remember.

As the clock is winding down on another year of life, I reflect on the lessons, the people, and the blessings that have come my way.

I was just starting to get to know my baby boy, who was only a month old this time last year.
My family was getting used to our new geographical surroundings, having relocated to this area in September of '05.
I began a new business--a school of my own where I can teach music privately. Since beginning in the summer, I have gone from one student to twelve. And what a blessing each student has been. I hope I have been a blessing to them too.

We had some financial struggles, but through them we learned what it really means to depend on the Lord, and were miraculously blessed and provided for. As a result, we no longer tremble with fear when some difficult circumstance comes our way.
I watched my now ten year-old learn how to swim.
We were given an old vehicle, which we drove until we couldn't drive it anymore, and were then blessed with a new vehicle, which was one that I had specifically asked for in prayer.

I was pushed out of my comfort zone, going on outreaches, preaching the Gospel in English and Spanish, in neighborhoods, trailer parks, and at high school football games. Seeing the fruit of those outings is tremendously humbling. I am so grateful to be a part of what's happening here.
We saw really cool healings, remarkable salvations, and were constantly encouraged in our walk with the Lord.

Seeing my son take his first steps at nine months old was a trip.
Celebrating his first birthday was so much fun. His first milestone birthday. It was my oldest son's milestone birthday as well, turning double digits. Hubby also had a milestone birthday, turning 30. No milestone for me, but it was cool to see the three men in my life mark important milestones in their lives.

We learned how to truly abide in the Lord, to soak in His presence. It is so much less work than I ever thought it was. So fewer "steps." We just sit, turn up the worship music, and soak. No wonder I never could seem to keep my peace before.
We had encounters with angels. I can't sufficiently describe how cool that was.

I could go on, but this would end up being a really long post.

what's new.

Lots of people make New Year's resolutions that they attempt to keep but never do. I never make resolutions. I do make a list of goals at some point during the year. Those goals are things that I hope to accomplish by the end of that year. Then I go back the next year or a couple of years later and see what I was able to accomplish and what I wasn't. I cross off the list things that I did, or saw, or bought, and I'm surprised at what I actually did get done (even if it's only a couple of things...I tend to set pretty lofty goals!).

On the list for this coming year are some familiar goals--save more money than I spend (why is that sooooo hard??), find time to read some of the books in my library, learn to be a better artist, write those books. But there are some new goals too:

• learn how to disciple my students and not just feed them information
• do not be afraid to prophesy to a complete stranger
• make Christmas gifts for my loved ones this year--a recorded CD, calendars, book plates
• rejoice in watching my boys grow older with no regrets about how fast the time flies

I'm looking forward to crossing things off of this list.

nostalgia tuesday.

Being the day after Christmas, I decided to reminisce (did I spell that right??) about some of the Christmas gifts I received as a child. Some of them were extremely popular at the time, and some of them have stood the test of time and are still popular.

• a Mickey Mouse watch (wish I still had it; it would be collectible EBay-able material now.) I really wanted a Strawberry Shortcake digital watch (digital watches were the new thing then), but I ended up being perfectly happy with the Mickey Mouse one.
• a Baby Alive doll. With the powdered baby food and diapers and everything. I named her Maya. She had a little yellow dress and curly hair, and I remember I loved her very much. I think I was a pretty good mom too.
• an Easy Bake oven. I baked several cakes with that thing, including a birthday cake for my dad. I really thought I had it going on, like Betty Crocker or Julia Child or something.
• a black and yellow race-car big wheel. It had a timer on it and came with orange road cones so you could time yourself. I would go really fast, then pull up the break and spin around. It would make this schreeching noise just like fast cars spinning out do. That thing was so much fun. I wore it out.
• a pink Huffy Princess Power bike. I wore that thing out too. It was for me at the time to pop wheelies on it, even though I wanted to. I figured eventually I would upgrade to a BMX bike. Never did.
• a Malibu Barbie. I had so many Barbies. They were great fun. Never got the Dream House or the RV or the McDonalds or the Pink Corvette, but I did get the Silver Corvette one year. That was cool.
• a little Strawberry Shortcake playhouse. It was shaped like a big strawberry and would close up and you could carry it like a little case. Inside fit Strawberry Shortcake (who smelled like fruity goodness) and her furniture, which included a stove. She also had little pies with fixings that you could mix and match. I loved that toy.

When I was little, cable tv and Sony Walkmans were the in things to get, along with Ataris and Commodore 64's. And Apple Computers were just beginning to get popular. Now I've got a MacBook Pro on my wish list this year, my son loves his new IPod Nano and is begging me for an XBox 360, and cable tv just wouldn't be the same without Tivo. I guess we've come a long way.

Christmas cheer.

Well, here it is, not a week later, but a MONTH later!

Who knew I needed a month-long hiatus?

Apparently that's what I needed, because the three weeks after Thanksgiving and my son's birthday were spent nursing his illness, or my oldest son's illness, or MY illness. I couldn't even fully enjoy my own birthday on the 1st.

That's right. The three of us were dreadfully sick. And we kept re-infecting each other I guess, because it was about three weeks or so of straight misery before the baby's nose finally stopped running with slime. There were several days where at least one, if not all of us, were pretty much bedridden. I had trouble breathing for about a week and a half. Sudafed and Benadryl became fast friends of mine. Thank God my husband never caught it, whatever it was. It seems there was something horrendous going around; some of my students were sick too.

Fast forward to the past week, when we finally got our tree and decked our halls, got our Christmas shopping done, and took care of whatever else we needed to that didn't get taken care of yet this month. It was a blur. And now, here I am, about to don my Santa suit along with my husband and put the gifts under the tree before heading to bed.

Now that I'm feeling normal again, I've got to get cracking on all of the good stuff I had planned on posting this month. But for now, I will say Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.