Starting Over

(An Advance notice to readers: I actually wrote this in December. Try to pretend its on the cusp of the new year as you read it and it will make more sense :)

Sometimes when I look at this page I wonder how I landed right back where I was the last time I wrote. Its sort of like a mysterious time-continuum cycle, where I write a post and think I’m on the road to getting ahead again, but then a few moments in our life go by, I relapse like an alcoholic in a bar and find myself staring at a blank blog post saying:

DAMN IT. I thought I was totally going to get ahead of this.

Sigh.

The good news is I at least know where to start, mostly because my last post is like a neon sign saying “hello lady, you left off here! Look how much you’ve missed!”

So as you’re all aware, we kindly left you with a glimpse of Halloween, where my boys were prancing around in costumes, stuffing candy into bags and running from door to door with giant grins on their faces. The stuff of magic.

Flash forward. Today is December 30^th, 2013. Nearly the last day of the calendar year. There’s a lot of reminiscing brewing in my brain as I think about what’s happened to our family in the last year, and the last three months especially.

I have to say its not been exactly what I dreamed moving into the new house would be. I though we’d get there and things would get easier, life would adapt and we would find our way more quickly. But, God had other plans I guess. Sometimes you just have to roll with it.

I’ve been thinking about what that all means for our family—how to interpret the chaos that makes us emerge into 2014 like a new little butterfly, fresh, and renewed from the experiences we’ve had. For me personally, its been a tremendous challenge. It’s hard to think hard about all your flaws and then pick one to work on. Overwhelming even.  Probably because we’re all our own worst critics.

I’m hoping though I can hang on to tiny bit. In 2014 I’d like to practice and learn much more GRACE. As in offering more courteous goodwill.

Grace is where I’m starting my journey. This series of posts will hopefully reflect that because Lord knows I could have used some in my most regrettable moments of 2013. In parenting (because lets face it, we all have days where we FAIL at parenting), in marriage, in work, in balance, with friends, with strangers. I could use more of it all around.

So here’s to more Grace in my life (and I suppose more in my family’s life too, as a result of my growth).

Cheers to 2014, my friends.