Resolutions

Yep, I know.
It's January 4th.
I know I'm late with the whole "year in review" thing.
But, I thought if I joined the blog world of reviews and confessed my resolutions, I would be more apt to keep them.  Some of my resolutions aren't really resolutions- they are changes I want to be more intentional about making permanent in my life- but more on that lataz.

2011 was wonderful.  Really.  2009 and 2010 were rough for us.  We were still in school (part of the time), I was student teaching (worst. semester. of. my. life. and, at the same time, was so hard/rewarding that I grew immeasurable amounts as a teacher), had my first awful/made me cry every day teaching position, our marriage was in that dreadful 2-year rocky point, we was po, and we stressed.  A lot.  We prayed.  A lot.  We finally learned how to trust the Lord.  For everything.  End of 2010 and 2011, we were blessed with all the things we could never deserve.

• We bought a house.  Sometimes I catch myself-well- coveting bigger, more perfect houses and I have to stop and think, NO, this is the house God wants us to be in.  We are blessed beyond measure.  We love it and it is our home.  We are thankful for it!

My hair is sooooo short!  Yuck!

• Our marriage is totally different (will never be perfect, but it is rockin!).  Never awful, but we hurt each other a lot because we didn't know how to love, respect, and serve each other right.  We still don't all of the time, but a mighty work has been done in our marriage, that's for sure.  I love Daniel with all that is in me and I am so abundantly thankful the Lord has opened my eyes as to how to {read: try!} love him as a husband.
• Our jobs (as sometimes stressful as they can be) are steady, provide for our needs and pay the bills, and are, for the most part, fulfilling (well, as fulfilling as an earthly thing should be compared to our treasure in Jesus!).  Nothing is ever perfect, but Daniel is adamant that we learn to not complain about work and be "lights" there.  That's a hard one!
• After going through-what I like to call- a spiritual "funk", we're on the flip side.  Thank God!  I am, again, so thankful we serve a God who is always there, who is always the most fulfilling thing we can set our eyes on. So thankful and in awe that we worship the King who humbled himself to leave a heavenly throne and be born to Earth, having the purpose to die so that sinful people would be reconciled to a Holy God.  Wow.  I was baptized as an adult early 2011 in front of our church family by my Father-in-law.  It was really special for me- both because our church has become my home and family and because Daniel's family has helped me grow spiritually in ways I can even begin to describe.  By the looks of 2009 and 2010, I'm surprised my FIL didn't pin me underwater to punish me.  Hahah kidding.  =)  I love them so much and am so thankful for them!

Annnd that's all I got.  Daniel had our DEAD camera in the congregation to the left of the picture, but-yep- dead.  Oh well.  I remember getting very upset with him and saying thinking saying, "WELL thanks for giving such a WONDERFUL point in my life enough thought to charge the freaking camera!!"  I said EARLY 2011.  Before I would describe our marriage as "rockin".  Haha.  I am a brat.

 Hmm, proofreading this through, I seem to use "thankful" a lot.  Guess that's not a bad thing, huh?  Never.

Resolutions
Hopefully, I will blog throughout the year on how these go...

• Pray for my husband diligently.
• Read through the bible with Daniel.
• Exercise more regularly.  Our Zumba class is starting up again {Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!} and we also started the Couch to 5K running program.  So far, so good!  Zumba is more fun than anything (okay, it burns 800 calories an hour. Booo-yaaa), so I am planning on doing one class per week and following the running plan 3 times per week (as it recommends).  Even though I feel like I gained 10 L-B's over break, I am not going to update you on weight.  Our goal is not a number, but to be healthy!

So- you guessed it- thankful for 2011.  We are so excited for 2012 and are relieved to know that, even though we don't know what the year holds, the Lord knows.  He has it under control.  No worries!