Hello Again

Well, hello again. How are you? I'd like to reintroduce myself. I'm Kate and this is my blog. Apparently the week before Christmas was my breaking point. I officially became too busy to post on my blog. Now, that's busy! You guys know how much I love this thing.

Even now, on Jan. 6, I find myself so totally overwhelmed that I can't even think straight. We returned home last night at 10:20pm after 10 days of being gone. 10 straight days! All the Christmas decorations are still up, Santa presents are still under the tree, piles of laundry to be done from our trips and more pictures and stories to post than I can wrap my mind around.

Christmas morning we woke up and unwrapped Santa presents. My parents were here and we had a nice breakfast. The girls had about 2 hours to play with their new toys and then we headed to my parents house for Christmas lunch. Around 3:30 that afternoon we set off for our trip to Maryville to visit Erik's family. We had such a nice time visiting with Erik's family. The girls have cousins to play with there so every day is a party! We left on Sunday night and headed to Nashville.

(I think the stress of all the traveling and holiday chaos increased my OCD a little. When we got to our hotel, which was perfectly fine, I could not sleep. All I could think about was those television exposes about dirty hotel beds. It was awful.)

So, we woke up at 4 (honestly, I did NOT sleep) and headed to the airport. Flew for 3 hours to denver and then had to kill 4 hours until my parents and John Paul arrived. Luckliy there was a big Bass Pro Shop close with lots of things to look at and do.

After we picked them up we made the 1.5 hour trek up the mountain for 7 days of fun-filled snow skiing and sledding. I have such great pictures. I can't wait to share them with you all.

That, my friend, is the problem. I have so many pictures to share and so many memories to record....but I also have a house to put back together, children's church to re-group and a bible study group to organize. Did I mention that my fitness studio shut down? I am so upset about that and have to figure something out there.

Oh, and most importantly, I've got that whole family thing I have to take care of. You know, that guy I call my husband and those children who call me mom. They WILL take priority this year. The entire month of Dec. was spent making applique shirts and going to parties, school events, etc. I still don't think my mind has fully grasped the fact that 2009 is here and I have missed the first week! UUGH! It is almost enough to make a momma cry. OVERWHELMED!!!

Thus, my new year's resolution desire comes into play. I will begin each day in prayer. As I learned in my mom's Bible study group, sometimes all you can get out is "Help!" But it's still a prayer and God hears it. That is how I feel today. HELP! Did you hear that God? Let me say it again. HELP! Since I assume that you will not be sending a magical fairy to clean up my house and get my life in order, I am asking that you will give me guidance and patience to stick this storm out. I know it's all about prioritizing, but I've never been great at that. I want it all done, now! And to be perfectly honest I would much rather sit and blog for the next week than clean my house or put my tree(s) away. And just why did I have to put up 4 Christmas trees this year?!

So, anyway, here's to the start of another year. Here's to the following desires of my heart:

• to develop a stronger, ever-growing relationship with my heavenly Father
• to be a virtuous wife to my husband and godly example of a mother to my children
• to be the kind of friend that I would want to have
• TO LEARN TO SAY NO!

Happy New Year to you all. May God bless each of you and your families. I can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for all of us!