Fun Stuff

Just thought I'd post a few fun things that we've been up to this month!

I can't believe April is already almost over.  This is when the busy part of our year starts...and to be honest, it really doesn't slow down until about January 1st the next year.  Good gracious.

Spring Break was the first week in April.

We went to Madison for a few days and hung with D&K.

When we got home we did some work around the house.

I visited my Pookster and FINALLY got to meet Alli and Ben

Roommates and Wombmates!  (Yes, this will be the title for the scrapbook page) ;0)

We spent two whole days working on our front flower bed.  Now we know why we put it off so long. 

Before:

The ducks helped...by help I mean they sat there (inside) and looked gorgeous:

Go Husband:

Lots of digging:

After:

For those of you wondering...NO, we are not available for hire.  If something ever happens to the flower bed we will pay for it to be redone. 


By far...I think my favorite April event was celebrating Chris and his Birthday.

After all, life just wouldn't be the same if he wasn't ever born.

SUPER HOT HUSBAND!

So, I did something festive that I found on pinterest (woo hoo, all those hours of pinning are not for nothing).

Here it is:

Chris turned 32, so  I did 32 balloons and attached to them were 32 pictures of memories we wouldn't have ever had together if he was never born.

He LOVED it...but I think he loved the turn tables I got him more ;0)

I love my hubby!

Deep thoughts by Holly

I was driving home the other day, top down (on the car), listening to the radio, sun shining down, cool breeze tangling up my hair...when for some odd unknown reason it hit me...

This would be how my movie would end.

No, there are no ambitious film makers out there just knocking on my door to make a movie about my life.

But if there was.

If there was a movie about me.

That's how the movie would end.  Or at least that's how I would want it to end.

I've always said I won't die of CF...it's not going to be the reason I leave this earth.

Sorry, it's just not!  (Who exactly I'm apologizing to there, I don't know.  Maybe CF in general...)

And Chris and I have decided that we are both going to die at 86 of euthanasia.

In my head though, I pictured me driving my convertible, top down, hair gracefully blowing in the wind (there will be no tangling, because that just doesn't happen in movies) and some lovely melody (or Ludacris) playing in the background, with a closing monologue about how I left the earth gracefully.

And then later I was home, turning off the lights in the office/scrap room and had ALL kinds of scrapbook stuff just hanging out on the desk, floor, etc...and it hit me again.

I wonder if this is how the room would look like when someone returns to my home afterwards!?!?!?! 

Of course then I remembered how OCD I am and figured probably not.  But I guess it could.

And will someone really ever look at these scrapbooks I've done?

To be perfectly honest, I haven't the foggiest idea why I would be thinking about such a morbid topic.

There's no real point to this post, or deep meaning.

I just wonder if anyone else has these crazy thoughts run through their head.

Or is it just me...that I'm somehow morbidly interested in how my life would be perceived at the end, and how someone might choose to "end scene."

What would your life movie look like?

Who would play you?

How would your movie end?

"I could make that!"

So whenever my sister and Mom and I go to a craft show or we're in a store, there's one phrase that is inevitably uttered from one or all three of our mouths.

"I could make that!"

And we could.  We just haven't...yet.

I've become obsessed with Pinterest!

Seriously...there's so many great ideas on there. 

O'Connell Creations needs to be relaunched because I believe we will become millionaires selling what we can make from Pinterest.

Ummm...I guess that would involve actually making the things we find on Pinterest...but it could happen.

Tonight I'm trying out a recipe I found on Pinterest.  And my next menu plan is going to be based entirely off of recipes I've found on Pinterest.

I do plan on making many of the household cleaning agents that I've found recipes for.

I haven't had any mod podge for crafting in years...and good gracious, it's so expensive to buy, so I do plan on making that.

I have a million of old t-shirts just waiting to be made into scarves or something super festive I've found a tutorial on.

I can't wait to get our front porch built and the back patio done so I can make the really neat porch swing and outdoor benches.

I've found some really neat ideas for decorating the Red Barn Retreat.

When Chris and I decide to add to our family, there's some really cute baby ideas I've found.  Or I can just use them for my neices and nephews.

I'm really excited to go on some new dates with my super Hot husband...all thanks to Pinterest ideas of keeping the romance alive (brown chicken, brown cow)!

I've already learned how to finally do my hair...why didn't anyone tell me I wasn't using my root lifter right before?!?!?!?!?!


You see...I can be a stylish, loving, crafy, adorably decorated homeowner, maniac...

All because of Pinterest and four simple words...

