Hello 2016! I'm still baffled a whole year has passed yet again. I feel like time is moving at a rapid pace and only gets faster the older I get. I still remember grade school when it felt like a day, week, year would never end. Does anyone else feel this way? We ushered in the new year on the west coast. I can't wait to share some travel tips and the images in the coming weeks. It was just what our little family needed even if 3 out out 4 came home oh so sick. If you have been reading this little ole blog for awhile now you may recall every year I pick a word to focus on. A word that helps better myself in an area I still need work on. This year though I refuse to pick a word. I am deciding my only goal will be to focus on Jesus and as I see it, as His word continually states, then all else will fall into place.
Why no word this year? Five or so years ago my word was spending. I needed to get it under control. I would buy just because. It became a nasty habit. It was also the year our photography business went under an audit by the state and county for not charging sales tax on EVERY shoot we did not just product. We ourselves are product. We sure didn't know. We owed an exuberant amount of money to us and we had to budget beyond what I thought was possible. Of course all shopping, eating out, life as we knew it stopped. Thankfully it was also the biggest photography year we ever had and we shot a wedding almost every weekend and just as quickly handed the cash back over to the state. Three years ago my word was simplify. I was ready to part with so much of what the prior shopping habit left me. I purged well or so I thought. By that August we learned we were moving into our current smaller home and most of our things would not fit. We then left for the Mr's sisters wedding in Colorado and our house flooded while we were gone. So between getting back and moving we had a mere two weeks to get everything straight. I lost a lot which was honestly freeing, sold some of the not destroyed good pieces, and then we gave away most everything else. I would say we downsized our things about 75%. That still baffles me today. All the time wasted looking for things I didn't need or love, all the money wasted that could have been saved, ALL THOSE THINGS. Now last year if you recall I went with the word health. I hadn't felt well in quite some time. It got to the point were it became debilitating at times. Can you guess it? Last year I have never been sicker. I had the flu twice, pneumonia I couldn't kick for months, and got diagnosed with an auto-immune. Let's not forget I also got burned by a hot cup of coffee at a local drive through that sent me to the hospital with 2nd and 3rd degree burns. During this year I stopped blogging for some time, I stopped most things, I just needed to survive the year.
Now this is only a handful of examples of why no word for me. This year I am just going to live life with one focus and that's on Jesus. I have nothing to perfect for I will never be perfect. Only He is perfect. I will be a work in progress. I am sure I will fail in areas. I am sure I will succeed in many. I am sure there is a year ahead to be lived and that I will do.
