What I Love about January 2011

For some strange reason, both D and I are pumped about this new year. He told me something cool that he believes God clearly laid on his heart in the middle of the night about this year. We talked about it and pretty much decided it had to be a God-thing because it's something he had never even considered before and God even had the Holy nerve to wake him up out of a deep sleep to tell him. You gotta love that. And this serves as a reminder to us all that God still speaks. Even when you least expect it. So look for Him in the unexpected, in the unpredictable and in the unexplainable. He is all around us working!

Things are busy and fun around our house. We love life and doing what God has called us to do. So January begins with lots of irons in the fire and love in the house.

What I love about January 2011:

1. It’s a new beginning. I love a fresh start and clean slate. January is just that for me. I feel like I can take a deep breath, feel refreshed and re-focus on life.

2. January is birthday month in our family! We have three with birthdays this month so we’ll have tons of fun with cake and candles.

3. Next Saturday is my first official duty as Board President of the Care Center. The Board members are headed up to the farm for our Board Retreat. I am really looking forward to a great year.

4. Oh, yes, and it’s time for the semi-annual Gift Mart in Atlanta. And by the looks of the store and stock room at the shop, we need to go . . . bad. January is the traditional time to buy for pretty much the whole year including Christmas. It is a busy place and we have lots to do in a short amount of time.

5. The end of this month I will have a very unique opportunity to speak to a group of ladies down in middle Georgia. I’m not exactly sure what this will look like right now but I am thankful for the opportunity.

6. The Buy Local Expo sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce is the 26th of the month. J and J Foods is a co-sponsor of this event. We believe strongly in buying locally especially from folks in our community.

7. The Gainesville Bridal Show is Sunday, January 30th. Wonderful Events has joined forces with some other businesses to enhance the quality of this event. One thing that will be new this year is the Inspiration Room. This room will have all sorts of décor, floral, cake, catering, and dress ideas courtesy of the vendors involved. We are super excited to be a part of this event.

8. On January 10th, our whole family will be attending the Inauguration of Georgia’s new governor, Mr. Nathan Deal. Mr. Deal and his wife Sandra have been great supporters of our local business; shopping with us from the time we opened the Limestone store. He and D have had several conversations about the value of small business and its’ impact on the economy. We consider it a great honor to be invited to his special occasion.

9. January marks the kick-off of my year-long commitment to Scripture memory. I mentioned yesterday that as part of my 2011 goals, I will be participating in the Siesta Scripture Memory program on Beth Moore's blog. Well, look what I got in the mail as an incentive to get me going?This cute little spiral for all of my memory verses.

I agonized over my first verse but eventually decided that I would and should memorize our Wonderful Events' business commitment verse, Colossians 3:23. I could sorta tell you the verse and I could sorta tell you the address but now it's going to be memorized, baby! WooHoo!

10. This doesn't have anything to do with January but I couldn't end on #9 so I'm adding this totally non-related thought. You know if you've been following my blog that I totally had a Christmas card melt down this year. Bottom line - the Christmas photo shoot didn't go so well and while I thought I looked through all of my pictures from the last year, I obviously overlooked this one. I love this picture of the 5 of us. It was taken on G's 21st birthday. So Why.Did.I.Not.Use.This.Photo.For.Our.Christmas.Card I ask you? Doggone.It.

So consider this your blog-issued Happy New Year Card from the Wiley Family!! FaLaLa.