2012 Wrap Up

Wow...where has the year gone? Blogging didn't seem to be a priority for me this year and it's something I enjoy - even if nobody else reads it.

Wrap Up of 2012 - Lots happened in 2012. I am blessed to say - it truly was a good year for me. A year of immense growth and emotional healing for me. My son married a beautiful young woman. I watched another sweet baby be born. The year also had some incredibly sad times for our nation - the shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary taking so many sweet, young lives really touched my heart. Sometimes it takes the innocence of a child to sum it all up, "Mommy, the children are okay. They are with Jesus. It's the grown-ups who need to learn to love again." Thanks Lindsey Huffman for speaking those words to your mom and to her for sharing them.

Early in the year I actually sought out some Christian counseling. I was looking for some advice on how to change people who were irritating me. What I found instead was that it was me who needed the changing. And through tears and prayer and really just pouring my feelings of anger and resentment out to God - I finally felt free. Forgiving those who had abused me and those I felt had let me down was and is tremendously freeing. All that stuff I kept bottled up only hurt me and kept me from living a life of joy.

Later in the year I was asked to be a part of a church plant team in northern Virginia - um...hello God - you do realize that I'm just a mess - a work in progress right? Totally humbled and at the same time overwhelmed by the responsibility of this undertaking. I'm part of a great team and Skyline Church will launch in April 2013. Lots of work to do and so very excited for this challenge and opportunity. I know that through it, lot of personal growth and lessons will come.

My most exciting event of 2012 was the marriage of my son to Chelsea Harmon. What a beautiful young woman she is - inside and out. My son is a lucky man. I love her and am thrilled to have her as part of our family. I adore my in-laws and am happy at our new, larger family.

In November, I was honored, once again, to be at the birth of Pam and Doug Leininger's 4th child, a little boy, Jackson Douglas. The miracle of birth is such a moving thing to watch. I'm so blessed that they have asked me to be at each of their children's births.

So....2013 is around the corner and yes I have selected a word for the year. This years word is MINDFUL. I want to be mindful of all I do, all I say, all I eat. I love the synonym below - ALIVE! Isn't that what each of us wants - to be fully, and truly ALIVE? I also like observant, open-eyed, vigilant, wide-awake.  The Antonyms I want to be sure I don't fall into are, careless, mindless, oblivious, unaware, unconscious.

Synonyms alive, apprehensive, aware, cognizant, mindful, sensible, sentient, ware, witting

Related Words alert, attentive, careful, cautious, heedful, observant, open-eyed, regardful, safe, vigilant, wary, watchful, wide-awake; hyperaware, hyperconscious

Near Antonyms careless, heedless, inattentive, incautious, mindless, unguarded, unheeding, unwary

Antonyms insensible, oblivious, unaware, unconscious, unmindful, unwitting

2013 is a busy year for me and I need to be mindful of my thoughts, my spiritual life, my health and the things that are truly important - family and friends. 

I'm ready for 2013 - bring it on!