Happy New Year!

It is so hard to believe it is 2010! It sounds so futuristic. Also, I haven't figured out if it is going to be "Twenty-ten" or "Two-thousand-ten". Any thoughts?

Anyway, 2009 was a very special year because we had sweet little Chase BUT it was also not my favorite. So, I am not despairing as I close the chapter on last year and I am looking forward to starting a new year!

Near the end of 2009 I had an opportunity to attend some great "life management" classes (through our church). In one of the classes we talked about writing a personal mission statement. We learned different things to consider when writing one and discussed various areas of our lives to assess in helping us find "clues" to writing our mission statement. I really took it seriously and spent some time really pondering and assessing my life. During this process one word repeatedly kept entering my mind. That one word is the heart of my entire mission statement and I feel ties into everything that I value, love and aspire to be. Create.

In Sept 2008, President Uchtdorf gave an AMAZING talk at the General RS Broadcast. That talk resonated so deeply with me and is my favorite and most valued talk of all time. He talked a lot about "creating" and it really helped to put it into a different light for me.

The main part of my personal mission statement is: Learn to Create, Love to Create, Live to Create, Help to Create. Then, there are several paragraphs of detailwith tons of specific things that I will strive to create (or help others to create) - eg. a life of gratitude, joy in the lives of other through love and service, memories, fun and laughter, opportunities for my children, a healthy lifestyle, etc. I love to create! It makes me happy and it is such an important part of raising my children and serving others.

One of the many things I want to do better at "creating" in 2009 are memories and recording and documenting those. I read a really great quote the other day that said: "Because we are mortal, every talent, skill, ability we possess, every thought and feeling we ever have, every beautiful sight we ever see, every material possession we own, will ultimately be lost. Unless we share it." (from The Practice of Kindness) I loved that! And it reminded me how important it is to document mine and my families lives. Through journals, pictures, blogs, etc. - they are all ways to share thoughts, feelings and beautiful sights so they won't be lost.

So, for 2010 I am going to try to do a better job at recording and sharing the thoughts & feelings, the beautiful sights and the memories. Heaven knows I can't do any worse than I did in 2009!!!