Happy New Year!

We spent ringing in the new year with our neighbors this year.  Not exactly what we had planned (sleeping in the new year) but nonetheless it was a great time!  Since we were next door, Elianna stayed up with us which is a first for her.  She was up before 8am (but I put her in our bed "so I could just check on the dogs real quick" hoping she would fall back asleep - which I'm thinking is a success!) so we will see how the day goes.  

This year our theme is 2013:  Passion will result in discipline.  In the past, new years resolutions have been made and never kept.  Why?  Why do we make these goals and yet never keep them?  I was determined to keep them this year and so I had talked about choosing discipline.  However, Chris diswayed me from that.  Instead he told me to look at it from this perspective.  If you don't have a passion about something, then you won't be disciplined enough to do it.  For example, if someone is passionate about playing basketball then their time will be spent on the basketball court playing.  If their not passionate about it then they won't go play.  Same with our goals, if we aren't passionate about loving our family, then we won't spend the time necessary with them.  Make sense?

So this year I want to be more passionate about:
~Loving God by consistent Bible study and prayer
~Loving my family by spending one on one time with Elianna and going on more dates with Chris
~Loving others by making set times to see friends who I don't normally get to see and being an encourager by sending out notes and cards
~Being healthy
~Keeping my house schedule

The last two are the two I am the least passionate about (have a bit but not alot) but praying that I gain a bit more of a passion for them this year.  And, of course, I'm passionate about finishing posts on our Advent Calendar.  Yikes!