a new year

Hello, 2012! And hello blog...it's been a while. Life got crazy busy there for a while with school and work and home and holidays. And it's about to get even crazier as this spring semester is supposed to be the hardest of my program. But I have one more week before that crazy hits, so let me take a moment to consider this new year.

Ann Voskamp said recently "The New Year wears hope like a fragrance." I've been taken with that image this week. Hope like a fragrance. Here are some of my fragrant hopes for this year:

• Date more! A plan is in place for this. We're going to trade babysitting each month with some sweet friends so we should get at least 6 away-from-home dates this year! And I've made a list of stay-at-home date ideas, too. I made us our own Can of Dates for creative dating. I'm hoping we can have a little more fun, experience a little more joy together this year.
• Socialize more. Not sure how this one will happen, but I hope to get together with people more often this year. To cultivate community.
• Rise early more. Specifically: get up at 5:30 (or earlier) at least 5 days a week. Crazy, I know, but it makes me feel more ready for the day if I get up early enough to do a little workout, pray a little prayer book, and get lunches ready without the stress of rush, rush, rush.
• Write more. Not necessarily on the blog, though maybe. I also want to be more disciplined about writing in my one-sentence-a-day (or thereabouts) journal for each kid, and I've started a spiritual art journal for myself. Writing is a hard discipline for me (particularly when you add necessary school writing to the mix), but I want to do it.
• Pray more. See hope #2, but also with my children. I've started praying more with The Girl about specific concerns she has (she's had a hard time socially this year...I wish she weren't so much my child in this way), and it seems to genuinely help her. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but prayer is one of those things I feel very unsure about. But I'd like to work on my spirituality this year...not just reading others' spiritual words and reflections and analysis...but cultivating my own.
• Manage time more. I'm not naturally a scheduler or a list-maker, but I'm finding it more necessary these days. Particularly when my school schedule hits (which will basically put me away from home for full-time hours in addition to time needed for schoolwork), I'll need to be very disciplined about balancing home maintenance time, family time and homework time.
• Speak more. This will probably be the hardest one for me. I do not speak out loud easily...either in print or in person. I weigh my words very carefully, and then often don't say them. So I want to cultivate my voice. To be bolder, more honest, more kind, more challenging, more real, more intentional.

These are my fragrant hopes: I think of them as a light spicy scent, invigorating and centering.