One down - 11 to go!

I realized that with today being the end of the month...overall things have been pretty good! I started a new devotion which I have kept up with (yes 31 days is a record!) and I have been keeping my gratitude journal pretty full too. I am trying not to duplicate a thing (at least not yet anyway) and starting on the 6th day, have recorded 95 things that I am grateful for! I feel pretty good about that and am excited as I move forward with this project. I am embarrassed to say that some days it is hard and I feel so shallow for admitting that! My goal is to work on being grateful throughout the day instead of looking back at the end, but it is still good and progress is the right direction. I know that focusing on a grateful heart has helped me in so many ways. I truly am seeing things differently. There have been some truly silly on my list like chocolate and lip gloss but also some great things like not taking for granted that my kids were safe in bed when I went to wake them. It has helped me to look for the positive. I know that throughout the year, my response time here will get quicker, but again forward progress is good!

Gratitude turns what we have into enough

Also, this month I finished a book that my mom recommended and bought for me when she visited. It is one of her top 10 favorites and I was not sure what I would think, but I loved it. I feel so smart and grown up, having enjoyed a book that is on my mom's favorite picks list. It is called Crossing to Safety, by Wallace Stegner and if you haven't read it, you should. The characters are amazing, I would find myself thinking about them throughout the day and they seemed so real! I am horrible at book reviews but it was great and that is one of the things that makes a book great to me! Now, maybe I'm ready for some of that vampire literary genius...sorry mom!

Bryan and I have pretty much decided not to buy the house we are renting for many reasons and have begun to look around and see what is on the market. It seems that in the price range we want we can find a big house with a tiny yard or a tiny house with a big yard. So we are deciding if we are meant to live in suburbia or the country! What do you think?

Already thinking about moving again has forced me to think about what I am holding onto and why. I am on a mission to get rid of things that we are not using. As I move through this process I realize that I hold to things for a few of the same reasons.

What if I will need it?
I paid good money for it!
Someone gave it to me!
I plan to use it one day!

So my poor kids have been instructed to "play with that and enjoy it because I am getting rid of it!" Or this one they love..."quick watch that movie it is going in THE pile"!

I have realized that magazines are a big bummer for me! I save them full of all their wonderful ideas and have good intentions of doing that or cooking that and it almost never happens! I did start just pulling out pages but then you have to have a place for them, remember what is there when you need it, and remember where that magic place is! I found an article I have been holding onto for years which explains how to hang a straight picture and every time I have needed that service performed, I have patiently waited on my husband who does it very well already without the article! So, I am going through them ONE more time for any piece of got to have information and tossing the rest! It is a real amazing feeling to finally get rid of something that I have been holding onto, it feels great!

I found this one last night...now that I have recorded it, into the trash it goes! YES!

"May your home always be too small to hold all of your friends." - Irish Blessing

Pretty good to keep in mind as we house hunt.

Anyway, I hope your January has been just as good for all of you and may you all be blessed as we move through 2009!