Being Present, Giving Grace, and Looking Ahead In 2014

A few times in the past year I have blogged about my desire to just be present and not a slave to my camera, phone, blog, or anything else that may take time away from my family. As you've probably noticed, I've been MIA from my blog and even as I made an attempt to blog a few weeks ago, life got in the way. Truth is I have had no motivation to sit at my computer at night and do anything. Life is simply just too precious these days, especially after working and being away from Nicholas all week.

2013 brought about the best year our little family has had in several years. 2011 and 2012 were hard for us as we struggled in several areas of our lives.  In 2013, God opened several doors which has led us to a place where we are finally in the place I think He wants us in. Part of the reason I think it was such a wonderful year was we allowed ourselves grace and we were still long enough to hear what He wanted us to hear. 

In the upcoming year I plan to continue to allow myself grace. I cannot be everything to everyone and everywhere all the time. I'm making more of an effort to slow down. On days where I feel like I can barely crawl to bed once I get Nicholas to bed, I'm going to tell myself that if the laundry isn't put away daily or there are dishes in the sink, that's ok. I don't have to get so stressed or feel like I'm failing if my house is a wreck. It is ok.  I don't want to feel a obligation to blog, but something I do as a hobby. It shouldn't be something that adds stress to my life. I need to be ok if I go 2-3 months without posting. That's ok. I'm allowing myself grace. 

I want to make more time for Michael and I to be together. We celebrate our 9th anniversary next week and I want to spend the next year reflecting on our marriage and our relationship. We are in a great place right and I want us to enjoy that place in our relationship. We need to have more date nights and less nights sitting on the couch on our iPad and iPhones, but not really enjoying each other. We need to remember that we both work full time and some days we are both tired and I may not want to cook, he may not want to fold laundry or help clean up the kitchen. And that's ok. We need to get back to just being present and allowing each other grace. 

I want to spend more time with my devotions and making it to church more than once or twice a month, if we are lucky. I want to make it a routine, not something out of the ordinary. 

This is how I want to spend 2014. Being present and giving myself some grace.  What are your goals for yourself in 2014?