It’s a new year! 2017! It’s the time for resetting goals and making resolutions and choosing words and all sort of fun stuff. I’m not really a resolutions kind of gal, but there are definitely some habits I’d like to either reclaim or add into my routine this year. It’s not that the start of a new year is the ONLY time you can do such things; but that fresh, blank calendar tends to makes us all more thoughtful about what how we’d like to fill the pages of the year ahead. If I had to pick a word for the new year, I think it would be “intentional”. I’d like to think more about how I’m spending my time and the way in which I connect with people, among other things. In a practical sense, I’ve gotten back to using a paper planner this year and want to be more intentional about setting aside time to physically be with friends or family. I’m trying once again to write in my 5 year, one line a day journal (2016 just got skipped, y’all!), and have started a gratitude/three good things journal as well. I’d like read my devotional daily(ish), and spend time in the Word and in (focused, agenda-less) prayer more regularly. I’d like to make it a point to write here, at least once a week, even if it is just a Week In Review post full of nothing but minutiae. I LOVE to look back at our minutiae and the past couple or years, I have not done a good job of recording it beyond Facebook or Instagram posts. We hit the ground running with Josie and there just was not the time or mental energy to keep up with such things. I do love when people read my blog, but honestly, I write for ME here, so if my minutiae is boring…oh well. Regardless of my intentions for the year, it’s not going to be perfect. It’s probably not even going to be consistent. That’s not really the point, though. Every little bit of change and progress towards our goals is worthwhile. If I look back at 2017 on December 31st and can see that I spent a little more time with people I cherish or documented our lives a little bit better or spent a little more time connecting with God, then it will be a success. New Year’s is not some magical time where change suddenly becomes attainable, but taking a little time to think about the direction you want to move your life and habits in, even slightly, is worthwhile.

The year is off to a good start, though! We spent time with our best friends on New Year’s Day, I had dinner with a good friend last night, we are going to a wedding on Saturday (where I’m taking photos, AGH!), out to dinner with friends tonight; I’ve kept up with my journaling, invested more time in spiritual growth, tried to be more present at times when my attention tends to wander, I’ve visited the blogs of friends to engage beyond the Facebook stream I tend to passively get carried along by, surprised a friend with a gift, and look, I’m writing on my blog right now! But I’ve definitely had to be intentional about making some of those things happen. 

I’d love to tell you some cute Josie stories, like how she is suddenly very into hugs or how she hasn’t been sleeping well this week or about how she was not ready for Christmas decorations to be taken down and kissed each ornament goodbye, but naptime is over and so are the hours I am allowed to freely use my brain and do things other than what Josie commands (hahaha! but really…) so I leave you with some photos from our week (many haven’t even been unloaded from the camera yet, but you’ll notice my word was not “perfection” so good enough is good enough). The rest will have to wait!