I have had an Epiphany!

Truly.  A celebration to acknowledge the Three Magi and their journey to visit and adore the infant Christ Child.  With them, they brought gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

PRIORITIES

That is it.

Plain and simple and to the point.

The word I chose to help steer my 2015 year.

PRIORITIES.

There are a lot of good and wonderful works to be done...but there are certainly more important things to be done.  My vocation as a wife, mother, and teacher to my children are my top PRIORITIES.  One or all of those three supersede anything else.

I love this quote by Socrates.

I love the chance at a New Beginning...

I have been very busy getting our activities on the calendar.  I have heard it said that 'priorities are the steering wheels of life.'

Prioritize.  It is a word that works well with SIMPLIFY.  

Simplify is a word my husband and I adopted years ago, and continue to use, to help run our household and day to day planning.

I have also heard, "The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."  ~ Stephen Covey     YES!!!

In addition to my 'word of the year' I have been praying about my resolutions...My thoughts about RESOLUTIONS.

Wishing you a blessed and fruitful New Year!

~ Resolutions for 2014 ~

~ HAPPY NEW YEAR ~

 

God's grace & love be to all...

 

~~+~~+~~+~~

 

So, I revisited last years resolutions and found that, somewhere along the line, I deviated from my original goal,  "Peace".  Ha-ha.  But, I vow to get back on track and make my home a peaceful sanctuary for my husband and children. 

Resolutions are supposed to help lead us to sanctity and holiness of life.

I love St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's resolutions, and often revisit hers to help direct my own.  Especially the first two:

+ to remember my infirmity and my sin

+ to keep the door of my lips

 

Finding a balance in life (because of ever-changing circumstances, etc.) can be challenging, exhausting and even disheartening.  Keeping resolutions takes a real conscious effort, discipline and unceasing prayer.

Looking back, it was helpful to keep my past resolutions.  Integrating previous years with the present year helps to form virtues in myself; virtues that can help me to become the person Our Lord has intended me to be.  I have a loooong way to go.  Each year, no, each day that I am given, can be a day that I strive to know, love and serve Him...how I accomplish this is what I resolve to do this new year!

 

Resolutions may be challenging, but I know I can rely on His grace to make it possible.  Remember:  "All things are possible with God."   ~ Matt 19:26

Speaking of grace...Jenny over at Plain Grace has a "Naming the New Year" link-up.  My "word" came to me almost immediately.  This Advent has helped me begin to peel away the layers of infirmity that I have placed on myself.  I know I need to increase my spiritual reading.  I know I need to devote more attention to my children (and less attention to outside charitable works - as wonderful as they are, they can be a distraction for what God has intended for me).  I know that I need to commit myself to the task at hand.  Meaning, when I am working, work.  When I am reading, read.  And when I am relaxing, relax (guilt-free!).

Below, I mention four categories that are important to me.  Several I have yet to detail out...but for now, this is what I have:

ORGANIZATION & PLANNING

After much thought, I decided to go with the 'simplified planner' from Emily Ley.
I am SO excited to start transferring all my thoughts & plans into this planner!
I will miss the feast day dates that come with my previous Catholic planner, but the format (and space) will help me stay focused on my daily & monthly tasks.  And, I can use my calendar & yearly file system to help plan for the feast days in advance. 
This past academic year I found a planner that I have been really pleased with...but I would have liked some changes (sturdier tabs, larger/organized to-do area).  I found my current one by chance on clearance...it is a lot like the 'simplified planner', minus the sturdy tabs, organized to-do, and a few other features.

What sold me?

• brass wire-o spiral binding
• simplicity
• daily view with 'to-dos' and meal planning
• full month view (a must have for my brain)
• weekly preparation list (Sundays, helping me get ready for the week)
• durable cover
• color coded tabs
• protective corners (I haul my planner with me...it needs to be protected!)
• elastic band holder (small feature, big help)
• pocket inside (I always have receipts, papers, etc that I need...this is perfect)
• go-to dinner ideas (making this an all in one

Daily Planner
Meal Planning


HEALTHY HABITS

Water

• increase my water intake.  Fill my water container for the day so that I know I am drinking enough. 

Exercise

• 20 minutes a day?  at least!

Sleep

• sleep is essential; a minimum of 7 hours (this may be a challenge for me, but I know this will give me much more energy and I'll accomplish more each day).  Early to bed, early to rise!

