Back in the Saddle

Hi Friends,

It's chilly willy over here, but at least the sun is peeking through just a wee bit today!

 If you've never visited or lived in Buffalo I'm here to tell you that it is not really the amount of snow that we get that makes our winters so tough...not for me anyways. It's the gray clouds that settle in and hover over our city for m-o-n-t-h-s on end. I swear you begin to feel as if the sun has gone on permanent vacation to Florida with all of the retirees and sun bathers, never to return. Friends and relatives will post photos on Facebook of beaches, and short sleeved t-shirts, and status updates about runs in the sun and I find myself thinking, Where are they? Mars? The sun doesn't shine on earth this time of year. 

Yes, I will confess, I have joined the throngs of cold Buffalonians vowing to move south one of these years. I'd like to be the type of gal that bucks up, holds strong and faces the adversity...er...cold weather...with grace, but I can't lie. It gets me every year.

Anyhoo...I'm doing my best to be in the moments. The very cold moments. I think I end up writing at least one blog post every year about the cold and then I just get on with it (: I do find it quite beautiful to watch snowflakes float softly and steadily from the sky. And to see porch lights reflect on glistening beds of snow in our neighbor's front yards. There is something to be said for getting out to a ski hill and feeling the breeze on your face and watching your children glide down with smiles on theirs. Beauty can be found in the cold, snowy days.

And if winter does one thing well it fills one with excitement and anticipation for warmer spring days. It makes the buds on the trees and the bulbs that finally peek through the ground all the more thrilling when they finally make their appearance.

In the meantime, I'm still settling my thoughts and intentions on some goals for this year. Intentions which include praying more, writing more consistently (even if it means simply journaling more regularly), teaching the girls about prayer, and, of course, trying to become more organized in some capacity (organization for me seems to be that elusive goal that I set every year that I make bits of progress in, but never quite feel like I've "arrived" in the place I'd like to be. Some people are back on the treadmills every January. I'm always digging out my organization books!).

The book I'm currently using is Organize Now by local author Jennifer Ford Berry. It's a great,
practical book that breaks down parts of your life and home into weekly goals/action steps...56 of them to be exact, so that you can work on one component each week. The major headings are Organize Yourself, Your Papers, Your Things, Your High-Traffic Areas, Your Personal Spaces, Your Storage Areas, Your Special Events and Your Routines. You can click on the title above to read more about it on Amazon.

In the vein of goal setting and working towards consistency in some areas of my life I have decided that this year I will commit to a new blog post every Tuesday.  While I'd like to be posting more than once a week, I find that it is not often practical to do so during this season of life. I'm committing to Tuesdays because it offers me some consistency/accountability and allows those of you who are reading to know what to expect! Good for everyone, right?

So, until next Tuesday... I hope you are finding ways to enjoy your cold, snowy days. I'm working on a series of posts about teaching children Biblical principles like prayer and worship and praise. This is not an area we always do right over here, but it is an area of life that we are always trying to do as well as possible and are always looking to improve in where we can. I'll share with you what we do, how we keep it practical and why we think it's worthwhile and incredibly imporant!


Hugs to you all!