New.

Well, hello 'ole blog.  Happy New Year.  2013 has been slow & steady so far.....


...lots of wonderful, glorious, chilling, beautiful sunlight.

...cycles of laundry, lighting the stove, getting little feet in little shoes, dispersing another round of cough medicine, lamp-lit rooms with bedtime stories and cuddling for prayer, making lists, staying home.

I love these weeks that sing of hope for the future and faith for change.  Freshly-cracked books, ambitious little dreams....

And how all this forward-looking can only bring recollections of that dreadful day on the cross that makes any hope real or any change possible.
How all of the good really is all of grace.

For me, ambition looks like....
- getting my kids dressed earlier and being more organized with our days
- reading more books this year than last year
- actually setting the table, making more side dishes and less one-pot meals
-making a little more space and time for creativity
-saying 'yes' to my husband's ideas without hesitations
- serving and surprising others
-planning creative family nights

I am hoping this year is a year of 'post-survival-mode.'  Taking time to go the extra mile.  Spending myself to gain much, because.....

'There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty.”  Prov 11:24

I want to write this verse on my soul.  And spend and spend and spend....scatter, scatter, scatter.

I am averse to scattering.  But I'm glad Christ died for scattering-averse sinners.....

Amen? Amen.