"I could make that!"

I was part of a FLASH MOB!!!!!

It's okay to be jealous!  ;0)

Completely Random Facts

Most of you know me pretty well...but since I post my blog updates on Facebook, who knows how many people I'm not aware of that actually read my blog. So, I thought I'd give you some random tidbits about me ;0)

*Warning: This post contains MANY seriously nerdy facts about me...most of which I am very proud of. Please don't mock me for them.

 

1. I love making "to do" lists - to be more specific, I love crossing things off the "to do" list. I watched a movie once (I think it was one of the lifetime original movies) where a male actor had a pda and made his "to do" list on it and the female actress commented to him about the inability to cross off things on his list when using a pda (I believe you just click a box next to the "to do" and it disappears)...and that was why she wouldn't ever get one. This obviously resonated with me, because I'm the same way. Part of the excitement, for me anyway, of finishing my task is that I then get to cross the task off my list. Wanna know something even more nerdy about me? Sometimes I write things down on my list that I've already done, for the sheer fact that I then get to cross it off.

2. I'm not good at printing out pictures on a regular basis (hmm...maybe this should be one of my hopes). I tend to only print pictures out when I'm going on a big scrapbook retreat or having a crop with my girlfriends. Which means, I then have to spend 3-4 evenings going through pictures on the computer, uploading them, putting them in my cart, then editing/cropping them, actually ordering them, and then go pick them up. Ugh, I'm tired just thinking about the process. I'd still have to do all of that...but if I ordered one or two months worth of pictures at a time, as opposed to what I did this week (which was order all of 2011 at once...I am excited about the 750+ pics to be delivered to me soon) the process wouldn't take nearly as long, and I wouldn't stress so much when prepping for my scrap retreats because most of my pictures would already be right in front of me. *For the record, I ordered all of 2011 at once because Snapfish is doing there 99prints for 99cents deal...which is WAY cheaper that what it would cost me to get my pics throughout the year like I usually do.

3. I'm EXTREMELY organized. I believe I've mentioned this before...about how I have some ridiculous OCD tendencies (especially when it comes to being organized). Case in point...my closet:

 

Things are all hung in like order (short one colored shirts are all together and organized by color, same with the long-sleeved one color shirts, t-shirts that can be worn to work are together, then the other t's, then skirts, then dresses.
NERD ALERT: I even organized my scarves and belts.

 
*Yes, my closet always looks like this! And Yes, Chris does have to deter me from the organization and purse sections of stores...they are my weaknesses.  He told me the other that under no circumstances am I ever allowed to go to the Container Store. ;0)

4. I love to scrapbook. Yes, I know you all know this...but what you don't know is that I see inspiration for scrapbooking EVERYWHERE! I sometimes have trouble falling asleep at night because I'm thinking about an idea I have for a layout and I'm just so excited about it, I can't get it off my mind. At this point I have never actually gotten out of bed and started on the layout (my realistic side tells me how insanely tired and irritable I would be in the morning if I got out of bed to scrap).

5. I love bacon. My sister got me a bacon air freshener for my car a couple Christmases ago...I've never opened it because I'm afraid it will make me crave bacon every time I get in my car.

6. Steak is my favorite food. Basically I'm a carnivore. Salad is what real food eats ;0)

7. I don't like any kind of salad sandwich...ham salad, chicken salad, etc. It's a texture thing, not taste thing. Same with breakfast casseroles made with bread.

8. I always look for the person chasing those crazies who are running on the side of the road. Why?...you ask...because I don't see the point in running unless someone is chasing you to kill you or steal your purse. And even then, there is nothing so very important in my purse, and if God is ready for me then so be it. People who say they enjoy running make me chuckle...those people have something seriously wrong with them.

9. I have road rage. I don't flip people off...but I do scream at them! I realize they can't hear me and to an onlooker I probably appear rather crazy as I scream at the top of my lungs...but it does make me feel better. To be honest...this started after I took a safe driving course in college (my Dad got a discount on my insurance if I did it...Can I blame him for this?) and realized just how many people don't know traffic rules.

10. Michael Jackson is one of my favorite artists. His music just makes me happy.

11. I have very random taste in music.  You'll find Third Day, Eminem, Michael Buble', and soundtracks to musicals on my Zune.

 

12.  I love ducks. You all should know this by now...if you didn't, where on earth have you been?

 

13.  Sunday is my favorite day of the week.  It's Crosspoint day and a relaxation day in all in one ;0)

 

14.  I have the best husband on the planet.  Seriously...I do!

 

15.  I spend 1-2 hourse twice a day doing treatments.

 

16.  I am a Christ Follower!

2012 Begins

 Holly's 2012 Hopes

Well, here it is...the blog post that to some degree scares the crap out of me!  Hahaha...

