Since I blogged last this family has celebrated two birthdays, Christmas, and rang in a New Year. It’s been a month full of reflection for me personally. Having turned 40 in December I felt the need to evaluate – who I think I am, where I’m at, and where I’m headed. I also needed to put 2008 to rest. My one word description to sum up 2008…insane.

I had the pleasure of spending my birthday with a crazy, funny, loving guy. (Thanks, Michael for the surprises!) We left the kids with family, left the world behind, and we relaxed. We disconnected from all the craziness of this past year. I received a daily journal for my birthday. I can already tell it is going to be very important to me this year. It has become a place where I truly have some “quiet thoughts”…moments between God and I.

The first quote in my new journal for January 1st, 2009:

With every catastrophe comes this gift-the opportunity to see God at work in our lives. -Jan Winebrenner

That made more sense to me than I would ever be able to explain even if I tried writing a thousand words right now. (And maybe to some of you it makes perfect sense.) The one thing I was positive about, my relationship with God had gotten better in 2008. I learned a lot about what was important in my life and what really didn’t matter very much. That led me to do some soul searching when it came to continuing my online “journal”. I really felt I was in a place where I didn’t have much left to share. It wasn’t a sad feeling it was just a thought that I had no set direction for the blog and did it really matter if it continued. So I had to examine-why I blog and for who. I realized that I have missed writing, it’s something I did a long time ago that I stopped doing. My blog has become that outlet for me personally. As for who I’m writing for – I’m writing for anyone that would like to read it and even if that’s only my mom and my husband that I would continue to write. I decided to leave the rest up to God…I suppose if God uses something I write here to speak to someone then that’s okay and if He doesn’t that’s okay, too. That’s really His business and I’m not going to try and understand all of that. I’ve learned over the past year that there are lots of things that happen in this life that I don’t understand and I’ve learned that’s okay.

So, I took a look at the blog it was dark and a little sad…so it’s been overhauled. My new header is the cover of my new journal, I wanted to tie the two together. I’m optimistic about 2009. The last year has been tough and 2008 didn’t end up the way I would have imagined, BUT it ended with my family healthy and together.

It’s time to get moving forward…..SO….hello….2009!!!