#happyhopeful2015

In January of 2014, despite the fact that I was really struggling to deal with Henry's diagnosis of Dup15q - or maybe because I was trying to find productive ways to deal with it - I wrote a post with some ideas for traditions for the new year. I called it #onlyamazingthingsin2014 :) And we totally had lots of amazing things in 2014!

In that post, one new year's idea that I tried out was a Magic Moments Journal. The idea was to use it as a place to record special moments for our family, especially small ones that might otherwise be easily forgotten.

Confession: The journal only made it to April. 

Hee hee. Oops. But even though our Magic Moments Journal is only 1/3 complete, I basically replaced it with posts on Twitter and Instagram. Not as romantic as a handwritten journal, but for me it was more practical. I always have my phone nearby (for better or worse... but mainly for convenience) but I don't always have pen and paper let alone the journal. So it's easy for me to snap a pic and share it, or write a quick tweet and then I've got the magic of the interweb to let me/us look back at our magic moments. Plus, I can print out my Twitter feed or Instagram pics to save in tangible form if I ever get around to doing that. (Ha.)

On the cover of our 2014 journal, I put part of a quote from Mother Teresa:

"Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love."

I chose that quote because I felt it matched the intention of the journal: to record small, but meaningful, things. I also think it resonated with me because I was feeling overwhelmed by the idea of raising not one, but two special needs children. One of whom would likely have much more serious challenges than the other. I was terrified. But reminding myself to focus on small things within my grasp helped me let go of that fear. 

I still feel those fears and worries of parenthood and adulthood and special needs parenting. Of course I do. But my heart is also full of hopes. So here's a quote that is really resonating with me for this year: 

Hopes become goals and goals take hard work! So my prayer for this year is to be led by hope so that I am willing to do that hard work and make choices - even if they are hard or scary - that will help us reach our goals. Sometimes it's big stuff like scheduling a surgery for my child, and sometimes it is little stuff like feeling anxious about making a phone call to our insurance company! 

I like setting intentions for the new year. 

What about you? What are your intentions for 2015? 

Got a favorite quote for the new year? 

Any new year's traditions to share? 

#happyhopeful2015