Welcome, 2012

This year brings a lot of change for our family, and especially for me as I will be student teaching starting tomorrow (yikes!) and then looking for a teaching job come spring. Sean will be carrying the load of his biggest semester (11 crediits) along with the bulk of meeting our increased financial needs with decreased means, both due to my student teaching, and he will, of course, continue to work full time, so we won't be seeing much of each other for the next few months. Corinne will soon be out in the mission field again, Skyler is going back to college and working, and Forrest is working and preparing to serve a mission in the summer. These coming events have helped me to choose my word of focus for the year, FAITH. With so much unknown, worry is usually my coping mechanism, but I have found that worry doesn't change circumstances, or help things to get better. Faith, on the other hand, does. When I take my concerns to the Lord, and have put forth the effort to do all that I can do by myself, there is great peace in knowing that I am in the Lord's hands, and that he will keep his promises to take care of the deficit, whatever it may be. Faith is what will get me through the difficult challenges ahead, not fear or complaint. Faith is what will calm me when my daughter is thousands of miles away; faith will help me know how to manage a room full of squirrelly 7th graders. Faith will help me to let go of my grasp on my adult children, and it will help me believe in them and their abilities to make good choices and to go after their dreams. Faith will help me know the best advice to give them and then to let them choose for themselves. Faith will help me strengthen my relationship with my husband, even though we will be spending so much time apart. Faith requires action, and I am ready to go and do whatever is required of me. I have lived too long with worry and with the silliness of relying only on myself to get things done. I know that the Lord can be my partner in my trials and challenges, if I will let Him be. When I share my life with the Lord, including my struggles, my worries, and my doubts, I receive greater strength, direction, and relief, and I accomplish so much more with so much less wasted energy spent on useless worry. Faith will strengthen my relationship with the Lord and will deepen my testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Faith is my answer to the unknown. I hope that you will choose a word to focus on as well. Make it a positive one, explore why it is the best word for you, and work toward achieving it day by day. Goals are achieved through planning and small steps forward. Years are made good or bad by our attitudes toward the events that take place in them. Happiness comes from enjoying the journey and the destination. I am determined to make 2012 a good one; I will go forward with FAITH.