Happy 2104 everyone! I know I've been absent here at LADDventure for a while, and for a few good reasons:
1. Holidays, hosting, hustle. Enough said.
2. A book. The first draft of my book is done, and my manuscript is being polished up and sent off this week for review! Revisions, designing, editing, and ongoing promotion will be the next steps. Candid Classroom: What Parents Want to Know & Teachers Want to Tell Them (yup, we have a title folks!) is due out in April. Stay up to date on book news over at The Candid Teacher.
3. A makeover! This space was in desperate need of a fresh new look, so I've been hard at work to move the blog from Blogger to Typepad and give it a face lift. I've repaired my dysfunctional relationship with Photoshop, and we are starting over together to bring you a redesign, and a much more functional blog. What do you think? Click around, comment, and enter your email address, so you always get updated when a new post is ready. Besides having other things going on, I've truthfully not wanted to spend a lot of time here because it was ugly, but now it's pretty and inspiring! My head is full of post ideas and new directions for LADDventure, so be expecting lots more in this personal space in the near future.
Speaking of the future, I have some thoughts on 2014. I don't typically stick to resolutions very well, so I've decided to start picking one word instead - a theme really for the year. Resolutions are easily broken, but one word can be a guidepost. I use it as a benchmark and a reminder of how I want to live out the year. So my word for this year...
I have done lots of thinking about what I want 2014 to look like, and I feel like I have a lot of big things coming up. With big things comes the tendency to get overwhelmed and discouraged by the enormity of it all. But, I've found I'm most proud of myself in handling big things when I'm just focusing on the very next thing; taking things one step at a time and doing the next thing that's in front of me.
I want to focus on doing the next small task toward the book and any other creative projects. I want to make the next right food or activity choice instead of falling on and off the weight loss wagon. I want to do the next right thing in terms of being a better wife, friend, sister.
Most of all this year, I want to take the next steps toward starting a family one step at a time because, we have some news...
We have officially started the process to adopt (hopefully two siblings) from the foster care system, and are both nervous and thrilled. It feels good to have decided on a definite direction, and while we are super excited, we know there will be many questions and challenges along the way. So, my personal goal is to take one step at a time, and not be overwhelmed by the process. I want to just focus on the very next step in front of us, as it comes, to bring our future kids home. Tomorrow I'll be sharing some more details about where we are in the process, how we told our families, and what's next!
2014 is going to be a huge year!
