Well today is a special day!

First. The date is 1-11-11. Which I think is kind of cool. It's the last time the date will ever appear so identical. 12-12-12 is cool too but not completely uniform.

Second. It's the one year anniversary of my Blog!!! Hooray!

That's right, I've been blogging an entire year. 215 times. My life has been changed. Your lives have been changed. They're making a major motion picture based on my blog. I've gotten endorsement deal after endorsement deal. I've just released a cook book. And now, thanks to all of this I'm finally the multi-millionaire I've always dreamed of being.

Wait a second.....

Ok, so maybe that story is a little.... borrowed.

But it has been a great year, despite my multi-milionaire-status still pending.

And I think its funny that today I get the chance to blog because starting tomorrow who knows if I'll get the chance ever again! Haha. Just kidding.

Maybe.

Actually maybe not. Seriously this might be a One and Done scenario..... At least I made it a full year!

I've been so focused on having this baby and meeting our little man that I haven't taken much time to contemplate the consequences of having another child!

What am I going to do? Holy Cow.

No, this calls for a Holy Crap.

Someone yesterday offered to bring us a meal after we got home with the baby. And that's kind of when it hit me. I was like, um, yes we will take that meal because it will be one night out of the week when I'm not feeding my family cereal for dinner or when I'm not feeding them at all! Oh Lord, please help us!

But despite all of the facts pointing to not being able to function, a house in disrepair and me losing my sanity completely, all-together and once and for all just seconds after this little one is born, I just can't wait to be not pregnant anymore.... Ahem, I mean finally meet this little boy(Who is, when all is said and done, fingers-crossed, a boy!), hopefully come up with a name, put him in a car-seat that has yet to be purchased and introduce him to our soon to be not so little family!

But since this is a special Blog. A One-Year Anniversary Blog, I am going to do my best to refrain from talking only baby or pregnancy misery.

And instead talk about something so completely unrelated and unheard of on this blog that I just might shock you.....

Myself.

Haha.

But, seriously. This whole daily writing adventure started out as a way to bring random and chaotic thoughts into a controlled and concentrated single train of contemplative discourse. With mostly myself..... But still a way for my mind to find it's adult self, outside of children and toddler talk and changing diapers and the scattered-half-sanity I usually am working with!

So whether or not I've accomplished that is an entirely different blog all together, and I imagine, up for some debate....

And lets be honest, more often than not, sanity, concentrated and not-chaotic were seriously lacking from anything being posted on this website.

Still, for me, www.onedaysomedayeveryday.com has seriously served its purpose as an outlet for just me, a way to express myself and my opinions in an arena that would normally never be shared with anyone other than possibly my children, not that they care, or probably will ever care....

But more than my opinions, my thoughts. Thoughts that get so lost and confused in day to day activities that sometimes I think they will cease to exist all together.

So, looking back over the year. The Year in Blogs. I want to reflect exactly what I've been thinking, or rather what I've learned about myself, or lessons I've learned in general. After all that was the entire point of the exercise.

And in general fashion: A Top Ten List.

1. No matter how hard I try, no matter how hard my taste buds change, I still hate Mushrooms. In the last year, I've attempted all kinds of horizon expanding dishes, from Scallops for the first time, Rabbit and London Broil, to spicy food I never thought I would be able to keep down, from a solid glass of chocolate milk(I hate milk.) to lately orange juice and pickles. But I hate Mushrooms. I hate the smell of them, the texture of them, the look of them, frankly every single thing about them! And I am not sure if that is ever going to change no matter how much self reflection I do or blogging I accomplish.

2. I need to be successful at something. I cannot stay a housewife forever. Raising children is of course its own version of success but I don't think that's ever a tangible pat on the back, and pretty objective when truly discussed or observed. I need to fulfill all of these different ideas and drives I find myself with. I learned this by not getting the perfect job a few weeks ago. The White Unicorn of All Stay At Home Mom Jobs is still the White Unicorn because I didn't get it. But it combined my passion, my ability to stay at home with my children and the flexibility I need to be creative and successful. But like I said, I didn't get it. So here I am, still jobless, but in the end I learned that at some point I'm going to have to pursue something. A career. A mild success. More meaningless degrees that moms never use. Something. And its not going to be anytime soon. It might not be until we've sent all of our kidlets to school. But it will have to happen sometime. I will have to succeed at something.

