"I think it's going to rain today" - Norah Jones

Boy, was she right. It rained all day today, which was perfect for my day of cleaning. I hate driving in the rain or even getting out of the house, so I loved listening to the rain as I cleaned my home.

Just a few short hours ago, my living room looked like this:

As you can see, it was chaos. But our Christmas tree is put away until next year, and our entire house is clean!

This Christmas, Sam and I asked for a new camera. That's the only thing I really wanted. We've had our old camera for a few years and it's a little outdated. I take my camera everywhere, but I never take pictures except on big trips. I want to start taking pictures of little things we do and be able to look back on it later and remember those times. The following few pictures are from Christmas and the past couple of days.

Sam's wearing his new Ladainian Tomlinson Jersey.

My mom and dad.

Austin, our 6 1/2 year old Beagle mix

Carmella, our 2 1/2 year old Corgi mix

Sam and me - Christmas evening

This weekend, we are making new memories. We are hosting New Year's Day lunch at our house on Saturday. My parents, Sam's parents, and his two sisters and dates will be dining at our home Saturday. I'm excited to be getting together with everyone we love.

Sam got rained out at 11:30 today so he's been home with me (blessing!). At first when he told me he would be getting rained out, I thought "oh great, I'll never be able to clean with him there." The exact opposite happened. He helped me take the tree down, and then he hung out in our back room so I was able to clean without him and the dogs in the way. He knew I had been planning to clean our house today so he wanted to make sure nothing stopped me. I thank God as often as I can for blessing me with Sam as my husband. He knew what He was doing when he paired us two together.

It's still raining outside, but just like I had plans to clean my house today, Sam and I have plans to go to Beaumont tonight and do a little shopping. There are a few things I would like to get, and it gives us a chance to get out and spend the evening together.

Today's blessings (there are several): Sam got rained out and I got to spend pretty much all day with him, it rained today, I have a clean house, and I have two sweet dogs that love to cuddle.

Today was a very good day. And it's not over yet :)

Love,
Rae

New year, new season, new hobby.

As the new year approaches, I, like most people, think of New Year's resolutions. There's the obvious choice to lose weight, but I'm keeping that off of my list this year. I have two main goals: to keep my house as clean as possible and to become a better Christian. These seem like two simple goals but once you dig into the details, it's a lot of work.

• Hard-to-keep-a-clean-house-reason #1: I have 2 dogs. They are sweet and I love them, but they shed constantly. 
• Hard-to-keep-a-clean-house-reason #2: I'm in graduate school and I have a part-time job. My free time is minimal.

As for becoming a better Christian, I have only one excuse as to why I can't become better: myself.  I have to make the effort. Daily. Usually I start off with a bang, just like I came off of an awesome retreat. I find myself buried in my bible, praising Jesus whenever I can, and reading books about how to become even more in love with Jesus. Then, just a week or so later, life hits hard and I have less time to indulge in my bible and before I know it, I haven't opened my bible in a week or even a month, only using it at church. Moments of praising Jesus or even talking to Him become rare, only praising when something good happens to me.
My husband says I don't need a "New Year's Resolution" and that I can make one whenever I want. My goal is to not have just a New Year's Resolution, but to finally stick with something and have it become more of a lifelong resolution.
So, to kick-start my resolution, I've decided to start a blog. I've thought about starting one for a few months and I always pushed the feeling away thinking I had nothing important to talk about. So, even if I'm the only one who ever reads my blog, I'll be able to look at it and see where I started and how far I've come. It'll be an account of my life, my blessings, and my goals.
One thing I want to do, even if it's corny, is to list at least one blessing at the end of my blog. It will  remind me that I am blessed because I am a child of God. At the end of the day, I can always be positive and know that good things did happen that day, even if they were small things.
I don't plan to blog daily because I don't think I'll have the time for that. My goal is to write every 2-3 days. And in a year I'll look back and be able to see how much I've grown.

For a first blog post, I'm proud of myself. It took me longer to come up with my blog name.

Today's blessing: I got called into work today because someone was sick, but that means I'm off all day tomorrow. I plan on cleaning my house (like full-on spring cleaning) and spending the evening with my husband.

Do everything in love,
Rae