Meandering Thoughts

I really can't even begin to believe that Christmas is over already! Where did the time go? I absolutely love Christmas and it just saddens me that it's already over!

Luke and I had a WONDERFUL Christmas! We spent the last week in South Florida visiting both my family and Luke's family. I had not realized how long it had been since I was last there. Honestly, I think it was like a year since I had seen everyone. Life has just been a little hectic! Luke and I were able to visit both sets of my grandparents which was wonderful. It was also a little sad because the truth of it is that they are getting older and I just don't know how much longer they will be with us. So, thinking about all of that was not the most fun thing-but I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to visit with them.

Luke and I also had the opportunity to visit my cousin Karina and her family which was great! I hadn't' seen them for like 3 years-so it was wonderful to see them. Lastly, Luke and I were able to visit with practically all of his family. It was a much needed week of catching up and visiting with family. We even had the opportunity to "makeover" the bedroom of our teenage niece who lives in Cape Coral. We had our own little, "While You Were Out" room makeover going on. When she came back and saw the transformation her room had gone through, she was just taken back. Her room was Beautiful!! It was such a pleasure to be able to do that!

Well, Luke and I are REALLY hoping that this will be our last year for our Doctoral program. Needless to say, it will be an extremely busy year. We have 6 classes left to take and our dissertation to write. I'm hoping to finish up my concept paper (the first portion of the dissertation) tomorrow and in turn, submit it before I go back to work. So, the goal is that it will be only one more year of craziness!

Luke and I go back to work on Thursday which just seems so fast! Work continues to go well but again, we are REALLY hoping to get into leadership. We LOVE Foundation, but at the same time, we are keeping our options open. You just never know when the Lord might open up a door of opportunity for us. We just continue to be open to where He may lead, whether it is here or somewhere else.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Luke and I are looking at making some major changes in 2008. Here's the list:

* Not spending $$ on eating out-will only eat out if we have a gift card (we tallied up our receipts from 2007 and let me just say, we spent WAY TOO MUCH on eating out!)

* Because we will not be eating out as much, we are planning on eating healthier!

* Getting into shape-making exercise a priority

* Spending more quality time with the Lord-My heart is really yearning for this. I really want to draw closer to the Lord-I just feel as though my life lacks without Him in it

* We plan on using our money more wisely-we have disconnected the satellite radio, stopped lawn service, and plan on going back to basic cable. We really want to be good stewards of our money.

* Lastly, we want to give more $$ to God-Luke and I are thinking about increasing our tithe once again. What I find interesting is that God tells us to test Him when it comes to tithing. This is the only time in the Bible that God says, Test me and watch what I'll do. Luke and I want to give more to the church and worthy causes because each time we have, He has blessed us beyond what we can imagine. But that's not the only reason why-we want to give more because it makes a positive difference-unlike cable, satellite radio, lawn service, etc. So, our goal is to give back to God because He has been so good to us already! Again, we want to live lives of simplicity-more is not better.

Personally, I would really like to work on some of my personal writings that I hope to get published one day. And if possible, I would really like to attend a writers conference in Feb/March. We will see!

So there you have it! When you get a chance, let me know what goals you have set our for 2008. Do you have any? If so, what are they!

Love you all!!