Why you may ask?  Well, as you all know, I don't like to fail when it comes to my personal goals and so this blog post scares me because I feel like I have to live up to everything I write.

Such is why I call them my "hopes". 

However, it motivates me because not only are they things I don't want to fail at...I don't want to let my dear blog readers down by not keeping up with them. 

I mean seriously, how lame would I be to give you my update at the end of the year and every single one be like, "well, I tried on this one, but yeah it just didn't happen." 

And then, instead of the (probably only) 2 loyal readers I have ( ;0) thanks Mom and Heather), I would have none! 

 I refuse to allow that to happen.

So, here they are, my 2012 Hopes.

*I've listed the ones that aren't really capable of being measured first...because let's face it.  These will always be on my hopes list, and are things I will continue to strive to make better.

~ I want to continue working on being the best wife, “maschia” to the ducks, daughter, sister, granddaughter, aunt, friend, etc as I can be.  There’s always room for improvement ;0)

~ I want to continue to work/focus on my marriage.  Every relationship in our lives requires work for it to continue to progress.  The most important relationship to me, aside from my relationship with God, is my relationship with my husband.  He and I share our lives together, now and forever, and in order for our life together to maintain it's yee-ness (I'll explain yee at another point if you don't understand this terminology) we will always have to work on it.  Go Team Elliott!

~ I would like to continue working on my faith and my relationship with God.  It’s very easy to become overwhelmed and let the stresses of life overcome and overshadow the things that we really need to focus on.  But if we make it a point to grow in our relationship with God we are better equipped to handle those life stressors.  It doesn't mean we won't have frustrations and trials, it just means we'll have the best resource (God) available to us to help us through those rought patches.

~ I am going to work on not letting other peoples issues become my own.  I feel like there are certain situations in my life that I could have easily been sucked into the middle of, when in all honesty, it doesn’t have to do with me.  I’m not one of the key players in the situation, and I’ve  tried very hard to not let the issues of those close to me, that are key players in the situation, become my issues.  It’s difficult…because when it comes to those I love, I want to go to battle for them, but I can’t.  I just can’t.  And I can’t let their issues become mine, and I can’t let their issues eat at me.  It’s not healthy for me, and it drags down those around me. 

~ I want to increase my random acts of encouragement.  I know this was on my hopes list from last year…but I focused on some of my other hopes more than I did this one.  So here it is again.  I want to do at least one random act of encouragement a month.  And I fully understand how odd that seems, like I'm planning out a random act of kindness.  But here's where the randomness comes in:  I will intentionally, once a month, seek some quiet time with God and ask him to put someone on my heart that I can help encourage.   It may not be random from God's point of view, because he knows what's going on with that specific person...but I don't.  All I know is that God loves that person in my life so much that He's showing them His love and encouragement through the words I have to say to them. 

~ I want to donate my time or resources to a local organization at least once a month.  Most likely (knowing me and how busy our calendar can get and how fast it fills up) it will more than likely be resources that are donated. 

   I made a conscious effort to go through my closets and drawers after Christmas, I tried on EVERYTHING…if I hadn’t worn it in a while, if I knew I really would never wear it, or if I didn’t LOVE the way it looked on me (even if it fit) I got rid of it.  There’s no reason to have clothes in my closet that I’m never going to wear and that I don’t feel good or confident in.  The original plan was to save it for our garage sale in May…but that’s 4 months away, which means it will be sitting in my basement for 4 months, UGH!  Then I thought I’d take it to Goodwill…then I thought, I wonder if there’s a local clothing pantry at a church or something????  I found one in Noblesville and will be dropping off a box of clothes in the next few days.  I don’t need the money for the clothes and I’d rather someone who truly needs them have them. 

~ I want to be better this year at doing Menu plans.  Last year started off good and trailed off there toward the end, with no menu planning being done the last few months.  Chris and I are very good about budgeting, but food is our weakness and we’re very easily talked into forgoing all that’s in our fridge to go out to eat.  This isn’t always a bad thing, but we just need to discipline ourselves to use more of our “go out to eat” money for grocery money.  Since I get home around 3pm every day it’s easier to make food at home...not like when we both got home around 6 and neither of us wanted to spend an hour in the kitchen making something, when we were starving right then and there.  How I plan to get myself in this discipline, I don’t know (suggestions welcome), but I definitely need to do so.

