12.31.11 - Christmas recap and Plans for a New Year

Our Christmas was so wonderful...having all of our family here at once was a huge blessing, and this being the first Christmas Liam knew what it was, it made it even more fun and special.  Christmas Eve, we spent the day with at my parents house with Gigi (my grandma), Aunt Coco, and my brother and his family traveled in from Florida.   Liam loved all of his "pesants" and got lots of trucks and puzzles, which are his favorite things right now.

Awaiting patiently to open "pesants"

Stocking gifts!

Magnet loading truck from Gigi

Playing with their new toys!

Liam loved all the pesants...including the trucks for the twins!

Cuties!!

Dog piling on Uncle Brett

Hugs from Gigi

Liam loves all his new jammies!!

LOVE all of their expressions in this one...to cute!!

We had a full house here for Christmas day with Dustin's family.  His sister and her family traveled in from D.C. with Liam's newest cousin Ella, and his other sister and family came over, along with his dad and cousin.  His grandmother and younger sister were also here for a couple days before.  Liam was blessed with more toys, puzzles and games.  Needless to say, there was lots of fun happening and lots of cooking going on in the kitchen for the big dinner that night.  Although some of us came down with a cold virus (myself and Liam included), it was overall a wonderful time! 
 

Christmas morning!

Cousin Ella's first Christmas!

Liam's new cash register from Mimi and Babaw

More puzzles!

Abacus... mathematician in training!

Christmas sweater and Hot Wheels toys =)

Full house...love it!

Love this picture...Liam is being silly with Grandpa, trying to drive his car on his head!

Nanny with her grand and great-grands

Liam and Ella...He just adored her...so sweet!!

Got a chance to take some family photos

******
On a side note...Liam's cough from the cold we had is still lingering, so we are probably going to call the Dr. Verma (cardio) on Monday to see if we need to re-schedule his cath.  I've been nebulizing 4 x per day for over a week, and it doesn't seem to be helping the cough much.  And, our pulmonologist's office was closed this past week for the break, so took Liam to the pedi on Tuesday, and thankfully she said he looked great, sats were 98 (4 hours out from nebulizing) and she said his lungs sounded clear, so no wheezing or pneumonia.  I am most likely going to follow up with pulmonology this coming week to see what else we can do to get him in shape for the cath.
*******

With each new year, I tend to compile a small list in my head of things I would like to accomplish and see fulfilled and come to pass.  Rarely, however, do I ever write these "resolutions" down.  So this year I am going to write them here, to share, but also to have some form of accountability as well.  So here I go!


Ministry
I mentioned a couple months back that we had some big changes coming up.  Dustin and I have been pursuing a ministry called Apartment Life (CARES Team).  We plan to rent out our house and move into an apartment community to serve.  We are excited about this opportunity that God has placed us in and are prayerfully waiting for the ministry to find us a community for us.  We were accepted into the program back in October, and after the first community they had for us did not work out, they are actively seeking out another location for us.  We prayerfully considered this opportunity mainly to help lessen our financial burdens, but also to be in a position to serve others in our daily life.  We are actually very much looking forward to down-sizing into a smaller space and being closer to our church (as the ministry seeks to place you within 10 miles of your church, and now we live about 25 miles away).  We are really excited to see the awesome ways God will use this time to grow us spiritually and together as a family.  Needless to say, we expect 2012 to be a year of many new adventures for us!

Health and Nutrition
Probably related to my watching too many food documentaries, I have been slowly trying to guide our family to better nutrition.  My goal for this next year includes doing more of the same, but more strictly for myself.  There just seems to be so many benefits to eating right and the preventative measures your diet can have against a vast array of illnesses and "symptoms".  We have been so focused on calories this past year with Liam and his growth, that healthy food choices have not been priority for us, and I'm going to try to shift us to more healthy eating. 


Relationships
Spend more time with family, make more of an effort to see my friends and build those relationships.  Invest in others.  I am also really hoping to join a play group when we move and involve Liam in more play dates and outings with other kids his age.
 
Passion
You all know I love being crafty and doing my artsy things =)  This year I am hoping to expand my Etsy shop with some new ideas and possibly even host monthly craft brunches.  I have been blessed with lots of positive feedback and encouragement from family and friends and would love to continue to work in my passion and grow this as a business.

Organization
Hopefully we will be scaling down soon, so getting organized for a much smaller space will be crucial to my sanity!  Sometimes I just let things gets way out of control and then get overwhelmed at having to clean things up. I feel like staying organized will actually free up more time to spend with family and friends.  I need to start investing time into relationships instead of constantly feeling like I have way too much to do around here.

Lastly, my desire for 2012 is to have a servant's heart.  Dustin and I both feel God has placed on our heart's an unquestionable desire to serve...more so to live in a posture of servant hood, daily.   This next year is in God's hands and we are fully trusting Him to guide our family for His purpose.  God bless everyone for a healthy and happy New Year!!