So, I just turned 40 December 12th, 2010.  There. I said it.  I own it!  :)  It's been a tough tough year.  I have felt more "out of control" and "reacting to life" instead of living life this year than ever before, and I want to take control of that in so many ways. 

Some background for those who will read this and don't know me.  I had been a Stay at home mom for 12+ years when we decided it was time for us to have me go back to work.  We had home schooled our 3 beautiful girls until 2007, and being in public school was absolutely a drain on our single income.  Plus, I needed to be outside the house doing things. We have been married 17 years and have 3 beautiful girls.

We live in TN and my whole road was affected by the flooding May 1, 2010.  Over 30 houses were hit, including ours.  I had my second cataract surgery the week before the flood and the week before that we had just gotten home from our first vacation in YEARS.  We didn't lose as much as others- only about 1/3 of our house was damaged, our family room, our oldest daughter's bedroom, and the laundry room-and we felt so blessed it was so "little" and have a nice shaded, kind of in the middle of the block house, so we offered to let the PTO of our youngest daughter's school set up grills to help serve our neighborhood.  That's all it took for God to show His miracles that week, to use me when I was useless (I couldn't bend, lift, pull, or get dust in my "new" eye).  We were also blessed by my husband's work and all the donated items/time that were given- we got tile for our laundry room (which we were finally able to make into a laundry/full bath finally!), hardwood for my daughter's room, furniture for her room, and we even had World Changers come and help us put up walls and drywall!  Such a blessing we have had this year!

It's been an up and down emotion year.... I have gained 15-20 lbs since the flood, and was on my way down when it hit....would use the recumbent bike and treadmill daily (those were in the flooded room).... and crappy food found it's way back into our lives.....

So, I'm ready to just be Myself....wonder if even I will recognize myself.....this year.  My friend made a goals list and so I expounded on it for me and will post in a separate post next.   I will warn you, I am "religious" so there will be posts about just that- I have a dieters devotional journal and may share sometimes from it, and share insight from things from our preacher/Sunday school class/ Sunday night class.  But I am tired of worrying about offending people- this is Myself, I love God and what He can teach me, and when I learn something from anyone I am going to share it without regret or worry of offending.

So, get ready for an interesting (I hope!) ride this year... I will share my daily struggles with diet, family schedule, house schedule, budget, God, finding myself, and work and how to balance it all.....I hope you like it!