Category: Yearly Goals

If it is true that the sky is the daily bread of the eyes, I’m feasting each day around 5 pm.  The one thing I can say about clouds is that they’re great material for sunsets.   I think I’m going to post more often about our gray skies in Utah so that the sun can come out.  This week we  had three days with some sun!  I must say that on this subject I’d be thrilled to be proven wrong.

The first magical days of December have come and gone, providing rich learning experiences for my heart.  We’ve begun our evening readings of Christmas stories and have spent time snuggling in the glow of white Christmas lights.   I’m trying to savor it all and squash the part of me that lists over and over again the things I haven’t yet done.  There is this sense of urgency, not just because the Christmas holiday is coming quickly but also because the year is ending.  There are still so many things I wanted to accomplish.

As I said, I’ve had some wonderful learning experiences, but I’m saving them for another post.   This week’s report:  90 steps.

Highlights:

1.  We celebrated our son’s 10th birthday on Monday.  He is a gem and we love him so much.

2.  I attended a funeral on Thursday for a good man.  My heart aches as I watch his family try to decide how to begin the task of living without him.  I walked away from that day thinking to myself, “I have a husband.  I should never complain about anything again.”  So why am I such a wimp sometimes?

3.  Thanksgiving decorations were put away and Christmas items made their appearance.  We’re planning to travel during the holidays so the topic of a tree caused some debate.  My husband wanted to skip it entirely to make room in the budget for other things and to ensure that we don’t have a dried out tree in our home while we’re gone.  I can’t imagine snuggling with the kids reading Christmas stories without a tree in the room.  So we compromised.  I bought a very cheap, small, artificial tree that will fill in for our traditional fresh tree this year.  (My extended family might disown me for this.)  None of us are impressed with the tree as it really is a very sorry stand-in for the experience of cutting our own, but it did help that I promised the children that the artificial tree can live in the toy room as their own little tree next year.  I loved the enthusiasm of my little ones as they quickly ran for pillows and blankets to camp out under the tree mid-day.  Whatever will we do when we don’t have little ones in our home someday?


4.  A friend kindly came over and snapped some pictures of our family on Saturday.  I needed something for our Christmas cards (which are behind schedule AGAIN this year).  Let’s just say that it was an adventure.

5.  On Saturday afternoon my husband and I were privileged to attend a sealing ceremony for some friends whose adopted child was sealed to them for eternity.  It was precious, and in addition to being there we had a special personal experience with a complete stranger who won us over with her kindness and enthusiasm.   Just one more reminder that God really does know who I am.

6.  I am really trying to relax and enjoy  this holiday season, whatever it brings.  I tried to mentally note the times when we simply laughed.  It feels so good to laugh.  Why don’t I do it more often?

7.  Try as I do to help everyone have good experiences, there are more of these moments than I’d like.  They make me feel a little sad.  Sometimes it’s overwhelming to be responsible for the emotional and physical well-being of so many people.


8.  I bought my son a 500 piece puzzle for his birthday.  While I’ve decided he would have enjoyed a 300 piece puzzle more, it was fun today to sit down several times and work on it with my oldest children.

9.  I tried something new with white Christmas lights in my kitchen this year and I LOVE it.  They’re definitely staying up for the entire winter.  We’re having way too much fun with them.

I’m grateful to be alive, grateful we have each other, grateful for my Savior.  I love this time of year.  Life is good, very good.

Have a great week!

Jennifer

Well, here we are near the end of November, poised on the edge of the Christmas hustle and bustle.  We awoke this morning to several inches of snow.  It’s nice to get enough snow for a beautiful wintry scene although a bitter, driving wind has since scattered it from the trees.  My boys spent much of their day shoveling for neighbors, an elderly couple and some single women in our neighborhood.  It’s nice to have them out serving.


I thoroughly enjoyed the Thanksgiving weekend and am struggling with the idea of getting back in the swing of things tomorrow morning.  Can’t I just keep my kids home like this until January?   I have loved the slow pace and the freedom to do whatever we want.  I really want this Christmas season to be calm and nourishing to our hearts.  I’m not sure how I’m going to do it, but I’m certainly going to try.

This week’s report:  89 steps.
Highlights:

1.  I spent a great deal of time with this little cutie, helping her master the use of the bathroom.  I’m happy to say that in 8 days she has had only four accidents, day or night.  She’s sleeping in her cute little underwear and doing a great job.  I’m very proud of her.


2.  I got most of my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving.  I am NOT a Black Friday shopper.

3.  Because we were hosting Thanksgiving dinner, I got a lot of little housekeeping things done.  You know, cleaning out this drawer, hanging that thing, etc.

4.  I chose the paint color I’m using to refinish my dining room chairs.  I hope they turn out how I want them to.

5.  Something happened today that tugged at my daughter’s heart.  As I watched, I remembered the same thing happening to me when I was her age.  I remembered how I felt.  It was good to relive those feelings and I hope it helped me respond well to her expression of disappointment.

6.  Still teething, my youngest has had a tough week.  She had a terrible night a day or two ago and I ended up holding her for almost 4 hours.  I feel sorry for her pain and hope that these molars will come in quickly so we can have our happy little girl back.


7.  Yesterday I got my Christmas cards designed.  Now I only need to make 150 of them, and convince my family to get our picture taken together.  Sound fun? (And yes, I know this should have been done a month ago.  Oh well.)

