Home on the Owen range: 2011

I feel like I have started 2011 a little scatter-brained. We were out of our "routine" for 2 weeks, so I guess that is why. We are now 2 days back into our groove... our house no longer looks like Whoville... and Mitch's semester is (thus far) much less demanding... yahoo!

I hope that you and your family had a lovely celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus. I cannot think of a better way to start the new year than with the freedom we have through Christ (because of God's unfathomable willingness to cross the great divide!!!) at the forefront of our minds. I pray that we never lose sight of that!

I have to be candid and say: I am one who loves new beginnings, fresh starts, goals, list making, etc. but, I have never been a New Year's Resolution girl. I have some things in mind that I would like to "do"this year... but nothing that I think I will "write down." I kind of look at the beginning of each new week as a new start... I make a list every week of what I need to accomplish (partly because I LOVE crossing things off. ha!). Sometimes I write things down just to mark them off :) Here is a look at my list for this week:

I won't speak to all of these, but just a few:

'Bank'- ugh. My debit card number was stolen by some dumb-dumb hacker and so I have to go file a dispute at the bank... that is not fun.

'Start to work on taxes'- Y'all I am not a math person at all, but I think getting our tax stuff ready is SO fun. Maybe it is because I secretly am wishing for a nice refund check?

'Paint bathroom'- I will share the before and after soon!

Ok, I am sure that is enough blah, blah for everyone!

Mitch and I have been talking about 2011 some. He is so funny... he looked at me and said, "Erin, this is a big year for us." I was thinking, "...what? Bigger than having a baby?" But he is right and made a really good point. He said that during 2010, we were basically caring for Scarlett. Babies need a lot of physical care which is what we spent a lot of time doing. He said 2011 will add a whole new element: parenting. (yikes!) We will need to step up to the plate to give her the guidance, discipline and training she needs to be obedient to us and ultimately to God. We have to form healthy habits in doing so... what am I talking about?! AH! I don't know anything about this! Seriously, every night when we are praying before we put Scarlett to bed we ask for God to equip us as parents. I am sure there will be moments this year where I will have no idea what to do. I know I cannot "parent" on my own strength. Amen? I am sure there will be many posts this year focused around this very thing :)

I have to say that hindsight is such a funny thing... I was talking to my sister-in-law Sarah last night (the mommy of our 1st, darling nephew!) and it made me realize how far we have come. She has a little almost 3 week old baby and was talking about things I had almost forgotten we went through. It is amazing how easily we can forget what was going on in our lives even just 8-9 months ago isn't it? It was so fun to talk to her and hear what is going on with them and have her tell me about her "birth experience"... she was cracking me up! There is nothing like some good "girl talk."

Well, I have to show y'all our big almost 9 month old... I cannot believe it! She is just as sweet as she can be and makes us laugh all the time. Here she is eating a banana cracker this morning: