Transitioning into 2015

Wow, crazy to think I've been a full time stay at home mom for a full year now.

Some of my favorite times from this past year were:

- doing the hotdog dance with my kids at the end of every Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode!

-taking the kids to Disney World

-being at the birth of and holding my brand new baby nephew

-summer pool parties with new and old friends as well as family get togethers
-joining Community Bible Study

-going to a couple of Baylor games including the first one in the new stadium with Philip (a great football season!)
-attending weddings for family and friends

-watching Philip catch some giant fish in the Atlantic and riding bikes along the beach during our trip to Key West in November
-Christmas with both our families at our home

2014 was a year of less stress and great health for our whole family.  It was a year of making new friendships and enjoying visits from long time friends. We spent a lot of time renovating our new home, and enjoying time out on the water on our new dock. 

2014 was a year of relaxation for me, a year for regrouping, discovering my new role; it kinda felt like my first year of retirement.  I now own my own time, instead of selling it to someone else and feeling torn between my work and family.  Often times self-managing my time isn't easy.  I don't have anyone telling me where I have to be at what time.  I always thought being a stay-at-home mom would be easy and boring, but its anything but.  There are still so many decisions to be made, and still things that I feel like I don't have time to do.  There's so much to be done, but many days I spend hours rocking my lil guy, playing a board game or reading a new book with Raegan, listening to a friend who is hurting, or meeting new people (young and old) in our community.  I love having the ability to chose how I spend my time and pray that I will spend each day productively doing God's will.

So now we already a month and a half into 2015.  At the end of my first yoga class this year, Sondra, our instructor/the yoga guru, asked us to close our eyes, clear our minds, rest and to let one word come to our mind for 2015.  The word that came to me was "available."  I've thought a little more about this word and what it means for this year.  I have been SO blessed to be able to choose how I spend my days.  I can choose to spend my time wrapped up in my own little world or I can make myself available to make a difference in someone else's life.  I want to be available to love on and serve others.  I need to remember that God is ALWAYS available to me.  I'm currently in the middle of studying Luke, and find it so convenient that Jesus wasn't sitting up in a temple where people had to search him out, so often the stories in Luke depict him in the streets among the common people, the sinners (Luke 7: 36-50), the sick (Luke 5:12-13), and the broken-hearted (Luke 7:12-13).  He was available.