8.  On Friday night I attended a bridal shower for an amazing young woman.  It’s been such a pleasure to watch her grow up.  I came home with a heart full of memories and feelings about my own journey through the stage she’s now in.  Lots to think about.

9.  I figured out how to make something that I’m really excited about, and am hoping to steal a few minutes to complete it.

Tonight we enjoyed a feeling of calm and relaxation as a family, something we relish in this brief season without sports schedules eating up our time.  In fact, it’s a feeling we’ve had a lot over the past 4 days.  I’m trying not to think about the countless tasks that will hit this week.  They’ll still be there in the morning.

I hope that your Thanksgiving holiday was a fantastic one and wish you well in all your activities and plans for December.  I can hardly believe I have only one month left in this One Step journey of mine.   Doesn’t it seem like we just welcomed the year 2010?  It’s hard to believe it will soon belong to the past.

Have a great week!

Jennifer

Just over one week left in November.  Is anyone else worried about the calendar like I am?  We received our first Christmas card in the mail yesterday and the stress I suddenly felt was almost more than I could bear.

Traditionally I’ve tried to keep these reports positive, and I promise they will remain that way, but I hope you’ll forgive me a few minutes of honesty.   The struggles are, after all, part of the journey, and this week has been an emotional struggle.

For the past 3 years I’ve struggled with Utah winters.  It wasn’t like this for the first 10 years that I lived here.  The new format showcases a blanket of clouds that descends over the state and stays put for 5-6 months.  I swear the clouds are a mile thick, and generally they prove to be impenetrable by the sun.  There are usually two times each day when sunlight is visible.  The first, on most mornings, is sunrise.  As it rises over the east mountains, a few minutes of light can be seen before the sun is shrouded in clouds.

The second happens at 5 pm when the sun sets and for five minutes a glorious painting spreads itself across the sky.  For five minutes I stand there, drinking in the little patches of blue and the soft pastel colors that wash over the cloud-covered sky.  Today as I watched it, there was a single shaft of light that made it under the clouds and over the mountain to kiss everything in it’s path with gold before the sun was too low to offer more.  A two foot high, horizontal strip of branches on my cherry tree were dazzlingly beautiful… for five minutes.  It’s so beautiful that I can ALMOST forgive the clouds for robbing me of sunlight.  All other hours of the day feature shades of one color:  gray.  It’s like having dusk last for 8 hours each day.   I wasn’t ready for the arrival of gray, but it’s definitely here and I’m trying to summon strength to face it.  I wish I could claim that I’m exaggerating, but last year I started watching the clock and keeping a record of how many minutes of sunlight we had, and the number never got very big.

So I’m thankful for sunsets because they’re the only sunlight I can count on.    Winter is now a very real exercise in being grateful for the sun that seems out of reach and invisible, and having faith that it will eventually appear.  If you’re living within the reach of blue skies and sunlight, please look up and smile at it for me.

This week’s report:  82 steps.   Truthfully, I accomplished a lot, but there was so much more I felt like I should get to.   This is a week when I remind myself why I started this whole project in the first place, as all these little things don’t appear to be adding up to what I envision.   Sometimes you have to make allowances for unexpected speed bumps like 3-day migraine headaches, two sick children, one teething baby, and one toddler who decided to potty train herself without warning.  All of those speed bumps converged on the same three days of my week and I still feel like crying (except that it would only make my head hurt more).  I know they’re all small things but they felt heavy.

Highlights (and I promise they really are highlights):

1.  We celebrated my daughter’s 12th birthday, complete with homemade dutch apple pie instead of cake.  A trip to the mall for ear piercing finished the day.


2.  I baked and baked and baked.  Friday night we had a cookie decorating party for my daughter and 14 of her friends.  They all decorated a tray of cookies while they giggled and squealed and talked at the same time.  Seriously, I have NEVER had so much noise in my home.  It was amazing.  It’s a good thing they’re such great girls!


3.  Fifteen hours after my daughter’s birthday party we had my son’s birthday party.   He invited a group of friends to go on a special mission at the Christina McAuliffe Space Education Center in our local school district.  I enjoyed watching them complete their mission from the control room.  They did a great job and had a fun (and intense) time.


4.  In the middle of birthday party preparations we had our Thanksgiving plans change and I am now hosting Thanksgiving dinner for 30 at my home in four days.  I’ve got my work cut out for me, but it will be fun.

5.  I finished reading a chapter book to my children.

6.  I didn’t say anything harsh when I discovered my son left a nice hardback book outside last night… to get snowed on.  I didn’t even let myself ask him why on earth it was out there in the first place.

7.  I witnessed a small miracle in the life of one son.  In spite of my inclination to complain, I must say that all of the week’s frustration and emotion was worth it.

8.  I needed to run a few errands mid-week and I’m happy to say that my four year old boy was incredibly helpful and cheerful.  Not once did he burst into hysterics and lay on the floor screaming.  That’s progress!

9.  This morning I got up a couple of hours before my family to have some quiet time alone.  It wasn’t nearly long enough, but it sure helped.

And so we head into another week, Thanksgiving week.  I’m all partied out and ready to begin afresh physically, mentally, emotionally.  I think I’d better add “a new week” to my 2010 Gratitude List.  What are you thankful for tonight?

Hopeful Homemaker