New Year's Eve

In a minute I'll begin finishing up the tidying up from the holidays. I was away from home overmuch yesterday, first having lunch with an old friend who was in town visiting relatives, and then, last night, my niece was at my mom's with her son, and we'd never met him. He's two and adorable. One of my older brothers has 2 grandchildren and they're both so cute. Always a treat to see them.

Anyway, back to the cleaning. I love the way the house feels all skinny when the decorations are down. Moving the sofa, rearranging the side tables, and dusting everything thoroughly always makes me feel more perky.

And it's nice to begin a new year with a fresh look in the house. Sure, things need painting and the bathroom floor sags just a tad, but it's home. Can't beat that.

Dinner is leftover spaghetti from last night, and we'll make some yeast rolls to go with that. Our New Year's Eve celebration isn't really any big shucks. We just do the regular routine. I enjoy turning that mental page on a new year, though. This year of 2008 has been stressful and wearing. I won't think too far into 2009, but will take each day as it comes.

Off to do my thing. Enjoy your day. And try my advice for now: God will make a way when there seems to be no way. My motto today. :)

Pug love

That's one of our Pugs, Violet, up on the header. Our oldest daughter took the shot, and it made me so happy, I had to use it, if only briefly. Depends on my mood, I guess. In the meantime---enjoy!

Her face does sort of match the title of the blog, though, don't you think? She does look contemplative. As for the joyful expression, that's up for grabs!

Week's end

Supposedly the temperature right now, at almost 7:30am, is 68 degrees. We've got a good wind going and the sky is thick with swift-moving clouds. Perfect. I love winter in the South. 'Course with a cold front coming our way late this afternoon, my delight might waver a bit. Tornadoes are not my friend, and when we have dramatic changes, the sirens blow and we pay closer attention.

For now, I'll enjoy the overcast morning and having a couple of windows up. Even slept with our bedroom window open. In December. Love it!

Off to have breakfast in this quiet house and snuggle Pugs. My intention is to enjoy the day, not worry, and let God take care of business. Faith-stretching, I call it.

After the holidays

While my husband is ready to buy wood and get to work on these projects (finally, after a dry spell) I really want to have a couple more days of holiday-ness. I'm not ready to face the pressures of real life, but want to chill. Not easy in this busy household.

Monday will get here soon enough, but the fact is---a house supported by a husband's self-employment forces you into a spot to work when you can, and as much as you can. Not always fun. Sometimes more challenging than I'd prefer.

And I'm noticing that the Lord and I run on opposing timetables. He sees things totally differently, and it seems I'm a bit slow on the uptake with that, aren't I? While I have things all settled in my head and have organized the living daylights out of situations, I'm seeing that God's viewpoint on how I should run my days is so varied from mine. I used to figure that if I prayed about something, then what followed must be correct. I limit myself by what I can actually see.

I'm rambling.

But I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm making moves to slow down my thinking. To live more in a way that's eternally-minded. I go from task to task, relieved when one is finished and I can be free to go to the next one. Doesn't leave much room for fun, but gets the job done. I had an eye-opening situation come at me yesterday, and it caused me to stop and realize how blessed I am, and how I often take that for granted. I go for life at a swift pace (easy to do when you're caring for a family of 10) and seldom pause except by demand. My one weakness is reading, and unfortunately that tends to be more of an escape than a joy at times.

Something to think about, but then again, I really don't want to over-think it. That would end up making my attempts at slowing down part of my get it done mindset. Don't want to do that.

Christmas Day thoughts

There's something about the end of Christmas Day that settles me. Maybe it's the excitement winding down, or the anticipation of the New Year ahead. I'm not sure, but I like this feeling every year. I want to clean (well, after recovering from all the holiday hub-bub) and throw out and reorganize. I have high hopes, but not so high that I'll instantly disappoint myself. And while I could begin fresh and new just any old day, there's something hopeful about doing it in a few days, on the first day of the first month of a new year.

Notice this journal here began December 1st. I can't seem to start anew with something in the middle of the month or midweek. I have to have definite beginnings, so January 1st works fine with me.

And taking into consideration that I'm not an idealist, I tend to be pretty fair with myself. There will be few expectations that are too difficult to attain. Well, I hope not. I turn fifty in February, and that's enough to tackle in one year, don't you think? Plus, the ages that a few of the kids will reach in 2009 will be 20, 18, 16 and 13. Awesome years in themselves. Phew! This coming year will be full of milestones.

Christmas Eve

I'm tired. But to our delight we've enjoyed some wonderful weather today. Temperatures in the low seventies (yep, you heard right!) and sunshine. I was wondering how the day would turn out at around 5am when the wind picked up and the rain dumped buckets on us. The backyard was a swamp until a couple of the kids cleared out the gully we have to have near the front fence. It backs up with the oak leaves from our tree in the backyard, and with the fence being wooden----things just press against it.

As for the rest of the day---present wrapping to do, stocking stuffing, and Christmas Eve service at church. Looking forward to that. Quiet and peaceful. A good dose of that sounds just the ticket.

As an additional note, my husband received a second work deposit on a job. And, in a Tiny Tim sort of way we had a further blessing. Yesterday I was concerned that the turkey we'd been given as a gift (probably about an 6-8 pounder) wouldn't stretch far enough for Christmas dinner. Prayed about it and figured things would work out. What a sense of humor the Lord has. No sooner had the prayer left my thoughts then one of the boys got a call from another neighbor. She wanted him to come up. He came back home with a smoked turkey. Cooked and ready.

Just a word of encouragement for those of you who wait. It can be so hard, but is such a huge relief when the Lord acts so that we can see it.

Blog address

Just to say. I'll be keeping the blog here and will close the one (Tea with Milk) where I'd posted for the last year or so. I said I'd make a decision before the end of the year, and what do you know, I have. Will eventually change around my Mother's Hour website, but am in no hurry. A slower pace. No frets. A very good thing.

For any of you who sweetly link to me, you can now make the change permanently (or at least for a year) to here.

Thanks for caring!