As this year ends and the New Year begins...  I spent most of my morning pondering what 2011 will bring and what kind of goals or expectations I should set for myself and my family.  In past years, I have always made a few resolutions as the NYC Ball dropped at midnight, but by the time the 2nd month arrived in the new year, most of my resolutions were past times. 

So this year, since I have found my new hobby, BLOGGING, I have decided to write my resolutions down, print them off and ask my readers to help keep me accountable... so here goes. 

11 resolutions for the year 2011.

1.  Get Healthy... I know right?  This is the #1 New Years Resolution, but in the words of my dear friend Krissy Wood...

Tis' the season...  The Nagy family had a wonderful Christmas... I think one of the best so far.  Emma Jane, getting to the age of really being able to use her imagination, loved the idea of Santa.  Besides Santa coming to visit and bringing lots of special toys, our holiday was filled with lots of chocolate, casseroles, family time, comical moments with bows on our heads, visits from Santa, a Christmas Miracle and lots of busy travel. 

Besides all of the hustle and bustle of the weekend, the most important thing that happened was the birth of Jesus.  We tried really hard as a family to tell the story of the Coming of Christ and that that was the TRUE meaning of Christmas.  We explained to our girls, that all of the presents were to celebrate Jesus' birthday.  They loved the idea of singing Happy Birthday to him.  Honestly...  This not only played a huge part in teaching the girls a valuable lesson, but it reminded Wade and I how important Christmas is.  It's so easy to get caught up in the "holiday" that you can easily forget what it's about... Our Savior.

Enjoy these captured moments...

So this was so good, I just had to write about this right away... Christmas Eve night

Christmas... full of traditions.  Christmas trees, presents, cookies, parties, Santa Claus, and so on... but the true meaning of Christmas is Jesus and because of HIM...tis the season to GIVE.  Which leads me to what just happened at 10:13pm...

Wade and I were in the living room, Wade putting together a last minute gift for the girls, myself making Emma Jane a T-shirt to wear tomorrow.  (I also need to inform you that we do not have blinds over our windows...so you can see in, but not out.)

All of a sudden, we hear a loud knock at the door.  Wade immediantly looks up, gets up and goes for the front door.  The next thing I know, is Wade is yelling for me to get there and look...

Outside, on our front porch in the middle of pitch black darkness, lies perfectly wrapped Christmas presents!  8 to be exact.  With the front door wide open and our mouths even wider, we ran out on the front porch.  I stood there in astonishment of what had just happened, while Wade played "Rambo" and ran in the woods to track down the mysterious Santa Claus.  He came back without a clue of who did this.  I think I stood on the front porch, tears in my eyes and frozen bare toes for a good 10 minutes before I even lifted the 1st package.

We brought the gifts in, arranged them in front of the fireplace and are sooooooo excited to open them in the morning with the girls!  So whoever you are... I am sure you read this blog, so here you go...

Dear "Santa,"

I hope you had fun being sneaky on our front porch and peaking in our windows, knowing that we were absolutely clueless that you were out there.  Wade is still trying to figure out how he saw "the white hand" knock through the window, but could not manage to figure out how you planned your "get away" so sufficiently.  The surprise that you gave our family will never be forgotten and we are grateful, but most of all...

You have shown us Jesus' love through your giving spirit and your thoughtfulness.  You didn't just make our Christmas brighter because of the presents, you reminded us how lucky, blessed and loved we are and how one day WE WILL PAY IT FORWARD! 

I believe you have started a "Nagy Christmas Tradition"... Wade is planning his incognito names as we speak...

May your Christmas and your New Year be blessed and your kindness be returned to you in every way possible.

In Jesus Name,

I heard, said and even preached at times the often used phrase..."Count your Blessings" more than once in my life, but I have to say that this last week has truly shown me the true meaning behind this commonly used statement. 
I debated on whether to even write about what has been going on the past few weeks, trying to avoid getting "too personal" on a public blog, but after some quality time and good conversation with a dear friend today, I decided to move forward with writing...

The last two weeks have been very interesting.  Let me take that back... the last YEAR has been very interesting.  Just to give you a quick recap of all that has happened...  Wade and I started to get very involved in church and our walk with the Lord, something we had neglected for quite some time.  We were learning so much, taking a Dave Ramsey class to become "debt free," had 1 beautiful daughter and another on the way, plans to build our dream home and move, an income that met all of our needs and then some... life couldn't be better. 

September 2009... Lela, 8 weeks prior to delivery, had a cyst on her brain and was miraculously healed by the good Lord.  Just a few weeks later, Wade lost his job.  He went from a substantial income, to unemployment benefits that wouldn't even pay our bills, 4 weeks away from my due date.  Lela arrived, Wade decided to open up his own Construction Company and forfeit his unemployment... scary, but I supported.  Months have varied throughout his career path... months of wondering how we were going to pay the bills, months of feeling like everything was going to be just fine...  God was and is Faithful, which we knew, but over the last 2 weeks it has become even more clear how faithful He really is. 

Wade has been looking for full-time employment since he was laid off, in addition to doing his construction job.  God has spoken to us that He is moving us and is going to give us a job... where and when are still the missing details!  With this in mind, I guess we have tried our best to avoid "government assistance" for all this time.  Wade and I came to a crossroads... we knew that God was going to provide, but even He may use other means to do so... So we put all our pride aside and marched ourselves down to DSS and sought out the help we so desperately needed.  I didn't know that it was going to be the learning experience of my life...

I walked in feeling "I don't belong here"... not because I am better, but because we HAD it so much better than some of the people that were there.  But here is the thing... 6 hours of waiting to be helped can create some bonding time between you and the other people waiting.  Not once, did anyone judge me for my nice jeans and comfortable tennis shoes, but how often have I judged?  How often have I stood behind the person in the grocery line and complained that they were buying "Digiorno", while I had "Great Value" in my cart all to find out that they were on Food Stamps. I am guilty of this... and ashamed.  My eyes were opened sitting in one small little town in America.  There was so many people that would have loved to be in "our shoes."  So many people without, hungry and hurting, but to make it worse... there are so many people thats' only comfort is found in government sources and they don't rely on the Lord for means of provision, hope and support.  I think this is what hurt the most...  I realized that I have a giving heart, but I need to give beyond the material possessions...  God wants us to have things, but only so that we can give to others and give the glory to Him...  otherwise it is just useless stuff.  Christians must have compassion for the hurting... just as Christ does for us. 

Over the last 2 weeks we have been humbled by the people that we spoke with and met and the experience we had.  We have had some medical scares over the last two weeks with our girls, (which I will post later) but again, we are so blessed!  We gathered our tax information for 2010 and realized that by the "Number" we ended up with, that God has definitely, supernaturally multiplied our income in order to pay our bills... otherwise I can guarantee that some bills would have been unpaid.  We have had some really tough times, but I know that our hardships are another person's dreams...

That is why today I am choosing to COUNT MY MANY BLESSINGS and know that my Lord has got my life in HIS hands... Wade and I have realized that we need to wake up... it's a big world out there and there are a lot of people that we can show God's love to.  It's not just about us...

Our one and only family computer has been out of service for about 3 weeks... NOW it is up and running and we have lots of catching up to do in the world of blogging. First, let me say some things about what I have learned from the last 3 weeks of having to rely on my Blackberry as my only means of the "world wide web..."

Share your Shutterfly Christmas Card on any Blog/ Website and you will recieve a $25 dollar credit off your next Shutterfly purchase... now that's what I call a good deal! I plan to use mine to capture all the family memories of 2010 in a digital photo album... Hope you enjoy the Nagy Christmas Greeting!