Resolutions

I love New Years and the days that follow.
I love getting a new journal.
I love making resolutions.
I love it all.
I feel like it is a time to start fresh. It motivates me to take stock in my life and it spurs me on to make goals.

This year I want to continue to eat gluten free and eat as many raw foods as possible. I want to keep exercising and continue in my quest to get healthy. I want to have more sex with my husband. (Yeah, I said it)

I want to be a student of the Holy Spirit and actively listen more and to read The Word with fresh eyes. I am going to read thru the whole Bible writing notes in the margins and pass it on to my oldest daughter, so she has a Bible that I've studied to spur her on in her walk with the Lord (thank you Melinda Evans for spurring me on).

I want to watch all 7 seasons of the Gilmore Girls.

I want to read more.

In 2011 I read
The whole Hunger Games series
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
The Cross and the Switchblade
Keeping aBreast
Decision Points
Me Myself and Bob
Fool-proofing your life
The 100 Top Picks for Home School Curriculum.
(and I am sure I am missing a few more)

On my current list for 2012 is
Unveiled by Alan Smith --heard him in person, can't recommend it enough.
Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets
Think Differently Live Differently, by Bob Hamp,
The Essential Guide to Healing by Bill Johnson and Randy Clark. This book is out of my norm for types of books I read. Excited.
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Fasting by Jentezen Franklin
gluten-free girl by Shauna James Ahern

Still deciding on my fiction.

So what are your goals for 2012?

Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.......

Warning: this blog is not appropriate for small children.

Tonight on CBS was the TV show Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus based on the letter written by Virginia O'Hanlon to the New York Sun in 1897. The topic of Santa comes up every year around this time. Last week I saw a story on Fox News where some parents wanted a teacher punished for telling the class there was no Santa Claus. I get it, I have kids and I was a teacher.

This same topic comes up here in Guatemala. While having a conversation with a Guatemalan friend, she relayed a story about her childhood. She asked her older brother if Santa was real. He said only in rich families. She then asked if they were rich, he told her no.

We work closely with a family in the village of Santiago Zamora. Last year just before Christmas the dad was riding back to his village on his bicycle, his only form of transportation, with cereal and milk for Christmas Day (a treat they can't normally afford.) Half way up his road he was robbed. They tied him up and took his bike, the cereal, milk and a few other gifts he had bought. This family can't afford to believe in Santa.

But that is where the good news comes in. This same family loves Jesus. This same family shares testimony after testimony of how good God is to them. They may not have gifts but they have joy. They may have no hope of filled stockings but they do have the hope of a God who is not just for the rich, but who offers a new life for all.

So, I get it, go ahead, tell your kids about Santa, but make sure you tell them about Jesus too, because He is real.

This same family has a son who, without a scholarship, will have to quit school. Please consider giving to our Servants 4Him scholarship fund. Education is a great gift, even if your teacher says there is no Santa.