Ah, it’s here. A new year. A new start. A clean slate. Seriously, January 1 is my absolute favorite time of year. I’ve always loved a “new” anything. A new shirt free of stains and snags. A new book and the way it smells. A new car (even though I bought mine 2 years old, it still smelled new. I’m pretty sure that’s why I bought it.) New. Clean. Fresh. There’s something about it that cannot be replaced.

As a kid, I loved the smell of new pencils at the beginning of a new school year. I loved how clean my backpack was and how fresh my new clothes felt. Am I alone here?  It was a big deal to me as child, and I look forward to it every year. I’ve always craved order, cleanliness, and organization. It helps me to breath a little deeper and focus on what’s really important. As an adult, January 1 is like the first day of school. I always clean and declutter the house before the new year. My floors are swept and mopped. My closet its cleaned out and organized, and you can bet I have all my Christmas decor taken down and every ounce of glitter vacuumed out of my home

As you can expect, I set some big huge lofty goals in 2018. But I also set a couple simple ones to do every single day. Small things. Tiny things you could even call them. And you know what, they made the biggest difference! I’m not just saying that. Keep reading. Today I’m sharing 3 things I did for myself and my family that I will definitely continue in 2019 and forever more.

1. I made my bed everyday.  Honestly, this goal was set for one reason and one reason only: I hated having to make my bed in a rush just before company came over. Or worse, they caught me by surprise and I had to shut my bedroom door. I am a grown adult. I know that I need to have a made bed every day. So, I wrote it in my PowerSheets to do everyday. Game changer. I am not qualified to tell you why physiologically a made bed helps you to accomplish other tasks throughout the day, but it does. There’s a book on this that I haven’t read called Make Your Bed. It’s on my list to read because I know first hand there is something to this! Making my bed completely changed my morning routine for the better. Maybe it’s because clutter sticks out like a sore thumb when the bed is nice and orderly. I make my bed, pick up any clothes that need to be washed, put my son’s PawPatrol toys that made their way in our room away. Just like that, 5 minutes turned into a completely cleaned room. Then I go to Worth’s room and do the same thing. His take a little bit longer depending on how much fun he had while I was drinking my coffee. I make his bed first (finding all kinds of small characters in the sheets) and then pick up all the things out of place in his room and put them back in their “home” as we call it. Then I pick up the living room, make sure there’s nothing on the floor in the bathrooms, and clean off kitchen counter. Just like that, our whole home is cleaned. I do this every single day before leaving the house. Yes, I did it today. I’ll it tomorrow. It probably take me 15 minutes total and it gives me and my family a clean slate to come home to everyday after work.  No matter how bad the day went, it gave me such comfort to know I had a clean home and a made bed to climb into at the end of the day. It was stress relieving. Y’all, all this started because I made my bed. Just do it. Make your bed every day. And PLEASE report back and tell me how it has helped you.
2. I read my Bible every day with the goal of having it entirely read in a year’s time. And, y’all, I did it. Little by little over 365 days I read the whole entire Good Book. There is a lot you can read out there. Fiction. Non-fiction. Romance. Harry Potter (a personal fav.) I found filling my mind with truth every single day was necessary. It was refreshing and gave me a sense of peace only the Bible can do. If you are skeptical at all, I encourage you to try. I can’t tell you how many times I read something that I needed to hear in that very moment. Now, was I always successful in doing it everyday? No. I had to catch up… a lot. But that’s ok, I just made sure that when I got behind that I made time to catch up. Once, I had to catch up for 3 week. So, I read 3 days worth of reading everyday. I don’t advise getting that far behind. I am actually going to read the bible again this year and try to not get behind. I probably takes me 7 minutes to read a day. That’s nothing. But if you let it stack up you are looking at a good 30 minutes a day and that’s a little harder for me to find in this season of life. I have the She Reads Truth Bible… and y’all, it’s so pretty! That matters to me. I also used the She Reads Truth app that told me exactly what to read every day. I told myself that when I read my bible completely that I’d go have my name put on it. Today is that day and I’m so excited.
3. I vowed to myself that I wouldn’t take my son to the doctor unless I HAD to. I will preface with this, we have been very blessed with a son who is very healthy. I know compared to many, our visit are small beans. But because Worth is so healthy, I knew that I must be doing something wrong (or just not right) as a parent. You see, I had to take him to the doctor almost once a month in 2017. I am not exaggerating. For a child who has not one medical condition, that’s not normal. The months we didn’t go, I would celebrate! He had ear infections, sinus infections, horrible seasonal allergies. The latter caused the previous two. It was exhausting for me. He wasn’t sleeping well meaning I wasn’t sleeping at all. Of course, they would give him an antibiotic most times and that made matters worse before they got better. And I strongly believe that antibiotics are a miracle… but should only be used when absolutely necessary. Well, it seemed absolutely necessary every time I took him. I hated it. Sleepless nights. Pinning my then 2 year-old down with my body forcing to give him medicine that tasted like bubble gum flavor tar. Stripping the sheets off a bed that was soiled because you know what antibiotics do to their tummies. (btw: this mattress protector is a must! ) It was a never ending bad dream (I won’t call it a nightmare because I am under no illusion that there isn’t way worse out there.)
   It was apparent that the root cause of all his infection were his seasonal allergies that made his poor nose run endlessly. So, here is what I did:
   •  Warning: only read is you can handle talk about snot. I did everything to keep his runny nose a “runny nose” and not a congested one. When giving him a bath, I let him say in there a little longer than I usually do. Nothing like a nice warm bath to loosen all that mess up. After I got him out and put his PJs on, I would then run the shower has hot as I could filling the bathroom with steam. I would hold him and rock him in that humid room. Worth is really, really good at blowing his nose. So, I would bribe him to keep blowing until nothing else would come out. I also used the nasal bulb and then rub Vicks on his chest before laying him down with a Vicks Humidifier (My best friend told me to get this particular humidifier because it makes stars on the ceiling that her daughter loves. She was right! Worth loves it too. Anything to make them happy when they aren’t feeling well helps. )This all may  sound extreme… but I did it many times in 2018, and I didn’t have to take him to the doctor once. Not once. He had a mild stomach bug that I was able to manage at home but never did he get a sinus or ear infection. I am so thankful for a healthy year. While we will have to go to the doctor this year to get vaccines, I pray to have another healthy year.

So, there you have it. I made my bed, read my Bible, and cultivated health for my son in 2018. In 2019, I plan to start flossing twice a day, reading a book a month, a cooking at least 3 meals a week for my family.

2018 was really good, and y’all, 2019 is going to be even better. Here’s to a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2019 to you, my friend. Happy new year!