This snow! I thought we might get an inch or two after the kids went to bed on Wednesday. Instead, it started snowing around noon on Wednesday and didn’t stop until about 6pm. We got about 5 inches of fluffy, beautiful snow. It came down constantly in large, melt in your hand flakes. It is truly a winter wonderland out there and we are loving it.

It was so fluffy and dry at first that we couldn’t even put a snow ball together. As it started to melt we’ve been able to build a huge snowman, have snowball fights and “sled” via boogie board down the neighbor’s driveway way which is the only hill around here.

The toughest part has been trying to keep the kids warm. We are not prepared, clothing wise, to handle the snow. I have ski stuff but it hasn’t snowed in so long that I haven’t bought the kids new snow pants or boots in about two years. They crammed their feet into their old boots after freezing in their tennis shoes. Elle has been interested for about 5 minutes at a time so that’s been fun to get her all bundled up to go out for 5 minutes, ergh. Luke has been out of town and we have missed him big time. He’s been amazed by all the photos we’ve been sending. Thankfully, I’ve had a lot of help from his mom. She is probably ready for a long winter’s nap after spending the week with the grand kids! I don’t know what I would have done without her. It would have been ugly. Instead, it’s been a pretty great week.

I got to go on a walk this evening with my Fleeters. It was so lovely to tromp our way around the neighborhood, kicking up snow and trying to guess how deep it was in different spots. Snow or not, this time of year, I always want to look inward. I’m sure it’s the cold and all the hours of dark.

I asked Luke the other day if he had any resolutions for 2018. He said, “Nope, I’m all good.” To which we both burst out laughing.

I, on the other hand, could make a list of resolutions a mile long.

“Could something new be birthed here . . . even in our hearts?” – Rob Bell is brillant. This struck me as a beautiful, poetic way to refer to resolutions.

• First, I want to eat consciously and exercise regularly. The older I get, the more this is about feeling good and the less it’s about looking good. Though I would be lying if I said that I didn’t want to look good. This quote from Glennon Doyle Melton really struck a cord with me;

Your body is not your masterpiece – your life is. It is suggested to us a million times a day that our BODIES are PROJECTS. They aren’t. Our lives are. Our spirituality is. Our relationships are. Our work is. Stop spending all day obsessing, cursing, perfecting your body like it’s all you’ve got to offer the world. Your body is not your art, it’s your paintbrush. Whether your paintbrush is a tall paintbrush or a thin paintbrush or a stocky paintbrush or a scratched up paintbrush is completely irrelevant. What is relevant is that YOU HAVE A PAINTBRUSH which can be used to transfer your insides onto the canvas of your life- where others can see it and be inspired and comforted by it.

That being said, my eating and exercising habits do TONS for my energy levels and overall well-being. So this year, I am going to . . .

Eat Healthy. Cut Sugar. More plants. Less Dairy. Read The Whole Foods Diet by John Mackey

Exercise for Energy + To look and feel good to myself.

Use gym time for physical and mental stimulation. I find that I am much more interested in working out if I am mentally stimulated as well. There are a few gym instructors who are great at this. Other times, I have some podcasts that I love.

• Next, I have been pretty restless since becoming a stay at home mom. I’m looking so far forward that I’m afraid I am missing what’s right in front of me. I want to really lean into this time with them

“I will always hold sacred the gift of seeing you.” I listened to a podcast recently with Brene Brown. She read her family “covenants” and this one was really meaningful to me. There are so few people in life that ever truly know you. I want to SEE my kids. I want to know them . . . every part of them that I possibly can. That is sacred ground. My time at home with them is likely to be very short and I have a feeling that for the rest of my life I will treasure this time above all others.

• Be patient, kind and abundant in acceptance and grace for myself and others. This is no small task and will likely be on my resolutions list every year of my life because I can’t imagine that I will ever master this.
• Stop trying to see myself through other’s eyes.
• Read a ton of books. I made my book list earlier . . . 43 books and I’m sure I’m forgetting some of them.
• Pray, connect to the divine all around, trust my intuition. Help my kids to do the same.
• Plus tons of little practical things too like signing the boys up for karate, redoing their room into a bigger kid room, organizing the house, etc. But these feel more like “to do” rather than “resolve to do” which in my mind requires some degree of heart work.

Happy New Year everyone. I’m wishing you all PEACE and HAPPINESS this year.

I’d love feedback anytime about my blog. What would you like for me to write more about? And if you are ever inspired, please share!

PS- We got a selfie stick for Christmas and it might be the best thing ever. I can finally get pictures with all of us in them, well, sorta.