A new year...Here's to Amy Dacyzyn and Nehemiah

Ahh, a new year off and running. It's been a busy one so far for our family, but beyond blessed. It goes without saying that I didn't reach my goal of blogging every day for a year, but that's not a bad thing. I had nearly 300 posts and have met many new frugal friends along the way, and I'm certainly not finished. In fact, I'm going to be revamping my blog/website and will continue to write about frugal living and my ongoing quest to apply God to every area of life. Today I was reading in the book of Nehemiah. I've always loved that man and look forward to meeting him someday. It took courage and unwavering commitment to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and he had a myriad of enemies, but he persevered. At one point, after the walls are rebuilt and about 50,000 Jews are back inside the gates, he calls for Ezra to read the law (the Bible, as they knew it then). It says the people gathered and listened to the law for a quarter of the day and spent another quarter of the day in confession and in worshipping God. Must admit, I haven't done that for awhile. My life is crazy at times, but I understand the need to keep Christ preeminent in everything, even when I fail miserably. With Nehemiah I pray simply, "Now strengthen my hands."

What does that look like today? Well, here's a picture of my "study/craft room/the-room-that-everything-gets-dumped-in;" I'm ashamed to even post this considering it was very neat and organized 6 months ago. Admittedly, the rest of the downstairs stays relatively clean because of this room, but I can do better, and I will. I must begin to get all the tax info written down and I still need to send my Christmas cards. So you see, I don't have it all together!

In the mean time, I am more inspired than ever to pay off the mortgage early (as is, we have 8 years and 9 months left on our 10 year refi) and give as much as I can. I often go back to my favorite guru of frugality, Amy Dacyzyn, when I want inspiration for all things tightwad. I just found this 5 minute 2010 interview, so worth your time. LOVE her home...check it out: http://www.savvyhousekeeping.com/interview-with-amy-dacyczyn/ .

Here's to a new year!