Goodbye to family & 2011, hello hope

Wouldn't you know, we wake up today, Sunday, and the sky is perfectly clear down below.  We can look across to the mountains and see everything.  Which means, we probably could see everything at the beach as well.  Too bad!  We had been waiting for that all week!

But today is the Lord's day and not our play day.  

So, we'll just have to wait until  Aunt Tammy's family visits again cause they had to leave today.

It was a great week full of fun, food, noise, laughter, food, and more fun.

So, today, we not only say goodbye to family, but to 2011.  This year, we've already had to say goodbye to beloved friends  and the lovely state of North Carolina.  But with a few months in California under our belt, hopefully we can continue to cherish old memories while learning to love the new ones.

I marveled last night at watching people from around the world all celebrating the same thing, a new year.  Although the new year can be filled with hype, we all celebrate that we are still here and have the opportunity to start anew.  It's like standing at the starting line of a race with the hopes of a glorious finish or the hope to just not trip and do a face plant. We all feel it.

I would love to just sit down and plan my life in a day, but my mind doesn't work like it used to.  I think it may take me a week or even this month to fully flesh out my goals for this year.  Truly though, goals and plans can be evolving and growing.  I hope to not only set a few this month but to continue through the year making new ones and adjusting those already set.

The key, I think, is to always make sure that the most important goals get most of the attention (stating the obvious).  Sometimes, it can become addicting to just do the easy  or attractive ones because they are instantly gratifying or fun. I guess human nature is to avoid the difficult and uneasy.

With that said, I guess I"ll share that my first goal is to give attention to those things that are most important starting with my relationship with my Father in Heaven, my  relationships with my family, then my relationships with those in my circle of influence.  There, that's a good start.

To the few that have been following my blog faithfully (mostly family, a few old friends, and even a few new ones), thank you for taking an interest in our family and what I have to say.  Since the move,   my blog has been more of a journal but I hope to include in the future more thoughts, inspiration, creating, etc.  I had started blogging to not only use it as a journal, but to be an influence for good in  the lives of my family, friends, and others.  I have a lot to be grateful for and hope others can also recognize the goodness in their lives.

May we all make this a good year by first recognizing that all good things come from the source of goodness, our Heavenly Father.  God bless us all in our endeavor for happiness.

 Happy New Year!