HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

In years past, I always looked upon the tradition of setting resolutions for the new year with disdain. "New Year's Resolutions," it seemed to me, were only set to be broken. In theory, I never *officially* set any.
Looking back, however, it occurs to me now that just because I didn't go through the specific act of writing them down and telling everyone doesn't mean that I didn't have any.
Certainly, there have been many things that I have hoped for in years past -- perhaps silently wishing them to happen with the turning of the new calendar. And I find myself pondering the many disappointments of things that didn't happen in the past year that, I was so hopeful, would.

So, as I sit here on New Year's Eve 2007, I have decided to give up my pseudo-intellectual snobbery and actually share with you here what I hope for the coming year.

Here are my 2008 "Resolutions."
1) I would like to lose weight and get healthy again. I have type II diabetes and my thyroid is a mess. A year ago, I was on NO medication. Now, I am on 4 different types per day! (yikes!) For Christmas, I bought myself a membership to the Women's Center for Fitness so I could start working out regularly again. I actually love to exercise and miss it when I go long periods without it. Before children, Clay and I were pretty serious weight-lifters (NOT body-builders! There IS a difference! I prefer to look like a GIRL, thank you very much). I also used to be a pretty good kick-boxer (NOT Tae Bo, actual KICKBOXING).

2) I WILL finish writing my book. This will entail some sacrifices in other areas of my life (see the following resolutions):

3) I MUST cut back on some of my commitments. I am praying earnestly to decide what these will be, but something has to give. My time is stretched so thin now that my family is starting to suffer. And I don't EVEN want to talk about the laundry that is piling up!!! So, something will have to be cut or, at the very least, cut way back.

4) I would REALLY like to keep my 'A' in Elevate and I would like to devote more time to studying the topics that we are covering in our classes. I don't want this to simply be a passing fancy; I want to actually learn this stuff and carry it with me, always.

That's it -- at least for now. Those are four things that I am truly hoping will come to fruition in the coming year. It's kind of cool posting them here because now I have a permanent record and can come back a year from now and see what has been successful and where I still need work -- an annual "checklist," if you will.

What about you? What are you wishing for, believing God for, wanting desperately to happen in 2008?

Whatever your dreams, goals, or ambitions, I hope that you realize them all. May 2008 be a wonderful year for you and your family.

Much love, Summer =)

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Like my background?
Could be the only snow we here in Baton Rouge see this year...
*sigh*
If there's one thing I miss about Arkansas (besides my family and friends), it's the snow. Most years, we would get at least one decent snow -- or at the very least, a dusting! Some years, we were snowed in for days! The year before we moved here, it snowed so hard, my car got stuck coming home. We had to walk the last 2 blocks to our house. Clay couldn't even get out to go to the hospital so we spent the next 3-4 days building snowmen and sledding down the steep hill near our house (another thing I miss: hills!).

Yes, if I could just have one truly selfish and silly prayer request this year, it would be for SNOW. Natasha *vaguely* recalls what it's like, but poor Raisha has never even seen it! I would love to see her face watching those beautiful flakes fall from the sky...
Then again, there IS such a thing as TOO MUCH SNOW -- like the winter I lived in Denver, Colorado.
Um, yeah.
You gotta REALLY like snow to live there.

I absolutely LOVE living in Louisiana -- in fact, we have permanently "adopted" it as our home state (sorry, Razorbacks). But couldn't we just have an occasional snow day? Is that really too much to ask? I don't think so. After all, it snowed in L.A. a couple years ago... so anything is possible, right?

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