Let Him Do It With Simplicity

I just wanted to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2009! I actually can't believe it's 2009 (pronounced two thousand and nine) and that next year it will be 2010 (pronounced twenty ten). Where has this decade gone? I remember getting an e-mail once that said, "Life is like toilet paper, the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes." I hope I am nowhere near the end of my life yet, I hope I'm not even to the middle yet, but man it seems like that calendar does flip fast these days.

With the new year, of course I have new goals too. In November I taught the Teachings for our Times lesson on the talk by Elder L. Tom Perry with the same name as this post. There were 4 main areas where Elder Perry encouraged us to simplify our lives. I've decided to base my goals this year on those 4 things.

First- Food
We all need food to survive. Feeding my family healthy, balanced meals has been challenging in Taiwan. I'm just not into having to shop at 4 different stores to find all the ingredients to cook meals like we're used to at home. Basically, if they don't have it at Costco we don't eat it. Yes, it's great that we have Costco here, but don't think for one second it's exactly like Costco back home. There are import items for us amongst the many Asian items that we don't eat. I can't complain though because my sweet husband does the majority of the cooking. I've made a goal once me move to Canada to take over that "job" for the family, but until then my goal is just to plan weekly menus again. My honey said that will help him a lot now, and I know it will help me once we move.

Second- Clothing
Laundry is actually one of my favorite chores, and I think our clothing is already pretty simple (I only iron if I absolutely have too). My goal here is to get warm maternity clothes (my friends Lori and Kay lent me some, and my mom is mailing me some more) and to get stocked up on baby clothes again. All of the places we've lived have not had adequate storage for me to keep the clothes my older children outgrow for the younger ones. I'm sad I don't have all of Gavin's baby stuff, but this new baby will be born in the opposite time of year, plus Gavin's old clothes did go to an orphanage so I feel good about that. I just need to get on the ball and go shopping.

Third- Shelter
I have OCD tendencies and I love having a place for everything and everything in its place. I've struggled in this area for a while. Last year, I wanted to focus on keeping the front rooms tidied each day, but letting the bedrooms go to just once a week (I was tired of picking up after 5 people everyday). However, that just didn't work for me. I like EVERY room tidied EVERY day. My kids are good helpers when I'm consistent at encouraging them. The problem is I'm not always consistent and find it's sometimes easier just to do it myself. I know this isn't doing them any favors though, as they need to learn how to clean up after themselves and how to work. It's not doing me any favors either, so I'm going to try really hard at being consistent every day with the tidying and every week with the deep-down cleaning.

Fourth- Fuel
I actually have four areas that I need daily fuel in. First, prayer- I need to make sure I am saying my prayers at least every morning and every night. Second, spiritual nourishment- every day I need to read from either the Scriptures, Teachings of Presidents of the Church, or a General Conference talk. Third, reflection- I need to write in my journal to record my progress and to motivate me to keep going. Fourth, exercise- I started exercising again on Monday (after going on vacation, breaking my toe, having a rough first trimester, and with the Christmas holidays- it had been almost 7 months since I was exercising regularly). I hate doing it, but my body needs it, so I will exercise 4-5 times a week. I also need to encourage my family to fuel themselves daily.

This year will be exciting with our welcoming baby #4 to the family, saying goodbye to Asia our home for the past 4 years, moving half-way around the world again, hopefully buying our first home, and hopefully getting to spend lots of quality time with our extended family and friends. Sometimes life seems like a whirlwind, but I'm so grateful for it!