Goodbye 2007!

I can't believe this is the last day of 2007! Where has the time gone? As I look back over this year, I can't help but recall the many blessings God has given to our family. We sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" in church yesterday. It just reminded me how faithful God has been to me even though I am not always faithful to Him. We've had a great year with Harrison's health. No seizures and a pretty healthy year. Elizabeth has also been fairly healthy as well. And no serious health issues with Steven or me. God has been so faithful in seeing us through milestones this year. Elizabeth finished pre-school and started Kindergarten. She is doing well and really loves to go to school. Also, God has allowed Steven to fulfill his dream of becoming a partner in his CPA firm. God has brought women into my life this year that have lifted me up and encouraged me in my christian walk. There are 20 women on the Executive Board of Arkansas WMU that have encouraged me in missions and prayer. Specifically, Judy Shaddox has shown me what it means to be a servant-leader. This fall God prompted Kerri Watson to invite me to Community Bible Study. I have been challenged and encouraged this year as I've studied Joshua, Judges and Ruth. Now I'm looking forward to studying 1 and 2 Samuel this spring. I'm sure there are many other things I'm forgeting. I just give God all praise for a wonderful 2007!

Happy New Year! i

Ok, I really meant to write on Christmas day, but of course we were busy with presents and eating all day. We have been really blessed this year and are looking forward to seeing what God is going to do in each of our lives in the coming year. We're excited because our church is finally getting a new pastor after two years. Also, Steven will be officially a partner with JPMS Cox on January 1. He has worked 15 long and hard years for this. And, just 6 weeks after that he will turn 40! This will be an exciting year. I am still working on getting involved with organizing our home and helping others get organized. Right now, our playroom is my major project. Hopefully that will come together soon. We all wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope that you will look for God in all things and find peace in Him.

A New Beginning

In my quest to become a better Family Manager, I've treated today as a new beginning. No, I didn't follow any plan or set schedule today (except that today is laundry day!). I just decided to get up and do things around the house that will make our home look better and move me toward my goal of being a more organized family manager. There is no way you can begin new systems and schedules until you dig out from under all of the clutter of your home. And, I've discovered that clutter can be not only your possessions or papers but also your time. Our calendar has many things on it that do not allow us to have the time to spend as a family making our home the way it should be. So, I'm also in the process of decluttering my calendar. There are many activities that I am trying to delete because they do not line up with God's purposes for me to be a family manager. I'm looking forward to starting the new year fresh with fewer committments. As for my accomplishments today, I feel that our home looks better and is on the road to becoming more organized. I still have a long way to go, but I am committed to following through.

Organized by design

I've been doing lots of reading on organizing your home and time for many years. I've been successful at implementing a few ideas that I have found, but I've also tried many ideas that did not work. Or, maybe it's that I haven't taken the time to implement them correctly. I know every January 1 we all have ideas of how we are going to start over and get our lives more organized. For me, I feel that it can really happen this year. I've been praying for some time now for God to show me what He wants me to do with my life and the answer He has given me is to be the Family Manager of our home. I've known for years that I am supposed to be a stay at home mom, but I've tried to supplement that with other money making endeavors. Unfortunately, most of those did not work out. I believe that it's because I am supposed to be focusing more on my family and home. So, I've been reading Desperate Households by Kathy Peel. She is so inspiring because her life story with being a stay at home mom is similar to mine. I hope to one day be able to take her Family Manager course. For now, I'm just going to keep praying for direction from God and keep moving our family forward to being more organized so that we have more family time in an environment that is clean enough to be healthy, but messy enough to be fun. I want my kids to have memories of me as being a fun mom.