Last year on January 1 my little family of three wrote down our goals for 2012. Then we sealed them up with a letter to ourselves.  This  year on January 1 we opened them to see how we did.

I had made 6 goals for myself.  Know how many I stuck with even for a month?  Zero.  A big fat nada.  So this year I decided that if I did something a little different my odds might go up a little.

I’m sure you’ve all seen the one word thing that’s going around the blogosphere.  I decided to join the band wagon and here is the word I’ve come up with

Gratitude

If there is one thing this past year has taught me it’s that I am blessed.

I have an amazing little girl.  Yes, I would give almost anything for her to have a sibling, but I’m not going to waste the time I have while it’s just the to of us.  I’m going to be more grateful for her everyday.

I have a place to live.  It may not be my own home that I can paint and decorate however I want, but it’s warm and it’s flooded with natural light almost all day.

I have a body.  That body was given to me to care for.  What kind of gratitude am I showing if I don’t care for it?

We’re employed.  It may not be my husbands dream job and the company may be a little ridiculous to work for, but it pays the bills and even gives a little more to play with.

And that’s just a few of the things I have to be grateful for that I sometimes struggle remembering.

To keep my blessing fresh in my mind I grabbed a One Line a Day Journal from amazon and a pretty gratitude quote print from Grey Square Designs on Etsy.  Now every morning when I wake up I see a reminder that I really do have enough, and every night I have a place to write something I’m grateful for.

Here’s to a new year.

Hey Everybody!

With the new year I made a decision - I need to simplify if I want to reach my goals.  I’ve got some many things going on that something always gets left undone.

So, over the next few weeks there will be some changes made - the big ones being a name change and slight re-branding to this bog.    I have no idea how to do that “behind the scenes”  and then have a grand reveal with everything all sparkly and new (if you know how any advise would be greatly appreciated) so it may look like a little bit of a construction zone for a bit.  I’ve got some great posts planned and ready to go so I’ll try to keep updating like better than normal.  Hopefully there won’t be too much disruption.

Thanks for dealing with me
Missy

*I meant to have a great “welcome 2013!” post this morning, but time got away from me.  And one of my goals for this year is not to stress too much when things aren’t going exactly to plan.  So I made a new plan This post is from my other blog, So You Think You’re Crafty, from a few years ago that I think you might enjoy.  It’s  been a system I’ve been using for years and I love it.  Sorry for the 2011 date on it.  I’ve updated my binder(everything is basically the same except the date), but not any of the pictures *

So I’m sure a lot of you get the itch around January to re-organize and get your life back in order like I do.  My problem is that right around October, my motivation seems to go right out the window and all our daily routines go to pot. I’ve tried a lot of things in the past, but this one has helped me out the most.

It’s my “House Happenings” book.  I got the idea from my wonderful friend Sarah.  She is perfect.  Like 100% without flaw.  I’m not kidding.  A few years ago, when I asked her how her house always looks so nice and how she still has time for everything else, she shared her secret.  She pulled out a plain old 3 ring binder and forever changed my life.  When I put mine together I changed a few things to fit my family and our home a little better(and I tweak it every year), but the key point is the same…maintenance.

Spend 15 minutes a day focusing your cleaning on one major room/area of your house with a last minute “attack of the hot spots” (areas that seem to breed disorder & clutter) right before bed, as well as one day a week to different “chores” you have to do.  That way you spread your weekend load throughout the week and just maintain it as you go.  I’m not saying my house is now spotless and ordered all the time(I do have a 4 yr old) and that every little thing gets done, but it’s a heck of a lot better.

Here is what’s inside my book.

I have it split up into 9 categories –  Routines, Calendars, Menus & Recipes (for the upcoming week), Church Info, Missy’s Notes, Abbi’s Notes, Brad’s Notes, Budget, & Goals.

Under “Routines” I have a morning and evening checklist…

and a daily checklist.  It has a daily “chore” or theme that the day focuses around (Monday is the wash day, Tuesday meal planing, Errands on Wednesday, Thursday is paperwork and letter/thank you note writing, Friday is for any needed home projects, Saturday is a family fun day, and a day to relax on Sunday).

I also have a checklist of what to focus on for each of the 15 minute cleans under this section. It may take more time than the 15 minutes at first, but once you get it to where you want it the maintenance is easy.

The other sections are all pretty much self explanatory.  It’s a fantastic way to keep everything together so anyone in the family can be on the same page.

Do any of you have a system your family uses to stay on track?

Well, today was the day that we were going to meet our new daughter.  The day that Abi was going to become a big sister.  But sometimes life takes some very unexpected and heartbreaking turns.

Wednesday afternoon we got the call to come on down to Las Vegas as they were going to be inducing the baby in a few days. But on Thursday afternoon we got another call that the birth mother had changed her mind and decided to keep the baby.  She had severed contact with our adoption agency so there is no way there will be another change for placement.  The agency advised us to try to move on and just head home.

Today is a day that has a lot of personal meaning to me and my little family.  It is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Day.

I’ve shared a tiny bit about why I started  my other blog, So You Think You’re Crafty, in the about page over there and in interviews and conversations I’ve had.  But I’ve never shared what lead to that discussion I had with my sister and BIL about blog stalking and starting my own.

At the time Abbi was just over a year old and sleeping all but 6 hours a day (she was a FANTASTIC napper) and I had just found out we were expecting our 2nd baby.  We were so excited and I loved having all that extra time while she slept!  I could read and sew and cook and craft and keep my house clean and get ready for the new little one.

Then my world came crashing down.  I miscarried that baby.  We were heart broken.  All of the sudden, that wonderful free time became crushing to me.  I no longer had the motivation to do anything but dwell.  Dwell on the fact that little one we wanted so much wasn’t coming.  All I could bring myself to do was blog stalk when I was alone and pretend everything was ok when people were around.

A month or so later I visited my sister and her family for a week and we started talking about all the blogs that I had discovered.  That conversation and brain storming session about what SYTYC could be like was a turning point for me.  All the sudden I had a plan and the motivation to actually DO something to work my way out of my depression.  I got right to work getting So You Think You’re Crafty up and going.

We hadn’t given up on adding to our family, but with the 3rd miscarriage came a diagnosis of “unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss.”  We realized that maybe God had another plan for blessing us with a sibling for Abbi so we started the adoption process and paperwork.  For the past 3+ years, and through two more miscarriages, we’ve been waiting.

But good news!  At this very moment my husband and I are waiting for the call to head out to Las Vegas, Nevada.  And when we come home it will be with a little sister for Abigail.

God is Good.