Happy 2008!

At the market in Mexico
Silly sign, that made me giggle, in the bathroom at a restaurant.

On the Hawley's "porch", overlooking the pool and Sea of Cortez.
Thank you for my geography lesson, Vince.

One of the enormous cacti (or cactuses) at the Hawley hacienda!

OK, so everytime I post pictures I forget how to space the pictures and the text. How annoying. Well, somehow I got through all of Christmas with no Christmas pictures. Not one of opening presents, not one of sledding, not one of Noelle being silly. How is that possible??

So... these pictures are of our trip to Phoenix and Mexico. Much warmer than Iowa. I actually wore a swimming suit, not that I am likely to post a picture of that!

Thank you, Hawleys, for your hospitality!!

New Year's Resolution:

To be honest I haven't reflected on this as much as I should. It seems as if I have the same ones every year. Exercise at least three times a week, have a quiet time with the Lord every day, and eat healthy. Year after year after year. Well, I have been consistently exercising 2-3 times a week (running and playing tennis) for over a year. I guess I would like to add strength training, yoga and more tennis. But you know what, there has to be balance. What is healthy and what is "worshipping" my body?

Eating healthy. Most days I can't imagine that it is even possible for me. I love food! And unfortunately if I had my choice: hamburgers, milkshakes, dessert of most any kind, and on and on with unhealthy choices would make the top of my list. I have never learned to crave fruit and especially not vegetables. Wow, need to keep that on the list.

Time with my Lord, creator of all things, my salvation. Why is this even a question?? I need to write this on my calendar, like basketball games, soccer games and play practice. Any help would greatly be appreciated. I feel like I spend lots of time completing Bible studies and not near enough time just spending time with God.

Most importantly, I want to add a resolution to adopt. It feels like it needs to be that, a resolution. God has called us to adopt. Now we need to seek wisdom and perseverance. I know it would be so much easier if we had a referral. We do not feel overly prompted to change agencies, but maybe a lack of a referral is God's way of nudging us to seek out another agency. Sometimes this all feels too overwhelming. Adoption was overwhelming enough before this chaos. Chaos isn't really my thing.

Wow, this post didn't go where I expected it to at all. Welcome to online journaling.