Ringing In The New Year!

Happy New Year from West Michigan!
Last night we went downtown to share in all the festivities. We didn't get there till 11pm (purposely) and started exploring. Shops had opened back up, there was a dj, there was a tent for hot cocoa and cider, and of course, the beer tent (luckily alcohol was only allowed in a certain area). It was fun to walk around and see so many people, and a little girl from AWANA popped up and said hi to us out of the crowd. We saw our neighbors, people from church, and a few friends from our Bible study. We didn't go far, just ducked in and out of shops for a while until about ten till. So we stood around and watched the ball drop and then the fireworks. By then we were exhausted so we just headed home the back way. It was the first time either of us had been to the ball drop here, and I don't think it'll be the last :) It was pretty neat.

As I'm sure you know, New Years Eve and day are a time when countless resolutions are made. I stopped doing resolutions years ago and started setting goals instead. Why? Because resolutions are forgotten, not kept, etc., and then we feel bad because we 'resolved' to do something and didn't... however, we've been trained to view goals as ongoing, so even when we miss out for a while we can pick up right where we were and keep going. So, it helps me to view them as goals.. because I know how my brain works :) haha. Anyway, here are just a few goals for this new year:

-Pick a word for the year to focus, learn and grow on: love.
-Do more devotions alone and as a couple.
-Make a 'menu' type list of groceries, and go shopping only once a week, with as many coupons as I can use! Normally I go for 'this or that' about three times a week.. and then I pick up something else, and.. I don't really need them, so I think that's where a lot of our money goes. I'm hoping to both save more money and learn to be even more frugal this year.
-Save receipts.

I try to not make a lot of goals, because then I feel far fetched, but I definitely like making a few. It never hurts to improve and try new things. Did you make any goals or resolutions this year? If so, please comment below and share, I'd love to hear them!

Have a blessed New Year everyone!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a good first two days of this new year. Caleb and I spent the first few moments of 2012 with my great-grandma in her living room, popping green grapes into our mouthes. For as long as I can remember my family has always done the same thing for the first few moments of each new year: eating 12 green grapes and thinking of resolutions. This year it was different to spend it with my husband and great-grandma, but it was a great experience.

New Years morning was quite eventful, and because of that, "breakfast" at my grandparent's didn't happen until 1pm. After that we bummed around for the day and didn't leave for home until 5:30pm. A drive that should've taken us just under three hours, took us four and a half... I guess thats just one of the perks to living in Michigan, winter. We haven't really had much bad weather up until now, and this was really the first batch of snow/ice/sleet/etc., that our (and the surrounding) town has gotten. But anyway, the roads were bad and traffic wasn't moving very fast. We had the classic experience of a first storm of the year; being behind people who seemed to have forgotten how to drive in winter weather. We had a car in front of us slam on their breaks and decide they didn't need to use a turn signal, a genius fly by us going way too fast, and we even saw a motor home with its rear end in the ditch and its front end sticking up into the air...  yeah, it was a 'great' drive back. All in all, it was fine, we got back safely and without any issues. Praise God for that.

As of now, I'm sitting on the couch at my in-laws typing this. We're staying here for a few weeks until we move into our house. I'm sitting on the couch next to Caleb, remembering how convenient it was to have a working tv. At the other house there was a tv, but no cable or even five channels, just a tv. We watched a lot of dvds. Needless to say, there has been a lot of channel surfing since we sat down two hours ago :)

Well, I think that's all the updates I have for tonight, you'll probably hear from me tomorrow.
Night.