New Year, New Projects

Photo not mine

Happy 2017! My goodness, where did the past year go? Time seems to drag by slowly day by day, until you reach a place of looking back at the past - and then you wonder where it all went.

New Year's resolutions are a part of our culture, and yet it is as stereotypical to break them as it is to make them. It's a standing joke in our culture that gyms are busiest during the first 2 weeks of the year! However, if I'm going to make resolutions, I want to make ones that are challenging yet attainable. They should cause personal growth without being immediately discouraging.

With that in mind, my resolutions for this year go hand in hand, feeding each other along the way. They are:

1. To be content,
2. To be thankful.

The first, contentment, is something I struggle with, especially in our current season of life. There are many goals and dreams that I have personally and that we have as a family, and it's easy for me to become so focused on those future goals that I become discontent with my situation right now. At the same time, if I don't keep the future goals within sight, it's also so easy to become discouraged and overwhelmed by the frustrations of the here and now, and forget why we're doing what we're doing now. There must be a balance, as with everything else in life. I know that, if I am not content with where I am now, then I will not be content when I am blessed with more of what I hope to gain in the future.

11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:11-13 NKJV

The second goal is to be thankful, which ties together well with contentment. The more thankful I am, the easier it will be to be content; and the more content I am, the easier it will be to be thankful! I saw an excellent idea online and decided to try it, so this year I have made a Blessing Jar. It's a simple mason jar with a stack of scratch paper beside it, and throughout the year we will write down blessings and drop them into the jar. At the end of the year, we will be able to look back, remember, and give thanks for those blessings all over again!

...but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ... Ephesians 5:18b-20

Current condition of the bathroom

As we walk through the coming year, in contentment and thankfulness, there is much to look forward to! I can't wait to see what the Good Lord has planned for 2017. In the meantime, we are enjoying having a house of our own to go home too! We have also begun working on larger projects in the house - namely, the guest bathroom. In a few hours' time, we had taken everything out of the bathroom and knocked out most of the walls! It is now down to studs and base flooring, and awaiting being put back together. We got some good deals and have been planning it all out, and I'm really excited to see how it will all come together.

I'm very blessed to have a very handy hubby! Drywall, electrical work, plumbing, mechanics - you name it, he can do it or teach himself how. He enjoys working on projects and I enjoy helping him, and it's great being able to do all the work ourselves instead of paying someone to remodel our home.

We are also blessed to be living much closer to my wonderful in-laws now, and it's a joy to see them regularly these days. We had a big family get-together over New Years, which was crazy and chaotic and beautiful. Growing up as an only child, I remember hoping that my someday husband would have a large, close-knit family, and while of course no family is ever perfect, it blesses my heart to finally have an extended family and be able to spend time with them.

There is much to be thankful for, and I pray we never lose sight of the many blessings surrounding us. May the Lord bless you and keep you; may He make His face to shine upon you and give you peace.