The Quiet Part of January

This first half of January has been quite lovely.  We are both home, organizing our lives for the new year.  I have an absolute thing about being organized despite the problem I have with big pockets of chaos.  I've been reorganizing my desk, files and family history shelves.  It is just about done and it feels SO GOOD!  Organizing is fun; maintaining is a bit less so.  When I get caught up in a project I tend to lose all sense of order.  And often I forget the systems that I so carefully set up to keep me from losing things and plans. I am such a frustrating combination of order and chaos.  My overall January plan is this:  first organize this month, then use the rest of the year to produce.

Layne took me Birthday shopping this past week and it was so much fun!  For me anyway.  He is so good to me.  He got me everything I asked for.  That turned out to be three sweaters, a new cover for my phone and a pair of dressy walking shoes.  I felt so indulged!  Tomorrow I will be 73.  I never thought much about being this old when I was young.  Why is it we spend half of our lives being old but somehow never think it will come to this?  I find myself figuring it all out as I go.

Our January days are short and, this winter, they have been full of storms.  Outside is a mix of snow and rain.  It is beautiful either way.  The dark has its charms.  I have filled the house with candles and twinkle lights and, each early morning and evening that we are home, we turn on the fireplace.  It is warm and charming and I love it.  Here's a scene from one of our snowy days.  It was melted by the end of the day.

I've been getting up extra early these mornings and sitting in front of the fire to study the scriptures, think, read and write in my various journals.  It is such fun and so rewarding.  I may never give it up.  I'm so glad to have the light the gospel brings to me.  It warms my heart and expands my mind in the most amazing ways.  I love the opportunities of our older age.  Time is more under my control than ever in my life, it seems.  I like it.