Hope for Haiti!

If you have 2 extra minutes that you can take to read this short post and click on the link, please do so. My church, First Christian Church in Erwin, TN, is participating in a $ for $ matching challenge to bring funds to the people of Haiti! As you know, they were affected by a large earthquake on January 12th. Please click on this link to read how you can get involved. It will only take 2 minutes, I promise. Thank you so much!

In 2010 I will...*sigh*

Seth went back to school last Thursday but being the amazing wonderful husband that he is, he kindly cleaned out our "junk room" before he went back. Don't judge, I know you all have one :) He wanted me to help but I told him that "if I try to go through all that stuff, I will find an excuse to keep it." He knows me so he went through it first.

By the time I got home from work that day, he had a box of stuff for me to go through and a pile ready for the trash and a pile ready for Goodwill. It's unreal how much STUFF two people can accumulate (FYI: it wasn't ALL mine). Anyway, I went through the box, kept about 10 items out of it, and put the rest in the Goodwill box and kept a few items to sell on Ebay or at a yard sale (they still had the tags on them). The next day, we took the boxes to Goodwill and dropped them off and went by the dump and trashed all the "trash". The room looks completely different now and we can actually leave the door open when people come over. All that leads me to my typical yet probably unachievable "resolutions". Why do I do this to myself?

In 2010 I will...

* Keep the room Seth worked so hard on clean and organized

* Organize all my scrapbook stuff and keep my desk free of clutter (let's see how long that lasts)

* Keep all of my school books and papers together and in order

* Do all schoolwork ahead of time so I don't panic the night before

* Keep all church bookwork organized and on time

* Stop eating out so much...

* Therefore, I will cook more often

* Lose 25 pounds before June (6 down as of today)

* Get exercise on a regular basis (no, apparently once a month is not regularly enough)

* In general, I will use my spare time to accomplish productive things

* Not wear laundry from the basket. I will put clothes away when they are dry

* Eat yogurt at least 5 times a week and take my multi-vitamin everyday

Once again, chances are I won't do ALL these things but if I don't try I am not any better off. Maybe if I can just make myself do them until May or so, it will just become habit. Cross your fingers for me. Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! With the exception of being a few days late, I guess that is not too bad for an update :)

Some of the highlights of 2009 consist of:

Seth starting his last year of school!

Katie deciding to go BACK to school (one semester down, 2 to go)

Celebrating our one year anniversary! It has flown by

Seth joining First Christian Church (where Katie has been a member since birth) and rededicating his life

Discovering the state of TN was willing to pay for Seth's last year of school!

Our church going to a full-time blended service (contemporary and traditional)

Katie got a Cricut (Google it if you don't know) and went WILD at Christmas

We got a Wii!!!! Katie's first video game ever!

We got to go to Dollywood 3 times this year!

We also had some not so wonderful moments in 2009:

Katie received a chemical burn at work

Seth had surgery on his ankle (again) in August

Seth lost both his grandmothers in September and December

We hope 2010 will be wonderful year with new opportunities to grow and learn new things. Seth will be on the hunt for a job very soon and has already started updating his resume. Hopefully by graduation, he will have secured a job. Katie is currently starting her last semester of "classwork" with the hope of student teaching in the fall. We have been so blessed this last year and we hope that you have also.

Happy New Year!