Winter Break 2018 has come and gone and it’s so hard to believe! As I sit here and write, my hubby and my oldest are anxiously watching the Championship college football game. And by anxiously I mean their team isn’t slaughtering the other . . . as is the case most of the time. Seems as though they should be watching opening game day, not the end! Even though it is hard to believe that 2018 is over and we are 7 days into 2019, I am pretty excited for a new year! Time for new goals, new adventures and new memories.

This break we did experience something new! We experienced the delayed joy of the tummy bug. (Can you tell my excitement?) I will say that it was a short lived bug. It would have been nice to have all gotten it at once and been done, but about the time one person was through and the house was all clean the next person then started. Four out of the five of us experienced this lovely gift with me being the only one to not have the privilege. What that meant was that I had the privilege of brushing up on my deep cleaning skills. The joy is all mine! And thank you to all the fun smelling cleaning products that made my job a delight. (Yep, I still use chemical products. Haven’t joined the all natural band wagon as of yet. This girl has taken a microbiology lecture and lab and seen too many germs grow so easily in petri dishes to take a chance.) On to fun memories….

While not sick, the Rushes went to the movies twice. The kid focused movies out right now are SO GOOD!!! If you haven’t grabbed a balloon and taken flight, I suggest you do. Or, for a movie that hits on friendship, take your children to see the extent one friend will go to to make the other friend happy and how it all spirals out of control but is restored in the end. GREAT MOVIES! I can’t forget our movie nights (yes plural) of the Sound of Music.  What a great way to end a year! We had some little additional outings but really tried to keep it low key.

Craig and I both embarked on really good books and tried to keep our noses pinned for as long as we could before a little human needed to be fed or problem solved. Only then, would we complete the task at hand and then resort back to our spots on the sofa in front of the fire with book in hand.

One of my personal goals for 2019 is to read more. Yeah yeah yeah. . . I know, we all say that right?!?! I saw a friend post a picture of an actual stack of books she is attempting to read during 2019. Genius! What a way to quantify and solidify a goal! So, like my friend, my goal is to read 19 books in 2019. This is a BIG goal for me. I’m still working on my list of books, and some will be ones that are recommended from others or we do as book clubs or bible studies at church. I’ll keep you posted on what exact books I am seeking to accomplish this year. The book I started during break is Sacred Parenting by Gary L. Thomas. PARENTS: READ THIS BOOK! I’m halfway through and already floored at the information my brain is soaking in. It is changing my thinking, all in positive ways!

A second goal I have for myself is to continue my health journey. I FINALLY started taking care of me this past July. From mid-July til end of year I lost 30 lbs. I wish I could say that I accomplished this goal because I was sweating like the devil from exercising, but it just wouldn’t be true. I did use a great program to help me jump start my journey and help reignite in me a flame that has been out for a very long time. My journey continues into 2019.

This time, my goal is to achieve a healthy mindset and attitude toward food (while using real food as my fueling source) and finding a form of exercise that I enjoy without obsessing about it and/or it taking over my world. This goal alone is one that is a major deal for me. Like many women I know, we carry extra baggage when it comes to food, health and exercise. And by extra baggage I’m not just talking about the pounds we found while growing a human or the ones that wouldn’t leave once we deposited that human into the hands of a doctor or midwife or whoever it was that was ready to catch. The baggage I speak of are the wounds from lies we have chosen to believe and are deep seeded into our thoughts and hearts. Almost like they are interwoven into the threads of our life and whether we acknowledge it or not, the wounds run deep and lies are still untrue and satan has accomplished his goal instead of God getting the glory of a victory that is found in bondage no more! (ugh, sorry that’s heavy stuff . . . maybe too heavy!)

To help me keep my focus on truth, what better way than to look to the source of life. Truth is truth is truth and will always be truth. That’s it. All there is to it. TRUTH! And what truth I choose to cling to in this season is from the book of Mark chapter 5 verse 34. And it says this,

He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” Mark 5:34 (NIV)

I leave you with this, focusing on truth is so easy a concept yet so hard an action step to put into place. Like Ryan Leak mentioned in his sermon this past week, ” You can’t keep squeezing God into a messy schedule and expect growth.” I choose growth for 2019. . . so long farewell 2018. You were good but the best is yet to come!