~ So last year my goal was to finish Scrapping 2010 before starting on 2011…granted I strayed a smidge from this as I did start on 2011 before completely finishing 2010…but I did keep my word and finished 2010 instead of just dropping it completely once I started 2011.  SO…this year I have a new Scrapbooking goal.  I want to finish 2011, get at least half of 2012 done, and get a little bit of 2009 done too…YIKES!  That’s a big goal.  But I do have a plan for getting this done.  Each month I plan to get 1-2 months from 2011 scrapped.  Some months had more going on than others, so if I encounter a long month to scrap…I’ll just do it.  If the next couple months are small scrap sections then I’ll do both.  I already have January and February of 2011 scrapped, so I’m currently a smidge ahead of the game (well, as far as 2011 goes) so I should be able to finish 2011 earlier in the year than December 30^th ;0) and get more than 2 months of 2012 done by the time 2013 is here.  Depending on how this goes, I may even up this monthly goal to include the month prior to’s scrapping, meaning in February I’ll work on January from 2012 as well as a month or two of 2011.  This would obviously make it easier to get caught up but may be a little over zealous.  My scrap retreats could be time focused on 2009.  I do have some stuff scrapped from then already, but at the moment I don’t know how much is done and how much I have left, so who knows how long it will take to catch up on it, but at least I’ll be working on things that are sitting in a bag in the closet just screaming to be put in an album.  Wish me luck…this is I think the biggest measurable challenge I’ve given myself.

~ Last year my Blogging hope was to blog once a week…go ahead and chuckle, it is humorous.  This year my hope is to simply blog…just kidding ;0).  I am going to be much more manageable with my hope for blogging this year and say at least twice a month.  I can do that, right?   Once every two weeks…that’s manageable, isn’t it?  YES…yes it is!  I can do it.

Well, that's all I've got for you right now.  Wish me luck, and feel free to ask where my hopes are at periodically throughout the year. 

2011 Ends...

 2011 is ending...it really was a good year. 
I thought I'd do a re-cap of what my hopes were for this year and where things are at with those hopes!

Update are in blue:

~I hope to be a better wife, "maschia" to the ducks, daughter, sister, granddaughter, aunt, friend, nurse, etc. Who doesn't want to be better in all their relationships? 

Obviously this isn't necessarily something that can be measured or assessed...but I think there's always room for improvement in this area.  So while I feel like I'm a pretty good wife, maschia, daughter, sister, grandaughter, aunt, friend, nurse, etc...I know I'm not the best and don't always live up to my full potential in these areas.~I hope to work/focus on our marriage more. I LOVE my husband...after all, he is the BEST HUSBAND EVER. And...I'm a very happily married woman. Having said that, every marriage has to have effort put in by both parties to make it work. I believe that Chris and I have a strong, healthy, wonderful marriage...but who's to say it couldn't be stronger, healthier, more wonderful????? We're starting this by doing an 8 week Love and Marriage class. Our church presented this the last few weeks, and without trying to sound like either of us thought there were problems, we had that awkward..."Ummmmm...what would you think...about...us...ummm...doing that...uh...Love and Marriage class?" conversation. To which we both responded with a resounding "YES!" We've never done any sort of marriage enrichment course/class/work...so we're both excited about this opportunity to learn from each other, and to be better spouses! YAY TEAM Elliott!

Chris and I really enjoyed out Love and Marriage class, and we learned a lot about each other and how to be better spouses to each other.  I hope we can continue to remember the lessons we learned and keep the promises we made.

~I hope to communicate better. This may be a surprise to some of you (but I doubt it)...I'm somewhat of a people pleaser. I don't particularly like to rock the boat (unless it's whipping my freshmen into shape). So when I don't agree with something, or I'm not particularly jazzed about something, or my feelings have been hurt (usually in a small way) I have a tendency to not speak up. I realize this is all my fault! My husband is not the overbearing/controlling kind that wouldn't let or want me to speak my mind (on the contrary, he would advocate for me to do so)...but I have trouble sometimes expressing to him how I feel about things. Again...totally my fault, and I think it has to do with the whole "failing" thing again. I don't want to let anyone, specifically him, down. I think that going through this love and marriage course may help me to be a better communicator when it comes to speaking with Chris about how I feel...which will in turn help build up our marriage more (look at that...two hopes taken care of all in one)!

