Molded

New Years Resolution Dilemna

So I’ve been thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. Why do we so often fail when we create these resolutions? Why is it that if you look back over your life many of those resolutions are the same year after year after year?
Is it because our resolutions are too vague, too specific, too demanding, or even too easy? Is it because we make these resolutions without thought to the reality of our lives in the heat of the moment of New Years and the next time we think to go back and review our progress is December 31st when we are preparing to make resolutions for next year?
For me I think my problem is all of the above, so this year as a family we will pray and ask God to show us what we need to work on and commit to and then make very practical, measurable goals (maybe even monthly goals) that are not linked to the end of the year but to different times in the year…a time line of sorts to evaluate where we are on our goals and what is next. Maybe this year my New Year’s resolution will be not to make a resolution for the year, but for this week, then this month, then this season that are progress goals based on what I truly want to accomplish this year and beside each goal will be practical ways I will accomplish that goal and how I will measure when I have reached that goal. I bet I will be a lot more likely to look back in December and realize I’ve made more progress like this than I have in years past.
What do you think about New Year’s Resolutions? Do they work for you? How do you make them work? How many resolutions do you think you should have?

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A Christmas to Remember

This is absolutely my favorite time of year. I love Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It is so full of traditions and family fun. On Christmas Eve we (all 16 of my immediate family members) gather at my mothers at 5:00 for pictures, then we head down to my cousins house where we join my uncle and 2 cousins for dinner at 5:30. After dinner we all (19 of us) return to my mother and father’s house where we begin the massive undertaking of passing out gifts and opening presents. The kids pass out all the gifts and then we each take turns opening our presents starting at the youngest and going to the oldest. This year we finished in record time…done by 9:40! On Christmas day, the kids come in our room, read the Christmas story (Luke 2) and then we head down stairs to see what mom and dad got them. Later that morning, we head over to my sister’s to see what Santa left them and then either return to our home to host the rest of the Fuller clan at our house or head to Raleigh to join their festivities. It is an amazing 2 days of family fun & traditions that I have loved since childhood (except for the addition of the Fuller’s of course). Having said that…

Things we got

• Lots of Best Buy cards
• More RC cars than we need
• A few more dishes
• Clothes
• Enough WEBKINS to start our own dog pound
• Talking baby dolls
• Singing football snack bowls
• A video camera to record all the fun memories
• Rocket launchers, little pet villages, ….
• A Wii
• More toys, more stuff, more stuff, more stuff

What we will remember

• Johnny giving Uncle Ivey a hard time about getting a can of peanuts only to realize he had opened someone else’s present.
• The Best Buy gift card challenge between David, Johnny, & Christopher
• The Lowe’s gift card challenge between Forest, Chris, & Art
• The great college rival humor between Carolina and State that ended with the amazing quote “you could have gone to a college where they actually win football games” – APP STATE in the house.
• The countless times baby Dylan toppled over while playing with his new toys.
• Trying to cram all those gifts into my mother and father’s small living room, then trying to take a family photo with 16 people in the same room with all those gifts while using a tripod and a timer.
• The trip from my house to my mother’s in the golf cart with Forest, Lalla, me, Johnny, Caleb, Kennedy, & Courtney
• The very sincere thank you when my kids came down the steps to see what they thought was all their Christmas from us, only to be followed by absolute glee as I told them I had found another present we left in the den – the Wii!
• Laughing with my sister about the previous night’s adventures.
• Seeing my father-in-law playing the Wii.

I love my family and it is so nice to be able to have 2 days devoted solely to being with them. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that you enjoyed your family as much as I did.

Now, off to plan my shopping trips for tomorrow. You know, gift cards to spend, sales to enjoy, and the rush of knowing I have no deadlines to meet!

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Merry Christmas

Finally, we suprised our kids….with a Wii! Never mind I haven’t had much sleep because after Johnny and I put it together last night, I kicked his butt in boxing, tennis, and bowling. He did however beat me in golf and baseball. Merry Christmas everyone!

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It's over!

