Thankful Thursday--January 10

So I was looking back at old posts and realized that I typically have a post in late December or early January that looks back at our goals and accomplishments of the previous year.  Since we're still technically in the first third of January, I figure I'm not entirely late to that party this year, right?

Here's the deal.  Usually, the way the calendar falls between Christmas and New Years (together with jobs that close for those seven or eight days) gives me a week or so of peace and quiet to reflect and recharge.  This year, the calendar and our schedule was not my friend.  We spent what amounted to three days traveling, followed by two days at home and a day in the office, followed by three more days traveling.  While I thoroughly enjoyed visiting family and friends during all that traveling, the week just wasn't conducive to reflecting or recharging, much less for writing blog posts about goals.  When you add in the fact that the week since the year started has been less than stellar (furnace issues, our loss last week, some other stuff I don't even want to get into here, and oh by the way, being eight months pregnant which apparently comes with a pretty heavy dose of discomfort and exhaustion), I think it's understandable that we're in a bit of a funk around the MP.

But JE, you're probably thinking, this post title says it is a Thankful Thursday post.  What are you thinking?  Well, here's what I'm thinking.  When I'm in a funk (I thought of it yesterday as feeling like I'm trying to walk through caro syrup), I tend to want to curl up and do the things that come comfortably.  Blogging, even though I've not done as much in recent months as, say, a year ago, is one of those things.  So is stopping to count my blessings.  So, in light of that, let's look at what we've been doing around the MP and count those blessings!

So, last year I described our goals for the house this way:  In terms of goals around the MP, well, they look a lot like last year:  put new gutters on the house and replace our deck.  Other smaller projects, like finishing the library and my craft room redo, are also on the list, but the gutters and deck are definitely the most expensive (and most important) items for us to think about.

I am so insanely thankful for the new gutters!  Not having to think about them this winter, or about what further damage we were doing to the house as a result of not having replaced them, is a real blessing.  We also made awesome progress on the library, and I'm finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel there!  My craft room redo went well, and I love all of the organization work I put into it last winter.  I still have a few hours of work to do there to make the room a bit more functional.  We also painted the shutters this year, and I love knowing that the door, shutters and lighting all match around the exterior of the house.  We definitely still need a new deck, so that's on the list for 2013.


MP Our family word/phrase for 2012 was "open".  Here's why we chose it:  First, I mentioned in a Thankful Thursday post a couple weeks ago how much I appreciate J for being open and honest.  We've had several conversations lately that seem elevated by his (our) commitment to being open and honest with each other.  While not necessarily easy, approaching tough conversations that way seems to lead to a respectful and loving discourse.  I hope that we'll continue to be open with each other throughout 2012.  In addition, we're not sure what 2012 has in store for us.  We hope, though, to be open to the possibilities.  Open to the God-whispers and the God-beatings-about-the-head.  Open to new adventures and to things that don't go our way.  
You know, I think this was a great word for us in 2012.  It guided us (me, at least) through fertility issues, which certainly didn't go according to my plan.  It guided us through the stressful first trimester of pregnancy, and it's guided us through the fears and worries that come with the realization that "oh my gosh, we have to actually take home and keep alive an actual baby at the end of this".  We were able to trust each other with our feelings and feel really good about the strength of our marriage.  I am so thankful that five years into our marriage (and eight years into our relationship now), we still love each other as much (and more) than we did on our wedding day.

So that's what we did this year.  Built some things, painted some things, took lots of drugs and endured some slicing & dicing, lived through two-thirds of a pretty amazing pregnancy, celebrated five years of marriage and were blessed with our last full year with Zeppelin.  As the sum of it's parts, 2012 was a good year for the MP.