2013 (aka Our Life Post-Mayan Apocalypse)

2013.

Where did you come from, 2013?  And how did you get here so quickly?  Because you weren't supposed to be here at all, ya know.  The world was supposed to end.  And with as busy as everything has been since...well...2007, I thought perhaps the world ending might be a nice break from the norm.

I'm kidding.  (Mostly.)

But seriously, busy and overwhelmed doesn't even begin to describe how I feel pretty much every day, which is why I wrote, like, 7 blog posts all of last year and only 3 since Cooper was born.  But because it's the time of year for new beginnings, I figured I'd start 2013 out right and get at least ONE post under my belt.

Let's start by recapping the events of the latter half of 2012:

1)  We Moved. 

...about 20 miles closer to everything we do.

Those are just two little words.  We Moved.  Like it's nbd to pick up and move a family of five across town.   I assure you, it is a bd, and one I'm still recovering from.

The series of events went something like this:  Tanner started school, we decided the daily drive to get her to school WITHOUT snow was cumbersome and we needed to move, I started back to work after having Cooper, we packed up our house and moved with a 4-month-old, we hosted Thanksgiving, we went to Illinois for Christmas, I sat down to write this blog.  Somewhere in there I did things like Laundry and Grocery Shopping and Christmas Shopping and Unpacking (even though you might not be able to tell it if you came knockin' at my door today), all while nursing a baby and showing up for work 24+ hours a week (except when I forgot to show up at work, but whatever :).  

These are the things John lists off to me of when I get all "omg, there's still so much to do, how can I still have boxes???" in his (often failed) attempt to get me to cut myself some slack.  Because I'm tired of clutter!  Tired of boxes!  And so is my 5-year-old, whose nightly prayer was "please help Mommy get all the boxes in my room unpacked" until I finally did two days ago.  Now she mentions it the "thankful" portion of her nightly prayers, "Thank You, God, that Mommy got the boxes unpacked."  Clearly it bothers her, too.

The point of all this chatter?  It's been so busy!  Busy and overwhelming in a way I never could have imagined, and so busy that sometimes I overlook the blessing that moving down here is.  

But life is always busy, and always getting busier.  The kids are starting up swim lessons this Saturday;  the girls are DYING to be in gymnastics again.  I'm joining a Bible Study, and John and I want to make a real commitment to have weekly dinner guests.  It's not slowing down, folks - not by any measure. 

In all the busyness, though, we know we are truly blessed.  We are blessed to have great friends (now a lot closer!), and 3 healthy, (mostly:) wonderful kidlets.  We are blessed by our family, and blessed by all that's been provided for us.  Looking around this cluttered mess, even I can tell how blessed we really are :)

I guess I say all this to say...I hope you can take time out of your busy-even-if-just-started 2013 to be thankful for all you have.  Wouldn't that be a real resolution - taking time to be thankful?  (and to write the occasional blog post? :)  

Merry Belated Christmas and Happy Belated New Year.   

And PS - there is no #2.  We Moved.  That's it.  It's big enough, I promise.