I definitely feel like I've been able to communicate better, especially after our Love and Marriage class.  There are times that I don't say things still, because I know it's just my OCD coming out...but I have learned that things don't/won't change if  I don't speak up and say if I'm frustrated.  And on the flip side of that, things won't stay as I like them if I don't say that either...so I definitely feel like this has been a positive for me.

~I'm hoping to be better about letting things go! I am a non-diagnosed person living with OCD! I don't mean I have to unlock and lock the front door 567 times before I leave the house, or count to "20" 10 times before I can walk into my bedroom...I mean, I like things in their proper place and when someone moves it even 1/8 of an inch, inside my head I FREAK! When something isn't put where it's supposed to go, I become annoyed. I've gotten a smidge (but just a smidge) better about this since college. I still don't understand how when a towel is used to dry hands it can't get nicely and neatly put back on the rack, or why when the cleaning lady at work dusts my office, she doesn't notice that the picture frames aren't equally facing inward at an angle, and she put the boyd nurse bear and rubber duck facing the back of the shelf and not the front! To me...these things seem obvious and irritate me when I have to fix them daily...But they are not life/death issues. So...again, I'm hoping to be better about letting these things go!
Okay...super OCD am I, but I do feel like there have been areas with this that I have gotten better and been able to let things go.  Yes, it still irritates me when I nearly trip over a chair walking into my office because for some reason the cleaning lady pulls them out from the wall to sweep behind but doesn't push them back...but, I don't obsess over the picture frams and decorations being moved in my office so much anymore.  And as I said above...I'm trying to think about the little things that are part of my OCD and not make them into big things.

~I'm hoping to get more organized! How, you ask, can I not be organized when I have above said OCD tendencies? I am organized...I'm VERY organized. But heavens to Betsy I LOVE organizing things...and there are a few things in my life that I've lost my organizational touch with. Such as, since we moved into this house, I somehow magically stopped being able to send out birthday and anniversary cards! January 11th would come and I'd say to myself (if Chris didn't ask about it and remind me already) "CRAP, I didn't get a card out to my father-in-law for his birthday!" AND...to make matters worse, I became very flippant about it! Because after that initial thought, I'd then say to myself, "Well, Chris will call him tonight, so it's okay! But the next person with a birthday I'll get a card out, and next year I'll make sure to send one to Dan!!!!" But then it just kept happening! So that's one area of need for organization. *Side note: I did get a card out to my father-in-law on time this year...AND I made it with the cricut cartridge my mother-in-law got me for Christmas! I think that should earn bonus points!d

I definitely did better with the birthday/anniversary cards this year...but I'm still not quite up to 100% yet.  On another organizational note...now that we've got the man cave set up, I was FINALLY able to organize the tubs and shelves in the basement! YAY!

~I'm hoping to start working on menu plans and use them regularly. Chris and I are in the rut (as so many people are) of making and eating the same things, all the time for dinner. It's just so tiring. I LOVE to eat...and the fat girl inside me needs to be sedated with food on a pretty regular basis, multiple times a day. So the fact that eating the same foods, coinciding with the fact that we HATE going to the grocery (so we put it off as much as possible) make us not in the mood for anything come dinner time...is hard to deal with. I've been slowly going through all of our cookbooks. I'm making a list of the recipes that sound yummy, easy, and don't have 5 million ingredients that we never knew existed. I'm breaking them down by Chicken/Turkey, Beef, Pork, Seafood, Sides, and Other. This way, when I make my weekly menu, I don't end up with 5 beef meals...plus, if I know I have chicken in my fridge/freezer already, I can just look up a chicken recipe, without going through all the cookbooks again. My organizational skills at work ;0) Hopefully this will get us trying new things...and give us more options to put on our staples list!

I did really good at this...in spurts!  I think I got about 2 weeks per month, up until October.  Once October hit it seems like there was so much going on that I never got to it.  I really enjoyed having the menu planned out when I did it.  It made preparing for dinner so much easier...it's just so time consuming to actually get it done.  I really need to just make sure I devote time to doing it. 

~I'm hoping to catch up on some of my scrapbooking! I have a tendency to not scrap in order...which means, when 2009 was done and I was going to a crop night with the girls, the first thing I wanted to scrap was what had happened in January of 2010! Sadly, I succumbed to that pressure, and have put off 2009. However, I tried in 2010 to start at the beginning of the year, and work my way through the calendar, working in order. This seemed to do better for me, and with the exception of a few pages here in there (due to not having pictures printed), I am up to August of 2010, and just moving right along. This might be the first yearly scrapbook I finish in it's entirety, in well...EVER! So, I'm going to try to stay strong and continue working on 2010 until it's completely finished, before I start on 2011! Wish me luck!

