Post #1

The holiday season is officially upon us and Derek and I are already burnt out =) We hit the Black Friday sales Friday morning with a short list and were home by 7:30am, which I think is a new record for us. It was definitely a success; tons of new clothes from Old Navy, some things for our Christmas Adopted Family, and some ideas for Christmas presents. Derek and I are giving each other a new computer for Christmas (woo, MacBook Pro!) and we'll be picking it up tomorrow.

After the decision to buy a new computer, I'm feeling a little tighter financially than I'd like to be. With Derek more or less out of work, I'm bringing home the majority of the bacon, something neither he nor I are particularly comfortable with, so we're praying hard for a good job to appear and for patience with each other during this season where things are less than ideal. It'll hopefully not have too much of an impact on our ability to give to others for Christmas, but we're definitely scaling back on gifts for each other. We're trying to save as much as we possibly can right now, because a new addition to the family is a distinct possibility in the fairly near future. That would DEFINITELY be the ultimate Christmas present, in my opinion!

As the new year approaches, I'm starting to think about what goals I want to set so I can get a jump on them now. I think the biggest one is to set reasonable hours for work and stick to them, and not bring any work home. I often feel like ALL of my energy goes into my job, and I don't have enough for what really matters: God, my husband, or myself. I don't take care of myself because I don't have the energy, I'm grouchy and tired a lot, and my prayer life is definitely getting hit hard. I'm not in the best spot, and it's because teaching is eating me alive. I need to learn how to set, and stick to, boundaries between my job and my home life. I have no idea where to begin. Prayer, duh.