Happy New Year!

Well, this will be my first post of the new year. It's so hard to believe it's 2011. I remember y2k and how they thought everything would crash and once the clock struck 12, things just kept right on going as usual. Now it's 11 years later and things are keepin on keepin on. I kinda have some make up to do, so here we go. Christmas Eve me and Maddy spent most of the day with my mom doing our last minute Christmas shopping. We were supposed to be getting our "traditional" santa pic done at the mall, but there was so much to do already and she already has pictures of her and santa from school, and her hair was already messed up that I finally said forget it! For dinner we ate at Waffle House, which is actually a tradition my stepdad(along with my mom) tried to get started for us, but somewhere along the way it stopped. Once we got home, my sister along with her 2 girls came over as they were going to spend the night with us. The girls were so excited because they knew santa was coming. Once they got into bed me and my sister started wrapping presents. We stayed up till about 4:00 a.m. and was I ever so glad to be going to bed once we were done. When we woke up the next morning there was so much snow...it was just so beautiful. My nieces had been up and waiting for a while, so since Maddy was being quiet in her crib we decided to let them go ahead and go see what santa left them. It only lasted maybe 20 minutes and Maddy was ready to see what all was going on. It's my tradtition, started by my mom I do believe, to have pigs in a blanket on Christmas morning, so that was Maddy's breakfast along with some milk. When we walked into the living room I think she was overwhelmed. We had a room full of people along with a room full of presents and she wanted to stick close to mom. Her dad came over around 5 or 6 a.m. in order to not miss her waking up on Christmas morning. She just sat and stared at her presents not really knowing what to do. She got a Playskool house that has all kinds of buttons and music, a princess pup up activity hut, and I'm not sure of the brand but it's a piano that either sits or stands and you can hook it up to the tv and interact that way or if you don't want it hooked up to the tv, it still plays music.  The rest of her gifts included several dogs, several baby dolls, a shopping cart with food, a kitchen, a couple dvd's, puzzles, candy and some other things I can't seem to remember. All in all she had a great Christmas! We did take her outside long enough for her to see the snow and I put some in my hand to let her feel...she thought that was funny. That was our Christmas at home. The rest of the day consisted of going to my aunt and uncle's and eating and doing what is called a chinese gift exchange...it's super fun but I hate having to get up in front of everybody. The last thing we did was go to Maddy's dad's dad's house hehe. This is a very shortened version of Christmas.
For New Year's, Maddy's dad came over pretty early and we went to Wal-Mart to buy our new year's hats and of coarse had to get Maddy a little headband as well. Once my mom and stepdad got home we ate pizza, gave Maddy a bath, let her try on her headband and play some, then put Maddy to bed, then we played on the Wii for a little bit. We played Gold's Gym Cardio Workout and oh man, I woke up the next day so sore. Afterwards we played a card game called Phase 10. It lasted a couple hours or so and Maddy's dad ended up beating us all after he started out in last place. Once we were done, we just sat and watched the rockin new year's eve and then counted down and said happy new year. Pretty soon afterwards I went straight to bed ad luckily Maddy didn't wake up the next day until 9. On New Year's we went shopping with Maddy's Nana and then ate at Carrabba's for dinner.

As you can see I had a very busy but good holiday for both Christmas and New Year. As the last of the holiday weekend was coming to a close, I started feeling real sad and a lot of anxiety about going back to work. I am so stressed out at work. This is just Tuesday and already I feel as if I've worked a full week. I know the devil is trying to make me feel defeated and hopeless and he's doing a good job, but luckily I know that God is in control and I choose to let Him lead me. I have been praying over my job and I know that all I can do is my best and if it's just not good enough, then God has another plan for me. That is very scary to me because I don't have that second income to fall back on and my daughter's necessities don't stop just because I am jobless. It's also very scary to think about because I desperately need insurance for her. Everytime I start worry about this and that I instantly hear or think about how God provides for the birds and He thinks much higher of me then He does the birds. This new year I'm not really making a resolution...I never have really, but without even thinking about I decided to strive to get closer to God each and every day. This angered the devil and he is trying to prevent me from doing what I set out to do, but in the long run I will not let him win. Life without God is impossible and I want my love for Him to grow each and every day. One book I got myself this weekend is called, "I'm Not Good Enough"...and other lies women tell themselves by Sharon Jaynes. If you are a woman or lady, I highly recommend this book. I am just on chapter 4, but already it is doing some good. It's also deepening my relationship with the Lord and that excites me very much so.