When I was little a year felt like forever.  Now, not so much.  That’s how I can tell I’m getting old!

So much has happened in the last year it just makes me tired to think about trying to write about it all.

That’s why I’m just gonna pick one thing…

My husband is twenty-nine years old today.

He’s not overly excited about it.  But our girls are thrilled to have a birthday in the house.  And I’m noticing that I really like this older guy I’m married to.

I know we’re still relatively young.  But I don’t feel like we’re young like we used to be.

Though I didn’t think so then, I know now that we were definitely kids when we got married.  There hasn’t been a dull moment as we’ve spent all these years growing up together!

This last year I feel like we’ve grown like never before.  We’ve grown together and learned to understand each other in a new way, and learned how to fight in a better way.  We’ve learned a lot about real love; the kind you don’t always feel, but the kind that never runs out when you’re remembering to seek the ultimate Source.

I don’t feel like we’re kids anymore.  We are both completely different people than those two kids, sitting on the high school room floor at church, waiting for the clock to strike twelve and see if all the dire predictions of Y2K would prove true.

Now here we are…all grown up (kind of).  And I’m so excited about it.  I can’t even describe the joy in my heart over all the ways God has worked in our lives.  I can’t wait to see what He has in store for us in the coming year.

Mostly I’m just so thankful that I get to share my life with him.  I told him we’re going to stop viewing birthdays as another year older and start looking at them as another year of life.  Another gift.  Another year together.  Another year of watching our girls grow.  Another year with Jesus by our side, making something beautiful out of everything that crosses our path. 

I kind of like that his birthday falls on the eve of a new year, and we get to roll all of this reflection together. 

I’m so full of hope, to see what God has planned for us.  And I’m so excited to watch my birthday boy grow older.

Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth.
~Martin Luther

I’ve been on a major cleaning/purging/organizing spree around my house the last few days.

Here’s your little peak into my mind:

First, I think we must get rid of stuff because there’s just TOO MUCH.  Then I think “but what if we need it someday?”  Then, I decide “get over it, can’t store it forever” and put it in the get rid of pile.  Then I feel guilty and ungrateful for getting rid of something that someone at one point gave me.  Then I start thinking about how people are going to keep giving us stuff.  And how I’m always excited for new stuff.  And how spoiled we are.  How we throw things away and just get more and it’s completely ridiculous.  Then I start to feel so overwhelmed by the stuff I plot banning gifts for my children forever.  Then I think about how devasted they would be and I feel completely trapped.  Then I give up. Get rid of some stuff.  Accept that there will be more in the future.  And try not to think too much about it.

So tell me, what’s your emotional reaction to clutter?

For Today… December 28,2009

Outside my window… gray skies.  At least it looks like the mud is finally drying up.

I am thinking… I have way too much stuff!  Time to sort and scale down the clutter.

From the learning rooms…   taking one more week off.  Planning to enjoy that.  

I’m thankful for… Hombre getting two weeks vacation over Christmas break.  I’m going to be an emotional wreck when he has to go back to work…it’s starting to feel “normal” to have him here all day every day.

From the kitchen… real cooking has been sadly neglected…I should probably get back to that soon!

I am wearing… pajamas…my shirt is a long sleeved t-shirt from the Mexico missions trip I went on 1997! I’m telling you, I have a major problem with letting go of old comfortable shirts.

I am reading…  nothing right now…but the girls’ and I finished reading The Best Christmas Pagaent Ever on Christmas day.  I love it!  The last chapter totally made me cry…not that that is all that hard to do…

 I am creating…  nothing.  Have some ideas in mind for Miss A’s birthday in February, but I figured it’s okay to take at least a week off after all the sewing I’ve been doing.

I am hearing… the Barbie Nutcracker movie. We borrowed it from the library and the girls are obsessed.

 Around the house… cleaning/organizing/de-christmasing one room at a time.  The living room and kitchen are done (I figured those were the two most critical).  Today I move on to the bedrooms.

A few plans for the rest of the week… the “big event” is tonight…we’re going to ride The Polar Express with my family.  The girls are so  excited.  I can’t seem to get through to them that we’re not really going to the real North Pole.  Oh well.   My sister and her family will be leaving tomorrow night   On Thursday is Hombre’s 29th birthday!  Trying to come up with some thrilling plan to celebrate his last year before the big 3-0… 

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