Sunflowers, us, resolutions & realisations.

My first post of 2016…
I thought I would share some happy & sunny photos of the 3 of us and just have a chat…
Yesterday we were up early and headed out to a small town about an hour away from us, we were chasing sunflower fields… We found a field and pulled up for a quick family photo shoot, it was just us and the camera & tripod.

Sunflowers just make me happy, they are so bright and lovely to look at…
I really love how these photos turned out, we got some really cute ones. 
Now let’s chat about the New Year….
I’ve headed into this year with the mindset of calm, simple & slow. That’s how I want our life to mainly be, sure there are times in life when it’s busy chaos – but I don’t want my whole life to be like that – sometimes the madness, good & bad can’t be avoided. But I want to have a life in which I can savour moments, a life where I am not stressed constantly & a life that is good for me & my family. 
So with that in mind, that is what has inspired this years resolutions… Not that my resolutions are anything crazy, new or out of the normal, they are pretty standard and the things I aim for and pray about daily… 

• Mother to the best of my ability and with all my strength & heart.
• Be the best wife I can.  
• Live a slower & simpler life.
• Buy less, choose well.
• Be content, calm & stress less.
• Be an encourager.
• Become wiser.
• Continue to be strong in my faith & live a life that leads others to God.
• Live my best life.

Now of course I have a few little personal goals…

• Go on a small family trip this year… At least one.
• Hunt another deer. 
• Start our veggie garden.
• Make more from scratch.
• Declutter & organise my home.
• Sew a quilt – well, just sew something more complex than bunting or a cushion.  

2015 was a year a few things made me see life & just situations differently. So these are a few realisations I am bringing to 2016.

• We cannot control life, God has a greater plan for us and every aspect of our life. We can either fight that and become discouraged & down or we can just trust in the Lord and know that we will eventually see his plan and he will provide for us what we truly need. Sometimes our idea of what we need and want isn’t right and even though at the time we are sad things didn’t work out, we eventually understand why it didn’t.
• Pain will happen, pain doesn’t necessarily go away – you just learn to deal with it. And pain and hurt is ok, it happens to everyone on some varying degree, we are all carrying around pain & sadness – that’s why it is sometimes good to be kind to everyone – we have no idea what anyone else is dealing with.
• I’ve also realised we do not own anyone, their feelings or circumstances. Friends or family – they are their own people and will do what they do. We can offer words of advice or explain why their behaviour is perhaps causing us pain but we cannot make them do, say or act how we want or how we would. But sometimes people are just hurtful, selfish & not healthy to be around and it is ok to let people go – especially friends. Some friends/people are for seasons in our life and there to only teach us lessons and others are there for our whole life. 
• Life is to be enjoyed, my idea of enjoying life maybe the total opposite to other peoples and that is ok. My life is mine and I am here to live my best life.
• Being happy is a choice. Being sad is a choice. Sometimes it is ok to be sad, but don’t dwell in it. Be sad, experience it and then pick yourself up and choose happiness. If you find yourself struggling to be happy or feel good, stand up and look around. Everything in our lives is a reason to be happy & grateful. Having a grateful heart makes a happy mind. Reading this blog, this means you own a piece of technology & have an internet connection, the tap you turn on for a glass of clean water, you are alive and most likely in fairly good health – each of those things as basic as they are are reasons to be grateful & happy. How you see your life effects your attitude and feelings.