you consider our 14 'rooms' plus a garage and crawl space, that is less than 60 items per room or about 85 items a month. When I think about stuff I have had for 8 years and still not used, clothes I have not worn in over a year, toys that have not seen daylight in 4 months, stuff that has been put in the crawl space and not touched for 3 years....It just might be do-able - the key though is not to bring other things back in.  (I will have to update throughout the year on this one too)

I have been talking with the boys about Maycol (our World Vision adopted child) and how he probably lives and what he lives without.   They were amazed to think that he probably has not ever played, much less seen a video game.  That it is possible he does not even own crayons or coloring books.  I want them to become mindful of how blessed we are and how much we take it for granted.  B wrote him a letter today and wondered if he should sign in 'your friend' or 'your brother'.  How I wish a relationship like that could develop over the years and miles!

(I seem to have rambled again...maybe that is a new direction the blog will take as I become more introspective and seem to want to share things.  Maybe a balance of pictures and fun stuff and my ramblings. Who knows but I know I have lots still rolling around in my little head and pictures waiting to be downloaded!)

Happy New Year and believing God's best for you - regardless of how that appears to the human eye.  God's best is not always 'pretty' in the short term but it produces something beautiful in the long run if we will let it.