Starting up again

All I can say is, I'm so glad I'm not in the same place I was last year at this time.  Talk about stress!  Last January we sent our second completed dossier to Colombia, thus "ending" the U.S. side, or our part, of the adoption process.  I never would have imagined at that point that the rest of the process would continue to stretch on for six more entire months. Ugh.  Life still presents itself with new challenges every single day, but at least our son is home.  We're not chasing paper after paper, seal after seal to get him here. 

I looked back to my blog a year ago, and this was my main goal:

My goal for the year:  Trust God.  Every day.  For Everything.  Every year is life-changing.  I have a feeling this one is going to be more life-changing than ever. 

So, my new goal for this year: Trust God. Every day. For everything.  I want to read more, to write more, and to get out and live more.  I want to spend more one-on-one time with all of my boys, including Mike.  It makes a huge difference in my connection to each of them. 

It's amazing what a two week break can do for you.  Mike bought me four new books by Beth Wiseman, who writes fiction romance books set in the Amish community of Lancaster County, PA.  I read three of them already.  I set myself a goal to finish writing my second book early this year.  I told Mike that all I needed was a solid day to myself without any distractions, so he took the boys out yesterday so I could write.  Six hours later, I finished the book!  I've got lots of editing and revising to do now, plus I need to decide how to go about publishing it this time, but the first draft is finally done.  It felt so good to finish it!  I've enjoyed seeing how many people have been waiting on it. :)

Soccer starts up again in another month, as well as our spring Bible study.  I am looking forward to teaching one of my favorite studies ever, Living Beyond Yourself, by Beth Moore.  It's an in-depth study on the fruit of the Spirit, and I will have to say that it's one of the most life-changing studies I've ever done.  I've mentioned it over and over in almost every Bible study I've taught, but the church didn't own it.  You can imagine my excitement when I finally saw it on the list of available studies to teach this year.  We start on February 5th, just a month away. I can't wait!