New Year's Resolutions in February

Why am I writing about my New Year's resolutions in February? Well, simply because I have been thinking about the ones I made when it became 2016. I've almost gotten used to writing 2016 even!

Some of my goals for this year were:
-Declutter our house, donating and selling unwanted and unnecessary items
-Introduce a weekly schedule including cleaning and social times
-Write more
-Do more creative/artistic activities with Micah
-and more.

It was and is an ambitious list. How am I doing?

Well, I gave up on the decluttering challenge I was doing. It was the wrong pace for our lives, so instead I am taking it a bit more slowly and working it into our lifestyle rather than a clump of 90 days. It has been getting better, and hopefully soon we will take some of the items to places they can be donated, as they are mostly accumulating in our den.

The weekly schedule is getting there. I started a meetup of moms at the local play place and have actually introduced myself too several of them! We haven't gotten as far with the weekly cleaning schedule because we are working to overhaul the organization of our house. Right now it looks like the basics getting done, then Saturdays involve tackling the big tasks, and eventually it will be more feasible to work it in.

I am writing more! I started the blog back up (after deleting embarrassing posts from the past); I write more frequently in my journal, and am making them habits.

Crafts and creative projects with Micah have been a struggle. He is a stubborn kid at times, and has been resistant to change. But, he has started finding the joy in painting and gluing. He is mostly using his chalkboard that he got for Christmas, and that's ok! He likes drawing dinosaurs, globes and circles. If you can tell them apart, I applaud you.

It is hard to see the progress in the midst of the chaos of daily life. Our house is chaotic even still, I struggle against structure even when I know it is important and beneficial. I find February hard, with the unpredictable weather and spring still a month away. So, I am glad that I took time to assess some of the progress we have made here. I am struggling with seeing God's grace in my weakness, but his grace reminds me that these small daily changes I am making are significant if I am giving him glory and that is an encouraging thing.