Imagine Christmas is over and it was amazing! I can’t wait til the next big production…I love stuff like this. If you didn’t get to go take a look here. Millie is a wonderful friend and an absolutely amazing photographer. Not only did she take the pictures for Imagine Christmas, she took the pictures of our friends Abbie and Daniel Bullard’s wedding. The girls were flowers girls and Caleb was the ring bearer. Daniel and Abbie showed up Sunday night with a Christmas present for us. When we opened it, it was the most beautifully framed pictures of my girls, taken by the most amazing photographer, kissing the cheeks of one of their favorite people – Daniel.
It was at this point I realized what an awesome group of people we have had the opportunity to share our lives with. We are so blessed! Now if I could only figure out how to juggle it all, feel good at any of it, and still have time to do what is important – love on people (my family, my friends and even simple acquaintances) I’d feel like I had accomplished something.
So to all of you that we used to spend time with, all of you dear friends who get a “hey, we miss you!” every time we see you, to those of you we see every Sunday, but rarely have more than 5 minutes to talk, to my family that sees me in passing and in the car…just want to say “I love you guys. I have amazing friends, amazing family, an amazing church, and even when I forget to say it thank you for being so unique…for enriching my life with your special, unique gifts given to you by God….and yes, we do need to get together more!”

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My inspired Christmas Gift Idea

Have you ever tried to buy 14 teacher gifts without breaking the bank. It’s hard to find something meaningful, usable and just not the average “teacher gift” without spending a fortune. So as a pondered this thought on the way to work…this is what I came up with. I bought all the teacher’s nutcrackers, I got small bags and some ribbon. I went to my parents house and picked up the tons of pecans they were tired of dealing with, wrote a poem, put it all together and came up with this.

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What a hangover!

I guess I got your attention. I did have a hangover this morning but it wasn’t from a rowdy night of parting it was from taking half a dose of NyQuil. Every time I get this nasty virus (which since I teach preschool is almost every year) I swear off NyQuil. Yet every year, I go through days of feeling miserable, trying everything else, biting everyone’s head off, and then I break down and take something that will at least help me sleep – NyQuil. Sudafed makes me feel delusional and keeps me awake, Zicam helps a little with no side effects, but no enough results and everything else I have tried makes me pure loopy, so I opt for NyQuil which if nothing else makes me sleep. I had the best nights sleep (and half the morning) I have had in a long time. When I woke up I had no voice, but once I slept a few more hours I woke up feeling remarkably better.
I haven’t accomplished much at home today, but I feel better and got some sleep too. I’m sure my family, TA, and students will appreciate that!

Less than 2 weeks until the Imagine Christmas Production…..I can’t wait!

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Jesus and Denim

The body is a funny thing, it kind of does whatever it feels like doing no matter what we tell it to do. So here I am again. Tonight it is 1:00a.m. and well, I’m wide awake. I stayed up as long as I could tonight. I made it til a little after 8:00. I thought since I had been up since 2:00a.m., I would be fine, but apparently not so much. So in light of that, I figured I would take advantage of the time time and peruse the Internet…hmm maybe I’ll even do a little Christmas shopping!
Before I do however I had to share this funny story (at least it was funny to me). I had been talking to a friend about coming to Imagine Christmas and they asked me what to wear. So I proceeded to tell him and started talking to him about how our church had changed over the past couple of years. I made the statement that we used to joke that if we wore denim Jesus wouldn’t show up. He laughed and laughed, which made me laugh again. I started thinking about that tonight. How much of what I do is dictated by religious attitudes that I have gotten accustom to and how much of it is really the Father’s heart? I’m glad to know Jesus will show up when I have on denim otherwise we’d have a very estranged relationship.

Oh I almost forgot, 11 days til Wilmington, NC experiences the Imagine Christmas production! Don’t miss it!

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A Little More Christmas Spirit

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What will oversleeping get you?

What will oversleeping by an hour and 20 minutes get you?

• No shower
• Oily, yucky hair that is slicked back into a ponytail
• no chance to hit the snooze button
• a krispy kreme doughnut & 20 oz diet sundrop on the road
• wrinkled clothes
• a much happy person

Today the alarm went off and I rolled over and turned my alarm off only for it to keep ringing…looking at the clock again I realized it said 5:45 instead of the usual 4:30! Yikes!!! So much for hitting the snooze. I had been up in the middle of the night with a terrible sore throat so either I slept through my alarm (which I never do) or I just didn’t turn it on…either way I was in trouble.

Thanks goodness for small miracles…our principle had designated today as school spirit day so we were told to wear our school shirts and jeans so getting dressed was a no brainier! (That was important since I hadn’t had any sundrop yet). The funny thing is I had one of the best days at school in a long time. Maybe it could be because I slept a little longer. Or maybe it is because God had mercy on me because the morning was such a mess. Either way, it was a nice way to end the week.

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