Food

• eat real food, serve my family real food; hopefully my meal planning will keep me on track

Beauty

• properly cleaning and moisturizing (sounds obvious, but I have been know to skip when too tired at night) my face, twice, daily; manicure more often (I nearly always neglect my poor, overworked fingers & hands).

SPRITUALITY & SIMPLICITY

Reading:  Spiritual & Leisure
Doctrine Class:  1x/week

FAMILY & FUN

(work in progress)

Oh yes, my "word" for 2014 year is....(drum roll)....

I will SURRENDER all to God,
putting all my trust in Him.
He has a purpose for my life;
I will follow His path,
with His grace.

Surrender:
to yield (something) to the possession or power of another.
to give (oneself) up.
to give up, abandon, or relinquish.
to yield or resign. 

I speak an human thing, because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity, unto iniquity: so now yield your members to serve justice, unto sanctification.  ~ Romans 6:19.      

~ Resolutions ~

"Much peace have they that love thy law,

and to them there is no stumbling block."

                                                                                                        ~  Psalm 118:165

For years, "Simplicity" has been our family motto. 
Actually, ever since our first pilgrimage to Rome (over nine years ago - when Little Lamb was just a baby), one of our guiding principles has been to live a life of Simplicity. 

Fresh from the bakery.  Simply delicious!

 

We have used "Simplicity" for years because we were (and still are) trying to achieve a Simpler Life.  It takes time to shed from all "stuff" that we have taken on from over the years. 

We live in a world of many distractions.  Where even "good works" can be a distraction from our real vocation in life. 

The simple fact is, My vocation is to be a wife and a mother.  And my vocation should take priority above all other good works. 

With life flying by, and so many distractions to keep us from our true goal - we need to stay focused on what is truly important.  Focused on what we were created for:

To KNOW, LOVE, and SERVE Him, in this world; so that we may be with Him in Heaven for all eternity.

For last year's Resolutions, I borrowed from St. Elizabeth Seton's  resolves.

This year, I have been soul searching to find what direction I (we) should be headed. 
I first thought that it should be Faith, since we are in the Year of Faith.  But I was not settled with Faith alone.  I felt that I was being prompted to work on something in addition to growing in my Faith...
I love the little hints that He lays in front of us for us to pick up on.  To give a sense of where we are and where we should be going...

I'm being somewhat vague here, because this is my (general) Family Journal, and not my personal journal...So, even though I still haven't completed all my resolutions (maybe I should work on procrastination - lol) I will, at least, state our family motto:

Peace.

Peace in the home, peace in our souls, and peace in our hearts. 

A quiet heart.  A simple heart.  A peaceful heart.

As a mother, I think we are the ones in the family that are always trying to keep the peace.

Peace and Quiet, they go hand in hand.  lol. But they are not always there. 
So how does one obtain peace?

That is what I hope to find achieve this year - 2013.  A peaceful heart, so that I can know, love and serve Him...and share this *peace* with my family - my husband and my children.

And may God's grace and peace be with us all this year!

"LORD, you establish peace for us;

all that we have accomplished you have done for us."

~  Isaiah 26:12

Whoa!

Well, the Summer came and went...

~ Fall 2011 ~

The Fall, too!

~ Advent 2011 ~

Winter was WONDERFUL...
and now we are in a New Year!


Which reminds me of RESOLUTIONS...
Years ago, while I was on a woman's retreat, one of the priests spoke about Resolutions - and why we need them...our Pastor spoke on Resolutions at this past First Friday Mass...
Here are six resolves St. Elizabeth Ann Seton made (from the Women of Grace E-Newsletter):

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton stands as a model for women today. Wife, mother, widow, founder,religious sister, patron of the death of children, daughter of God, spiritual daughter of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her life, her words, her example, and her desire for God alone, give the women of today a sure and safe path to follow.

Following are six resolves Mother Seton made. As they did for her, they may well lead us, too, to sanctity and holiness of life:

She wrote: “Solemnly in the presence of my Judge, I resolve through his grace

1) to remember my infirmity and my sin

2) to keep the door of my lips

3) to consider the causes of sorrow for sin in myself and in them whose souls are as dear to me as my own

4) to check and restrain all useless words

5) to deny myself and exercise the severity that I know is due to my sin

6) to judge myself – thereby trusting through mercy, that I shall
not be severely judged by my Lord

Perhaps these resolutions might be good ones to make as we begin this new year in Our Lord, 2012.

Resolutions..a very good thing.
Thank you, God, for this New Year!

~ CHRISTmas 2011 ~