Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the Petersons to you! We enjoyed a fruitful, fun fall and made it through the holidays without too much of the Grinch about, though I will definitely say that I now understand why my mother always groaned around the time of the holiday season about decorating. Oh, how I used to make the Christmas tree my glory of artistic expression- the one moment in the year that I exercised my creative muscle. Perhaps all the sewing that my cousin has inspired me to undertake supplanted that need to hang bobbles from the branches. At any rate, Kort and I opted for a small slip of a tree in 2012, for white lights instead of the big, colorful ones, and for minimal house decorations. In the end, we enjoyed our twinkling, star-like lights and dainty tree much better than last year's which dominated our living room and insisted on being obtrusive with its heavy belly and weighty lights. Good riddance and welcome to our new diet Christmas! I must say (as I am sure Kort is thinking), too bad we didn't put the Christmas budget on a diet. Oh well. New year, new goals. 

Speaking of... what are your goals? I jotted a few down on my iphone notepad and have been surprised at how clarifying and helpful that was. Here are a few. Maybe if I list them, I will feel more accountable. :) (Actually, the older I get, the more I enjoy feeling reliable regardless of others' expectations- reliable for my sanity. In other words, I am tired of saying I'm going to do something and not doing it, then feeling disappointed in myself. I need to feel reliable for my own piece of mind. Anyone else?). 

Goals:

• Help my husband get out the door earlier in the morning. I love to sleep. Kort has been such a sweetheart in cooking breakfast since I was pregnant and had Rosemary. But it's long past time for me to buck up and help him in the mornings. We've been successful so far. He's left the house at least 30 minutes to an hour earlier each day than last year! 
• Write more blog entries! I'd love to say I'm going to be an allstar blogger. But the last blog post was in September, so maybe it would be great to just have the goal of one blog entry a month. Small steps. I want my goals to be encouragements to myself rather than another reason to guilt trip!
• Complete a few sewing/knitting/crafting projects. I'd like to make a quilt for Rosemary's first birthday. See the quilt ideas Here and Here. I'd like to learn to knit in the round by making Kort a hat (that he probably won't wear. But he sure ain't gonna wear it if I don't knit it, right?). 
• Spend some time with God every day, including being in his Word, whatever time I can fit it. I definitely understand that it's important to prioritize this, and I understand the arguments for making this a first-thing-in-the-morning task. But Rosemary is still getting up at 6am so I'm just going to admit it will not happen that way. If I answer two of my BSF questions a day during one of Rosemary's nap times, I will be doing better than I have been.  
• Save, save, save. I remember hearing somewhere that saving is like spending money on having money in the bank. Well, I can get behind spending. So, I'd better start thinking of it that way. I also better get mighty strategic about avoiding looking at the websites of fabric and baby clothes I habitually frequent. Suggestions for self-behavioral alterations? Kort and I had a lengthy discussion about getting rid of our smart phones, too (more for the reason that Rosemary is going to grow up thinking the iphone is the end-all because she sees me looking at it so much, which irks me and makes me a little sad about our culture and myself). But while Kort legitimately needs his for work, I am just addicted to instagram and facebook and the map app and the bank app and... See? I don't need an iphone. Am I brave enough to face life without it? What? Asking that question settles it. I am. 

There. Five goals. Doable. 

In other news, Rosemary is eight months old this week and Kort and I celebrate our two year anniversary on the 15th. I could not have imagined how sweet my blessings would be three and a half years ago, as I watched my mother dying of cancer. Even that experience was a blessing through trial. But oh, it is good that God also gives us comfort blessings, healing blessings, blessings of life and abundance.