New Year's Resolutions

Do you make them?  I used to make them faithfully, but haven't done so in recent years.  I always crack up at the same New Year's Party that my husband and I attend when a mutual friend of ours announces that his "New Year's resolution is to give up making New Year's resolutions."  Yes, he's been saying the same joke for 13 years we've been attending this family party and I still crack up when I hear him say it.

Well, this year, I'm going out on a limb and have decided to make some resolutions myself.  And, if you my dear readers would bear with me, I'd like to post them here and keep updating my status here.

Not to be too typical, but my number one priority is to lose weight.  Yes, my husband and I are in the thick of it, not to play on words.  We both were on Weight Watchers before we got married, but now, 5 kids later, I'm embarrassed with my appearance.  And even more directly, Gabby's pregnancy was harder on me with the extra weight, even though I did a fantastic job in my pregnancy weight gain (I think I topped out at 15 lbs total gained when I gave birth).  I do want to have more children, but I know I need to be healthier and be carrying less of myself before I can carry anymore of my unborn children (God willing).  My goal weight is 130, and it will take me a while to get there, but like I say, I'll keep you posted.  (Not to give too much away, but I'll have to lose over 100 lbs to get there.)  Mike and I are weighing in once a week, and I'd like to keep a blog post on weight lost, the journey,  as well as any fun or interesting recipes I find along the way.

I'd like to make it to Daily Mass with the kids.  Now, I have yet to start embarking on this goal, mainly because Gabby must have found out about it and she has allowed for me to only get about 2 hrs. total sleep in the past two nights...*sigh*  But Mike and I are going through a lot of discernment right now, and there are a lot of major "life" decisions that we're going to be making right there on the horizon, I need to be closer to our Lord and the graces from His Immaculate Bride if I'm going to hear what He's guiding us to do.  Plus, Lucas will need these graces for his preparations on the reception of First Holy Communion (which I'm excited to say Mike has agreed to let me prep. him at home...Praise God!!!  More on that in another post!)

The above ties in directly to my prayer life.  I spend so much time teaching and cleaning and tending to everyone's needs throughout the day that I neglect Our Lord.  I'm so weak that I need His grace to help me to help our family throughout the day.  Most importantly, I want to model a good example of a "woman who fears the Lord" for my children in the hopes that they will come to rely on Him as strongly in their adult lives as I need to.  Mike and I are praying Morning and Night Prayers from the Liturgy of the Hours, and I highly recommend this routine as prescribed by the Church if you're looking for a well structured prayer routine as well.

Getting organized.  Now that I've got my physical space, organized (for those who have been in my home as of late, please refrain from laughing), I'd like to get on a schedule, a routine.  This is hard for me, as usually I'm overly militant (do I really need to have slots for "potty breaks" for myself???LOL!)  No I mean, I'd like to have a routine, a set amount of chores per day, that I can count on doing in order to keep my house running and in order.  I've tried the Fly Lady program, which worked great when I was first married, but that was also before children.  I can't seem to work it in now with my homeschooling routine, so I'm trying to adapt another routine in the meantime....Yeah, I'll keep you posted on that too;)

So that about covers it.  My goal this week is to secure my diet.  To get my house in shape before the weekend, and to go to Mass at the very least on Friday and Saturday morning (my Parish does not have a Daily Mass on Thursdays), and to set a cleaning schedule for my house.  *sigh* Life is good:)

And of course, our family is also planning our annual pilgrimage to the March for Life again this year, and I promise to keep you posted on that.  Plans are in the works on that too!

My prayers are with all of you my dear readers, as we keep working towards the goals of having a goal!  It's like looking for a lighthouse in the fog right now, but we'll keep turning until we see the flash!