This one I am extremely excited to report on...I have finished 2010 in it's entirety.  I was on my scrapbook retreat in October and finished 2010 (or so I thought) and I actually made it through February of 2011...then I got home and when going through the calendar to put the pages in the albums I realized I had more to do...and I still had to do our Myrtle Beach vacation album.  I thought 2010 was never going to be finished.  However, thanks to Christmas vacation and my friend Amy wanting to get some of her own scrapping done, I spent two days and finished up 2010 on December 30th.  I really think the scrapping in order has worked well for me, and I plan to continue working on this.  I don't think 2011 will be as time consuming and full as 2010 (2010 actually was 4 albums - 3 for the main/whole year, and 1 for our 30th birthday and M.B. vacation), so I hope that once I get 2011 finished I can get going on 2012 and maybe eventually work my way back to previous years.  Woo Hoo!

~I'm hoping to do a weekly blog! I realize I've said this before...and I know you're all snickering at me for this one. But, I truly do. There is inspiration all around me...and using the excuse that I have NOTHING to blog about is just a cop out! I have a friend who is blogging daily for one month...now if she can find something to blog about on a daily basis (without it just being that she went to the grocery and had to fill up for $4.00/gal, ya know, the boring daily stuff) then by golly, I can find something to blog about once a week! Who knows, there may be weeks I surprise you and have more than one thing to say...YIPES!!!

Hahahahaha...I'm just going to laugh on this one.  You all need no update because as my blog stalkers you know just how well this one went.  ;0)

~I'm hoping we can move forward and buy a house. Chris and I are interested in buying the house we are living in (it was my grandparents and we've been renting for a little over a year now). Since Grandma passed away, and the process of closing the estate has been on the horizon for my Dad and Aunt, the idea of what to do about the house has come up. We like living here. We like that we know the house, the people who built it, it has sentimental value, it has character that NO other house has. It's a great location, great school system (should we ever need to look into that), on a state road, but has a field out back that we can have bonfires in! We love it...it suits us, and since we've moved in, we've been so honored to call it home. I think Grandma and Grandpa would have been proud knowing that we've been here taking care of it, and cherishing and honoring what they worked so hard to build.

You all know the answer to this one.  In July Chris and I officially bought the house!  YIPPEE!

~I'm hoping to be better at encouraging others on a regular basis. Not long ago, when were in a series with our church, and one of the things we were encouraged to do, was to think of 3 people to encourage that week. I got more out of doing this, than probably, those that I encouraged got out of the encouragement. It felt good lifting others up, which makes it sound very selfish to say that I want to do more of this (since I enjoyed it so much). However, I know that the words of love that I spoke to them were things I should have been saying all along, and more regularly. Sometimes God puts people on our hearts for reasons we don't understand...and it's in those moments that our encouraging and loving words or actions are welcomed most abundantly. I want to show others that I love them and that God loves them at all times.

I had a few specific times this past year to encourage others in a specific way...but that wasn't necessarily what I really meant when I wrote this.  I was really meaning that I wanted to do more random acts of kindness/encouragement.

~Which leads me to my last hope (well...that I can think of at the moment)...I hope to grow more in my faith this year. Like most other Christ followers, I have my "on" moments and my "off" moments. You know what I mean? The "on" moments when I feel like I'm very in tune to what God is doing in my life and I'm praying without ceasing, and I'm looking to God to carry my yoke. Then there's the "off" moments when I can't put down my cross! It's like I HAVE to carry it to get through the day, week, month. It's so easy to tell someone else to give it to God and let him be in charge of it...but when it's my turn to heed my own advice I fail miserably (Ann you're not allowed to disagree with me on this one). I've become stagnant in my relationship with God...and that's just completely UNACCEPTABLE! I'm starting to work on this by signing up to read through the New Testament over the year. I feel that this is a good building block for continuing to grow in my relationship with Christ. It will get me reading His words, and processing how He's working in my life, and reminding me how much He loves me! 

As of today, I have a few days to catch up on...being on Christmas break and out of my normal routine during the week (usually I read my Bible reading when I get to work) I've fallen a smidgen behind.  But I plan on getting caught up on this by tomorrow.  There were sections of the reading where I had trouble finding a connection between it and things that were going on in my life...and then there were days that I read exactly what I needed to hear at that very moment.

So there you have it.  I plan on getting you my 2012 hopes in the next few days.   

Happy New Year!  See you in 2012!