Happy New year 2013

Happy New Year! 

It amazes me how quickly a year passes.  It seems like we were just starting 2012 out and we are now into a new year, new resolutions (or goals ~ which is what i do), new promises or new things to look forward to in the new year.  How often though do we reflect on the year that has passed?  Do we sit down and look at the resolutions or goals that we made for the previous year and see if we met the goals?  Do we sit down and really look at how God has blessed us during the year?  Do we really give Him thanks?

I did look over the very first few posts I made when I started this blog (which Happy Birthday "Emilys life with HLH" ~ you turned 1 on 1-1-13).  I did look over the goals I set into place for 2012.  I still have alot to work on ~ I did meet my book goal though of reading 30 books in the year!  My new goal is 40 for this year!    I generally dont look over the goals though...this time I did.  Why?  I dont know.  Maybe it was a way to see what areas I still feel the need to work on.   In doing this, however, it also made me take note of how blessed we are.  I may not have accomplished everything I wanted to this past year but we did see some incredible things happen! 

Emily got off her steroids and most of her medications
We were able to get a dog
Ben turned 4 and started pre-school
My BFF and her family came to stay with us for a week
Austin took the first stage of drivers training
The Lord continues to bless and provide for us

These may seem like "not big deals", but to me...I just feel incredibly blessed and feel these are accomplishments and this is what made the year great.  I honestly could have listed much more but this is just a few.

I am one of those "weird" ones that keeps EVERY receipt.  I dont care if i am buying a pretzel at the mall or a frozen coke at Target...I get one!  If i dont get one, I am certainly writing it down when i get home.  I track our spending for the month and yes i do end up doing an excel file so it adds up each category for the year!  Yes, I am weird and it probably sounds like i have nothing to do.  This is the first time i have done the excel thing though!  I am glad i did.  I could see in black and white areas that we need to work on.  This also helped me so i could set up new goals....new goals as far as where we spend on our money....Gods money. 

See, when you think of it as GODS money you tend to spend it a little differently then you would simply by spending MY money.  When I go grocery shopping, i want to honor Him and spend His money in a proper way...far different then i would probably think about spending my money.  This year this is my goal is to think of the money we have in these terms.   I have set goals on where we need to cut back on and categories that we spend way too much in (sorry McDonalds...we will not be regulars anymore).  The Lord has blessed Bryan with a wonderful job and He has blessed us where I am able to stay at home with the kids.  Because of this...I need to do my job in giving Him the most honor I can.

This is not only going to be teaching me self-control when i am at Target but it will also be teaching the kids something too.  They dont get everything they want....when they want it.....even if they are screaming at the top of their lungs (sorry people at Kohls from the other day)!  We are talking of going to New York to see Bryans family that lives in Brooklyn and the American Girl store is there.  Emily is determined to purchase 2 dolls while we are there.  She has already saved enough for 1/2 of 1.  For her, this is great because if she is given even $1.00 it is burning a hole in her pocket and she needs to spend it.  Its really teaching her to save for what she wants.  I am proud of her!  Today she has started cleaning out books in her room and plans on selling them at a garage sale we have or is hoping i will sell them on ebay!  She is determined to save the money.  Again, a great lesson I am learning from her!

This may have seemed like a bunch of rambling and I apologize for that.   I will leave you with this thought though ~ when making your goals this year, think about them in terms of how will this please and honor HIM (the Lord Jesus Christ) and bring HIM the most glory.

Happy New Year!