Gifts of the Heart

Merry Christmas, a day late! Or, as our friends across the pond may say today, Happy Boxing Day!

I hope you've had a most blessed Christmas... and managed not to kill any of your family. ;) Or is it just me that struggles with those feelings sometimes? (tee hee hee, just kidding!)

Today is my regularly scheduled post for the ChristianWriters.com blog chain, and to be honest, the topic (Gifts of the Heart) kind of has me stumped. But, I shall charge on!

When I read the topic (admittedly, about 5 minutes before I started writing this post), I thought, huh.

So, rather than do a traditional post, I think I'll leave you with a few pictures of some of the things that warm my heart. I hope you'll find them as endearing as I do.

 

Obviously, these are my kids... and my dog. :) I'd put TMOTH's picture up, but I'm not sure if he'd be okay with it. 

So, my family is my gift of the heart... I hope you can say the same for yours!

In a little sidenote, I want to give a brief update on our son's health. Last week, we thought everything was going well, and then we went in to see his dermatologist, who, on a whim, ordered some blood work. Our guy has been sick most of the time since Thanksgiving, and when they ran his hemoglobin, it was 6.3. Normal is between 12 and 18, so he's exceptionally anemic right now. We have his blood retested tomorrow, and his hematologist (blood doctor) is watching this closely. We've managed to get through Thanksgiving and Christmas without being admitted--and seeing as those were both spent at the hospital in 2010, this is a great thing. Hopefully, we'll make it through the remainder of 2011 without being admitted again! (Now, if we can make it through cold and flu season...) 

If everything is okay, I guess you'll hear from me next in 2012... wow, can it really nearly be 2012? It barely seems like I was getting a handle on 2011! If for some reason things aren't as good as we hoped, I'll try to post a short update on Tuesday or Wednesday. 

(But I'm hoping it'll be 2012 before you hear from me again!)

Happy New Year!

Until next time,

Liberty

Disappointment

I've been debating today whether I should try to do a post. I neglected getting one up and ready last week, and here I am, procrastinating again.

I'm probably one of the worst procrastinators out there. Okay, not the worst... but still... And, TMOTH is just as bad as I am, which means we're both hopeless.

Really, we can both be motivated... when we want to be... But if I were so motivated, wouldn't I have at least been trying to get my novel out the door these past few years? Wouldn't I have been doing more to raise my writing credits from just this blog and CCBR in the last few years?

Sometimes, I can really disappoint myself.

Which is why I've been thinking about my 2012 New Years Resolutions already. Actually, since before Thanksgiving. I've narrowed it down to four:

• Lose 10 - 15 pounds. While I don't want to get down to what I was when I got married, and I'm on the upper-end of the acceptable range of BMI, I don't want to let myself get out of hand. 
• Raise my writer profile from what it is now to the point where I'm under contract with an agent and have published short stories--and more than one or two. I'd like one for every month of the year, but that would mean I need ideas! :) 
• Learn how to quilt (which I'm already teaching myself.)
• Learn how to can.

I think I can do all of these things... as long as TMOTH encourages me, and I stay on track. Honestly, I think the hardest thing for me will be to lose the weight since I'm happiest sitting at a computer!


There's 19 days left in 2011... Have you accomplished your 2011 goals? What are your 2012 goals?

Until next time,

Liberty

New Beginnings

This month, the ChristianWriters.com blog chain's topic is New Beginnings.

This got me thinking about all the "new beginnings" in my own life. I'll be 29 in a few months, and over the last decade or so, I've seen a lot of them:

Photo by *Jaymz-86 at DeviantArt.

• Learning to deal with life after my parents' divorce.
• Getting married and moving away from my dad and sister.
• Starting new jobs.
• Failing at projects.
• Becoming a mother.
• Writing new stories.

That's just to name a few. I've left out several that are more private that I don't care to share today.

New beginnings, like a new year, give us a chance to change things about ourselves or our situations that need to be altered, or you want to stop or start doing in your life. Sometimes it's in the form of a rude awakening: a job loss, financial difficulty, the loss of a close loved one. Sometimes, it's just a situational change, a new baby, for instance.

How you face your new beginnings tells others a great deal about you. Are you bitter about what's happened, or do you accept it with grace?

Many people don't get the chance to start over; many choose not to do so even when given the opportunity. There's many things in my life right now that I feel like I'm back to square one on. They're out of my control (as so many things in life are--that's a really important lesson to learn) so I have to accept them, deal with them as best I know how to, and move forward.

I'm blessed that my new beginnings are easier by having Jesus with me every step of the way, as well as TMOTH (The Man Of The House--my husband).

"For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." -- Jesus in Matthew 11:30

No matter what new beginnings I have month to month, year to year, I find great comfort in this passage, knowing my Lord and Savior is right there with me.


How about you? How have you handled the new beginnings in your life? Are you faced with any new things right now?


Until next time,