Hello, 2016

So long to last year

It's all becoming so clear.

There is no use living in regret.

Let's fight a good fight

Train our eyes to find the light

That makes this year the best one yet!

Starting right here . . . Happy New Year!

-J.J. Heller

My standard way to finish out a calendar year is by printing my blog for the year. The time that it takes to do this always makes me resolve to stop blogging for good because there's just so many words and sharing and pictures. 

And then I remember that the kiddos pull out my blog books multiple times a week, and I remember there is value in documenting my thoughts/feelings and their funny anecdotes and words and used-to-be-cute-but-are-now-in-the-tween-awkward faces.

One of the main themes I noticed from 2015 was how busy we were. While I am certainly tempted to resolve to be less busy in 2016, after reading this post at the Bronlea Blog, planning to make all that busyness count seems more realistic and worthwhile.

A few things that I have been doing the last few months that I want to continue in 2016:

Reading and Writing. When the kids head to bed at night, I head to my own bed and write some Scripture in my journal then spend 30ish minutes reading for fun. It's been awesome to read fiction again, and I know that it's helped my concentration and sleep patterns. Writing Scripture down makes me actually think about it a little more thoughtfully, and while I'd like to claim that I'm beautifully, artfully journaling . . . it's just my own messy handwriting. 

Less Facebook. No explanation needed here, really. We're planning to buy Circle for our family which will put solid guidelines into our computers/devices to keep us accountable. It's pretty easy to monitor the kids (since they have no devices and aren't allowed media time during the week), but the adults get sucked into mindless browsing too often.

Project 365. Take a picture-a-day. I did this in 2011, 2012, and 2013, and I am happiest with those years in terms of photography and documenting. At this point, I don't have any plans to scrap those pictures, just blog and print them. Also, no artsy themes or pressure on me to make them perfect - just snapshots of our ordinary life.

Be Social. Brian and I are both introverts with both jobs and positions at church (plus two extroverted kiddos) that require a lot out of us in terms of social interaction, and we tend to hibernate when we have the opportunity. We are resolving to give up at least one of our few alone nights a month to share our home and table with community.

Make It Count. Whatever that entails, I want *it* to count. The time spent working, the time spent at church events, the time with Brian and the kids. I want the busyness, the cancer, our family to count.