The New Year

The Schneck family has been traveling and visiting like crazy banshees over the past week or so. Not much time for blogging. Liam and I are headed out to Gatlinburg where we are meeting Jon and the boys until after the first of the year. So, I thought I'd do my new year's blog between napping and packing and laundry and such.

2008 has been a year of extremes. It's been about as much sorrow and as much joy as my weakling heart could take. My beloved Paw Paw passing away in March amongst deaths of several other friends and family members, surgeries, illnesses, family issues and the economic rollercoaster are just a few of the things I could complain about. But in the face of all the blessings we have received it seems juvenile to even mention them. God has provided. God has protected. God has shown us a deeper level of His infinite mercy and love. How could we have ever known the vast amounts of joy and love that would come our way with the birth of our first born, our baby boy, Liam. If you have never had a child, I literally cannot tell you what it's like. My physical body can barely contain the wealth of emotion. Sometimes I think I'm going to squeeze him so tight that his eyeballs are going to pop out. All the sleepless nights, super stinky diapers (just wait until table food....oh dear...), medical bills, breastfeeding woes, etc... have all been well worth it. I would rather be in the situation I'm in with Liam than have the money, freedoms, alone time, etc... I had before. It's no contest.

I try not to make resolutions because after the first month or so goes by and no one is talking about "resolutions" anymore, I forget what it was I resolved to do in the first place. I'm easily influenced. So, I've decided to call my resolutions "goals" instead. Here are my goals:

1 - Lose the weight that I gained back after I stopped nursing (thank you egg nog lattes, christmas cookies, etc...)
2 - Make a concentrated effort to finally make Nashville my home instead of having one foot in Atlanta.
3 - Love more, taking the time to build real and lasting relationships and improve the ones that I have already made.
4 - Convince my husband to eat healthy and actually exercise!
5 - Watch TV less and read, craft, exercise, etc... more.
6 - Start singing again. Watch out TVC choir! Here I come!
7 - Practice contentment instead of materialism.
8 - Travel to see family and friends who are far away!
9 - Cook more.
10 - Pursue God.

Baby steps, people, baby steps...

As always, I am really looking forward to the coming year and all the blessings and challenges God has planned for us. By nature of Jon's profession, we can always count on the excitement and anxiety of an ever changing music industry. Our sweet son Liam is sure to bring a whole new load of experiences, perspective, and lessons in his second year of life. I wish you and yours a very joyful and blessed 2009. I pray that through Christ you are tested and challenged to be better than you were in 2008 while still making it joyfully and peacefully to 2010. (Are we really about to hit the '10's???) Happy New Year!