My resolutions for 2010, finally

I've been meaning to post my new year's resolutions for days now but have still be contemplating. I may have actually been procrastinating posting them being that when I do, there is a level of accountability. But here I am, a few days late, but taking the plunge.

In no specific order:

1. Drink more of that clear plain stuff people call water. I had always been the habit of drinking lots of water until having little ones around. Half the day will go by and I am just getting around to coffee, let alone water! So more water. I'm aiming for a full class with every meal.

2. Get this house organized from top to bottom. I think many people regard me as a fairly organized person but I feel quite the opposite lately. There are specific areas that I have never gotten under control for longer than a day. The typical course is that I ignore it and ignore it until I'm disgusted by it, clean it and tidy it but there is no working system in place so it falls into disorder quickly. I consider being organized more than just buying a bunch of bins and shoving stuff into them. They may be tidy and neat, but my idea of truly being organized is that at any time, I can desire an item and know exactly where to find it. I'm on the hunt for effective solutions to my specific problem areas and I'm sure I'll be sharing my discoveries with you later as I find them.

3. Read more Bible. I've always been a slower reader when it comes to the Bible. I like to take my time and digest and look up meanings and cross reference. I'm not planning on stopping that because that is how I take something away from my Bible time. For years I've set the goal of reading through my Bible in a year and have never made it... maybe once in college by accident through all the required reading but never in my personal devotions. I'm not setting that goal for 2010; I'm setting it for 2011. So I'm easing into getting more chapters read each day so that a year from now, it's a more attainable goal.

4. Cultivate better reactions to my daughters' misbehavior. Anger has no place in child rearing. Sighing and irritation are not ingredients to effective training of little ones. Yet so often I find myself falling into these habits. This article was very convicting to me and has been replaying in my head for a week or so.

5. I'm officially declaring myself the Smile Enforcer of the McCoy house hold. My job description is to make conscience deliberate efforts to produce as many smiles on each member of my family throughout the day. I'm a the text book definition of a "task oriented person"; a Martha not a Mary. My natural tendency is to be very focused on duties and not so much on relationships. By putting smiles on my mental "To Do List", I hope that they are elevated to their rightful priority.Our children will not remember if the pantry was alphabetized, if the dust bunnies were eliminated, if they could read by age 6, if dinner was gourmet, but they will remember if there was joy in our home. Even being perfect Christians and teaching them all the character we could would not mean nearly as much if we lacked joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength, right?!

And I haven't forgotten about my theme for 2010, "Waiting on the Lord". I just haven't had enough quiet moments to devote to a post about it!

Happy Thursday, everyone! It seems like it was just Sunday! Time is flying by faster than I can keep up. While holding Eden today, she laid her sleepy head on my chest and I closed my eyes to record the moment in my memory. She is almost 20 months old already. We're getting close to her 2nd birthday!! But she was just born! How can it be?!!