2009

In church last week, our pastor talked about how the funny thing about making resolutions on New Year's is that we don't actually know what is in store for us that next year and therefor don't know what strengths we will need to use. That was certainly true for me this past year. I resolved to bring my bags to the grocery store, to prevent anyone in my family from getting sunburned, and to refrain from adding more volunteer activities to my list. The last resolution was actually contrary to my usual resolution to volunteer more, but I was feeling overwhelmed with two kids and a baby and decided it would be best for all of us to cut back a little just for a year. It turned out to be a good resolution since "overwhelmed with two kids and a baby" turned into "overwhelmed with two kids and a baby and a husband working across the country half the time and an entire house to pack and friends to say goodbye to and then an entire house to unpack and doctors to find and schools to find and dentists to find..." and well, the list goes on. As my pastor mentioned, sometimes you just don't know what's in store for you in a coming year.

I don't know what's in store for us this year either of course. We're starting it out in Los Angeles. Probably we'll enter 2010 (Really? 2010!?) in Los Angeles as well, though our landlord's housing situation is up in the air and therefor renting this house for another year is possibly up in the air too. I could be writing about my resolutions next year from this same white painted desk covered with bread crumbs from Noni (hopefully not the same bread crumbs a year from now) in the piano room of this same house. Or I could be writing from another desk down the street. Or across the country. Or from Alaska. Or China. Or maybe I won't be around to make resolutions at all, though I'm hoping that's not the case.

Regardless, I'm going to make resolutions.

I'm keeping the first two:

1. Bring bags to the grocery store
2. Keep my family from getting sunburned

I got better at both this year, but not so good that they're second nature yet. And I'm thinking they're pretty much relevant no matter what happens this year. (Maybe with the exception of sunburn in Alaska.)

I'm adding some others to the list.

3. Keep our groceries under budget
You know you're a mom when 1/3 of your resolutions have to do with the grocery store...

4. Volunteer more
After a year off, I'm hoping to go back to being able to volunteer more again. I've signed up for Sunday school again and I'd like to get involved in some more community activities. It's not easy with an eighteen-month-old and no help, but I suppose resolutions aren't meant to be easy or else we wouldn't need a list to remind ourselves of what we plan on doing.

5. Go through the boxes in the garage and get rid off all the stuff we don't use
Like I said, resolutions aren't necessarily easy...

6. Take advantage of our time in California and appreciate what Los Angeles has to offer
We have no idea just how long we'll stay in Los Angeles, but I want to make sure that we experience as much as we can while we're here. These first few months have been full of adjustments - adjustments to a new home, new schools, new routines. Now we seem to have steadied our sea legs and I'm hoping to use this time to start exploring more areas. We have plans for Ventura and Santa Barbara this week, Joshua Tree and San Luis Obispo in April, and we've started looking into more camping areas this spring. Los Angeles itself sometimes feels like one big sprawling layer of cement (a statement I will refrain from focusing on in the new year...), but the areas around it (and the parks within the city) are beautiful and I'm determined to spend more time there in the upcoming months.

Evie and Lucy have a resolution of their own as well - to stop sucking their thumbs.

Alright 2009, we'll all be asleep when you arrive, but we're still ready!