Happy New Year from Green Acres

Instead of my Weekend Update (which I admittedly skipped last week because of the holidays and a general sense of ennui), I'm going to look forward today to 2011.  We had a pretty uneventful Christmas, though we somehow managed to keep busy and my need for order (those of you who know me personally, don't laugh!) kicked into high gear this week and manifested in the form of a paintbrush, a dropcloth, and a drywall sponge.  Photos to come.

Though I'm not someone to make New Years resolutions, in reflecting on 2010 I do have a few personal goals in mind for the coming year(s).  2010 was a blessed year in that we realized our dream of buying land, and on top of that, land and a house that once belonged to Byron's great-grandparents.  But it also brought trial after trail, and I'm beginning to grasp the Biblical concept of refinement.  Psalm 66:10 says, "For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.  You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But you brought us out to rich fulfillment."  That last phrase gives me hope, hope which I sometimes grasp with only a thread, but hope nonetheless.

So one goal is that I would be open to the ways the Lord wants to refine me.  I'd like to be more patient with the kids, a better mother and teacher.  I'd like to be a better and more selfless wife.  I'd also like to be even more content in serving my family in the home.  This is a big one for the once career-driven architect-to-be, and I've been struck in recent years about how much our society frowns upon the stay-at-home wife and mother.  There is honor in this 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week job, but we rarely see this position glorified in the media.  Unless one is of the "desperate housewife" persuasion, which I am most decidedly not.

So there you have it, out of the ashes of 2010.  And as a last shout-out to said year, I baked another batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies last night.  Happy 2011!