Dream, Focus, Repeat!

Hey! I hope you all are doing well and had a very Merry Christmas and have had a great start to your 2018! I know this has been the busiest time of the year for most families, and we are no different here! With all 4 kids home from schools for winter break, celebration after celebration, and some snow days built in (even here in Texas!) time has truly flown by these past few weeks.

Christmas with toddlers is truly the sweetest blessing. Watching their little hearts swell and learn the true meaning of Christmas is precious. Watching their sweet gestures of gift giving at such young ages doesn't get any cuter. They all almost cried when it was time to take the tree down on the 31st. (I'm one of those people who just can not go into the New Year with Christmas decor still up!!) One thing I noticed this year around Christmas time is that teaching our small kids the right things in these times can be challenging, but I never want what my little ones learn to be more influenced by the outside world than by our beliefs we instill raising them as parents. This year was a good indication that we were doing right by them, and I can only look forward to this next year to make even more of an impact on them in all the right ways!

And just like that, the Christmas decorations were down and we had our friends over counting down to Midnight to ring in 2018! I can't believe how quickly a year seems to go, no matter how cliche that is to say, it's true! It seemed as though every person on social media did some kind of recap to their past year, which of course makes you think back on your own. 2017 was an incredible year of firsts for our family and for me individually. It was filled with multiple vacations and trips, my first ever semester of college, new job adventures, new friendships, and LOTS of strength and growth. It was a blessed year, but all in all, I'm so ready to be seeing 2018 on my laptop right now as I type this!

I'm not really big on big New Year's resolutions, because well, as a full time student, wife, and stay at home mom of 4, my idea of doing good is making some spaghetti that I know my picky kids will eat and my only time to workout is chasing my toddlers around. So to think that all of that would miraculously change just because the calendar switched to January 1st, is unrealistic to say the least! That doesn't mean I let the New Year slip by without reflection on the past year and planning goals for my new year, that is something I hope I never change!

This 2018, I wanted to pick a word for myself to truly reflect on and apply to my life. One to pick me up when I got down or off track, one to encourage me when I felt alone, one to remind me that I'm doing what my heart and mind BOTH want (even when my mind starts playing tricks on me later on). The problem I ran into when picking my word, was that I couldn't just pick one. I have big goals for 2018. I have so much that I want to see done for myself and my family that narrowing it down to one word was stressful. So instead I picked 2. My top 2 that I saw myself learning and growing from.

My first word is DREAM. Dreams are crucial to making stuff happen in our lives. We have to know where we want to go, before we can head there. Aimlessly moving forward can be a serious setback if you're trying to make big things happen. Dreaming can seem scary, or pointless, or even naive for some. But I love the feeling that the sky is the limit and that we can dream big dreams and see them come to fruition. This year I'm still putting in my work to get towards some dreams of mine. This is another year of growth and effort, so even though my DREAMS aren't going to come into play in the next 12 months so to say, I'm still on my path to get where I truly WANT to be!

My next word is FOCUS. Because let's be real, dreams are pointless if we can't focus on them. I'm no stranger to this, setting goals for myself and losing focus somewhere between starting and stopping. This year I would love to spend time truly FOCUSING on whatever it is I'm faced with. My second semester of college starts back in a couple of weeks, my kids, my husband, my friends. Anything I do I want to do whole heartedly. Using my FOCUS to put my dreams and goals into action plans, then following through to see results.

A new year is a new time to shape ourselves. To spend time working on the areas we want and need to work on. To grow and prosper into who we want to be and head in the directions we want to head. Life is short, everyday is a blessing, and there's no reason we can't make the most of every single day we're given. I hope you all spend some time asking yourself what you want to get out of every day of 2018. I hope you all have a blessed day, and a very happy start to your New Year!

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