Hopes as we look into 2011

It is amazing to me how a new year always feels like a clean slate. I don't necessarily need a clean slate as 2010 was truly amazing but 1/1/11 is still a great time to reflect and think about some of my dreams, wishes, and hopes for the year to come!

I know 2011 is going to have challenges and it is going to be hard, but I also know we can handle whatever is thrown at us.

I feel like we are just a month and a halfish (maybe more) away from what could very well be the highlight of our year! Very soon we will be welcoming a new little one into our family and we are very excited about meeting him/her. I also know that expanding our family is going to bring a whole new set of challenges to our life. I know that at times we are going to feel overwhelmed but we will plug along and easier days will arrive. We may spend the first 6 months of this year in "survival mode" but it will pass :)

As we add an additional member to our family, I also know that we are going to have to work harder at making our marriage a priority. 2 little one's who need diaper changes, and food, and baths, and cuddles is going to make it even harder to find time for us, but we need to be intentional about creating time! I always think back to the advice I read in a book that children are just visitors in our home that will someday leave the nest, don't let your spouse become a stranger.

We have some aggressive financial goals this year. We want to get the jeep paid off and hopefully get 3 months expenses put away into savings (towards our ultimate goal of 6 months). We have the money to pay off the jeep - BIG YAY! Now it is just a matter of getting the pay off amount and sending in that check! It will be difficult to hit the 3 month savings mark, but I am hopeful that we can do that and hopefully stick tightly to our budget in the coming year.

Most importantly for me this year, is I want to continue to listen to what God wants for my life. He has given me (and Peter) a passion for the orphaned in this world and I want to continue to serve and help others on their adoption journeys as well as listen to HIS voice and HIS timing on when we should proceed with bringing baby #3 home! I know we could be categorized as "insane" for even discussing baby #3 right now, but we both truly believe that God is calling us to our 3rd child and His voice is so strong that even if we wanted to ignore it, we couldn't. So we KNOW God is calling us to adopt again, we even have a pretty good idea of WHERE God is calling us, but what we don't know is the WHEN. It is almost a daily burden to wait and wonder on the when, but I have to get past it because I know we are still a ways away from even being able to start on that next journey and I am very much okay with that. I know my two kiddo's are going to keep me plenty busy until God finally reveals that it is time to proceed. So, I think in some aspects this will be a year of waiting and listening to God. I have no clue where we will be on our journey to #3 in a year. We may be on the road to our next adoption, or we may still be waiting for God to say "go". Either way, there are still so many things I can be doing in my relationship with God while we wait on this one thing.

So with all that being said. I truly welcome 2011 and fill this clean slate of a year with memories!!!