Moving Four-Words

My friend Kathleen has posted her four words to live by this year. I think this is a wonderful idea and I am going to do it myself. Here are my four words:

Passion

Lee and I have both learned a lot about following our passions this year. Lee is looking forward to following a passion of his this year - photography. He may have found a part-time job (yay!) that would fit into all of our school schedules and still allow us time to follow what we are actually interested in. The neat thing about photography is that it could combine all of his jillion other interests and make some money off of them.

As I am writing this, Elijah has his arm around me while he plays a game. If that doesn't sum up my passions, I don't know what does. It has been a long term goal of mine to be able to work at home while hanging out with my kids and learning with them. I have been able to do some work from home this year, including some web design, some banner ad design, and some work as a virtual assistant for a small business owner. All of this has really helped me narrow down what my passion is, and I see very exciting things coming this year as I learn to market myself.

Routine

My house is always a little over the top messy. I like to clean. When I go to friends' houses, I clean for fun. But I can never get my own house clean. It's always nuts. But I know that if I can establish a simple routine for morning, evening, and weekly, I can get it under control and take control of myself. I have been progressing in this area a LOT this past year, but Christmas kicked my butt. There will also be a lot of decluttering this year!

Beauty

A friend of mine has been teaching me a lot about Beauty this year, and how it can change a woman's life! Woman are called to beauty, it is part of our ministry here on the Earth. It takes many forms. When I look at my life, I can see that it is something that I have neglected and that would be beneficial to me. I have not taken enough time to pamper myself or my environment. I am excited to learn more about this in the coming year. I also want to learn from my mom, who is always pursuing beauty through fun things like eclectic dish collections and beautiful jewelry.

Dependence

2010 was a good year for me spiritually. I have really been able to draw close to the Lord and lean on Him when things are hard, instead of leaning on bad habits. This year I would like to go to Confession more regularly as well as teach the children to memorize a few scripture verses. I would also like to start to let go of the food addiction / sugar addiction that I still deal with regularly so that I can lean on Him more fully.