Happy New Year!

It's almost impossible for me to put into words what 2010 has been like for me. But if that was true then this post would end here...and ya'll know how much I love to write (LOL, ROFL, LMBO ...Lisa that's for you.)

There's a song with the lyrics "the more things change, the more things stay the same."

That's what 2010 was like for me.

I started out the year loving a baby so much it hurt. Now, I have a toddler who's talking (in English, Dora Spanish and Kai-Lan Chinese...I keep telling her she's talking the wrong kinda Asian but she doesn't listen...), running, laughing, getting ready to start "school" aka Mother's Day Out, but now I love her more...but it still hurts. It hurts my heart watching her grow. It's pangs of joy that make my chest feel a bit heavy as I hold back tears of joy as I watch her reach a new milestone. It's that bittersweetness of motherhood as I watch time pass much too quickly in the life of the daughter who teaches me everyday that love is a gift.

I started out the year with the fear of a starting a business that I always dreamed in my mind and hoped for. Now I have a business, in Zen Baking Company (a bakery based in Dallas, TX that specializes in gourmet cake balls - we'll have you sayin' "Cupcake, who?" - hey...anytime I can market my biz...I do eet). I'm still scared. I try to pray it all away - the fear that is. I praise God for the way He's blessed Zen. With the opportunities He's given us to be featured on The Cooking Channel, putting is in Central Market, online sales, the prospect of a new retail space. And with the New Year, the ideas He's placed in my servant's head of getting clients who seem unreachable, ideas of service to use His blessings to touch the lives of others who need it - ideas that seem impossible - but yet I'm reminded "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26.

I started out the year being thankful for family. Now, that gratitude of being surrounded by family is so deep it seems like an abyss. 2010 was a challenging and heartbreaking year as my family battled with the loss of loved ones, the pain of watching loved ones hurt (mentally, physically emotionally), and the ongoing battle of those challenges - mental, physical, emotional - join us as we enter in 2011. But, the gratitude I have to God for healing some, welcoming some to Heaven, and the joy in knowing I have another day with those I love, is one I cannot be more thankful for.

I started out the year with some great relationships. Now, I have friends that are now more like family. I've learned to let go of some and be thankful for the handful of people in my life that are just as thankful for me as I am for them. I am surrounded by friends who God placed in my life not just for a reason, much more than a season, but what I know is a lifetime. And I am so thankful.

I started out the year with a husband I loved more than I could ever imagine. I enter into the New Year realizing he's not the man I prayed for, but the man God prayed for me. 2010 has shown me what being in a marriage really means. Craig has led our family in ways I didn't know were possible. Even after 15 years of knowing him, I could not have prayed for what I see in him now. He's been the rock for our family. If he ever showed doubt in me and my ability as a business woman/mother/wife - he hid it well! His faith in God's plan for our lives - his, mine and Iz's - has been solid. He transitioned into our new life as a family of two working parents by picking up slack at home by being the mother and father to Iz when I'm not home. He's taken on the extra responsibility because he believes in me and believes I can move mountains with my business - all the while - supporting our family in his job and starting a master's program in business. I am so undeserving of this gift from God.

So 2010..."the more things change, the more things stay the same"...as we enter 2011...

Still a mother, still a business woman, still a daughter/sister/aunt, still a friend, still a wife.

But I'm changing...as the year begins. New opportunities, new milestones...

I am excited for 2011.

Bring it.