And so another year commences...

2007 has just flown by for the H. family, but such is life when you have a house full of young children. It seems to me that the years in which a new baby is born are the ones that go by the quickest, I assume because they grow so fast. Miss H will be 1 in February, but it certainly doesn't seem like it should be here yet.

As is tradition upon the commencing of another year, I am taking stock of the good, the bad, and the ugly of 2007. Cleaning out closets, filing papers, storing holiday decorations, and taking inventory are all part of the wrapping up of another trip around the sun, and all told, we've had a pretty good year. We grew our own vegetables and flowers this year, added a pet to the household, watched a baby grow, and spent lots of time outdoors. I wish for more of the same in the year to come, but I also want more.

I am trying to avoid making "resolutions" this year, because I don't wish to fall into a cycle of thinking of all the things I didn't do, didn't finish, or should have done this year. I wish, instead, to make goals for the next year, the most important one being the decision to live an excellent life. What does it mean to live excellently? For me, it will mean a concerted effort to give the best I have to offer of myself to my family, my tasks, and my work. I wish for my children to have an excellent mother and my husband an excellent wife. I wish to be an excellent teacher to my young students and to become an excellent writer. I would like to go further, though, and express my desire to be excellent for God, in the home, and to those less fortunate. I also hope to pass on to my children and family the desire to live an excellent life, and not one of settling for second best and mediocrity.

For my children, I want them to choose to read the best books, do their best work, and spend their time in the best manner possible. This does not mean they must always be working, for there is much to be said about lying in the grass watching clouds on a summer day, or lounging about reading a good book. However, I want my children to think of ways that they can improve themselves, so I must also be looking for ways to improve myself. I must be what I want them to imitate, which is a tall order indeed.

I feel that life has become much shorter than I used to think it was, and I no longer have the luxury of time wasted on petty thoughts, hurt feelings, or pride. My oldest child is 10, which means I only have a few more years to make her life in our home as memorable as possible, and look how fast the first 10 have gone by. One day she, and her younger siblings, will leave this home to create ones of their own, hopefully filled with the love, laughter, and pleasantness that was the place they grew up. The only way to accomplish that atmosphere is by a conscious effort on my part to make their childhoods wonderful, not by lavishing them with luxuries and material possessions, but instead by pouring out love and attention over them, and teaching them to experience their lives fully, instead of letting it pass them by.

I wish for you all an excellent 2008.

  Joanna blogs at http://www.theplaceofh.blogspot.com when she isn't writing for LAF.