New Years Rainbow Resolutions

The blog returns for real on Monday. But since we're still on vacation, just for fun, the resolutions I'd make if I lived somewhere over the Rainbow, or some other place where dreams really do come true:

1. I will get back to my pre-children body weight and build without diet, exercise or illness.

2. My desk will remain neat and organized to provide a peaceful working environment.

3. I will not raise my voice at my kids the 11th time I tell them to do something (even though they haven't listened the first 10 times).

4. I will put the laundry away on the same day that I wash, dry and fold it.

5. I will not check my email more than twice a day. I will use all that extra time to organize my household.

6. I will not determine my blog postings worth by the number of comments left. (But everyone knows if you hit 25, "They like you, they really like you!"

7. I won't wait until the night before my weekly bible study to do my bible study homework.

8. I'll accept those fine lines or gray hairs as signs of wisdom learned over the years (HA!).

9. I will not be ashamed of the fact that I, you know, well occasionally, not that I have to, sometimes watch American Idol.

10. I will gather up all the change in my home, roll it and cash it in...quite possibly becoming a millionaire. (where does all this change come from???)

What are your Rainbow Resolutions??

Thankful Thursday - 1/1/09

Today's Thankful Thursday meme will be in the form of things I am thankful for, and my resolutions regarding them in 2009. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

1. I am thankful for my family. I resolve to try to apply the fruits of the spirit in my relationship with them: love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. That means I'll be biting my tongue...a lot!

2. I am so thankful for my friends, both local and bloggy. I resolve in 2009 to spend time with them, and share moments and deepen the wonderful gift God has given us in each other.

3. I am thankful for a healthy body! Praise God! I resolve to do more with this healthy body, like exercising to build aerobic strength and stamina.

4. I am thankful God blessed me with the gift of writing, which has become my passion. I resolve to get serious in my writing. I hope to write a devotional book this year, perhaps to be published in 2010. I plan to write for publication at least 3 hours a week. That is the goal.

5. (I save the Best for last) I am so thankful to have God in my life. I resolve to do daily bible reading. I am planning on joining Wendy Pope, and about 1,000 other folks, as we read the entire chronological Bible next year. I've never tried this before, and I pray I will be faithful in this, (along with my regular weekly bible study and my Sunday School class, and research for my writing!! Pray I fulfill this goal!)

So what are your goals for 2009? What are you thankful for? Leave me a comment, or write your own post. Be sure to let me know so I can come visit. And don't forget to link up to Truth 4 the Journey, at her Thankful Thursday meme by clicking the button below.

See What I'm Saying - Christmas '08 Edition

It's that time again! It's time for you to see what I'm singing...er, I mean, saying! Last time I kicked it off with Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. What excitement comes today? Watch the video to find out!




To see the "sister video" to this, visit my sister at Monkeys are Funny. But leave a comment first! Puh-lease!

The Christmas Hangover

I don't know about you, but I have a hangover. No, I haven't been drinking. In addition to the disagreeable physical effects from drinking too much, a hangover can also mean something remaining behind from a former period...i.e. Christmas, or any aftermath or lingering effect.

After nearly 2 months of shopping, wrapping, decorating, and baking...all low key and all my choice...it's over! Done! The toys have been opened, removed from the packaging (which is no small feat), and "some assembly required" has been performed. Many toys have found their way to the playroom.

After much fun on Christmas eve and Christmas Day, I discovered that while I was enjoying the holiday, my family woke up on Christmas eve and put PJs in the hamper, then wore clothes which hit the hamper that night, then more PJs for the hamper, and then more clothes on Christmas morning (not to mention new clothes, which I always run through a wash cycle before wearing.) WHERE DID ALL THIS LAUNDRY COME FROM? I took 2 days off, and bam! Craziness.

And the Christmas tree, so regal and bright before, now seems to mock me..."You know you have to undecorate me, don't you? You realize I have to be carried up to the attic? Got a plan for that? You know your husband is still recovering from his arm surgery?" *Sigh*

It's enough to cause a big, bad hangover all right. Then I realize, I'm overwhelmed and exhausted by things that are not important. Why is my focus on these chores? Where is my joy in the Lord? I was so focused on not turning into Martha before the holidays, than I let my guard down afterwards! And Jesus' voice again says, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed."

May you & I focus on the One who is the one thing needed now in the week after Christmas, and as we enter 2009. Only one thing is needed. I think I can handle that. How about you?

Romans 13:11 -- But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about! (The Message)