3. Out of all of the things I love. And that drive me. Such as Missions, Relief Work, Cooking, Music, People. Whatever. Writing tops them all. It's what I love the most. What I want to do the most. And probably the most difficult of them all. Other than being a mother. Being a mother is always number one. Always what I choose first. And always the most important. But writing is next. However, this is one of those where it doesn't have to be that formerly mentioned success. Although it would be awesome. It doesn't have to be. I just need to do it. Express myself. Buy a diary. Buy a roll of papyrus. Blog... Do something with writing or I lose myself and get lost in all of those meaningless and muddled thoughts.

4. I'm older than I once was. This shouldn't be an epiphany. But it is. I'm not the same person I was a year ago, or two years ago, or six months ago. Family, and life have changed me into a better version of myself, a more mature, more responsible more together person. Sure, I've got a long way to go. A long. Long. Long way to go. And being put together might not be visible to the outsiders. But I am on my way at least. And I think that says something.

5. Some of my most core beliefs were decided this year. I don't want to go over them because I think a lot of them are super controversial. But as I watched the world around me, meditating on what I believe the Bible says and what is morally right, I put together in coherent thoughts exactly how I feel and believe about a lot of the major issues affecting this world. And in the end I'm still a fundamental Christian and conservative Republican. Which I know is nothing new. And I kind of make that declaration a lot. But it says a lot about a girl who five years ago was a liberal Democrat and completely uninformed hippy. That's right. Just ask Zach how I felt about Illegal Immigration and the Governments Role in Every Day Lives when we first got married. I even believed in Man-Made Global Warming. Gasp, I know. But it just shows you people that there's hope for you too!

:)

6. I care about what my family eats. And what our diet and lifestyle is like. Before this year my focus was maybe dieting and losing weight, but this year, yes, thank you to SaladMaster, my awareness of what we're eating and why we're eating it has become my primary focus. Diet food as it turns out is some of the worst food you can eat(Think Slimfast and Lean Cuisine Microwave Meals.). Healthy Eating encompasses more of an entire lifestyle approach where Organic Vegetables and Grass Fed Beef take on a bigger role than cutting calories and eating less. If anything this pregnancy has taught me, by eating naturally and not out of a box I can lose weight or at least not gain weight better than I ever could eating low cal processed food or microwaving my way to my death.

7. I hate laundry. I always have. I always will. It will be the demise of my house-wife trophy status. Ha.

8. I was born to have children. I am really good at it. I am not saying that I'm really good at raising them after they are born, but ladies this body was not made for modeling swim suits. Ok? We are talking child-bearing hips and plenty of room for these babies to grow. Yes, I complain about it. Because I can. Because I have a platform consumed with only my thoughts, aka this blog. But the reality of it is, pregnancy comes naturally and easy for me. And hopefully I can say by the end of tomorrow that three deliveries were just as easy. So who knows, why stop at three? If we're doing this we might as well go all out and have a reality show. That's the real American dream these days anyways!

9. I want a sister. I've never wanted one before. Growing up I never saw the need. I had three brothers who challenged me, fought with me, fought me, literally, and made me tough. They also taught me a lot about life I would never have learned through my own experiences (Like what not to do.). I love my brothers. I do. But after seeing my girls be best friends and watching other sisters around me, I can now feel the void missing. I have two amazing sisters-in-law though, so hopefully the older they get and the better we become friends, the more they can fill that void for me! Haha.

10. Finally I love my husband. I love him more than the day I met him(Which is a good thing, since that was in second grade.....). But seriously, he is more amazing to me today than I ever dreamed possible. It's hard to believe there was a time in my life where I didn't want any of this: Husband, or kids, or a house in the country, or even just a stable and cemented life. But now this life I was so willing to walk away from before I had it, defines who I am as a person: Wife, Mother, Nebraskan. And as I grow in each of these areas I just can't help but be thankful for every opportunity I have to grow, even if growing usually means going through the hard stuff first. I am truly blessed in every single way. And yes we have a lot of "needs," but really we have way more things that we don't need than things we actually do. We are well taken care of and happy. More than happy. And I cannot even wait to introduce our newest little bundle of joy to this beautiful life we have and make him an equally blessed participant.

So that's it. That's what I've learned through blogging this year. Through experiencing life this year.

And no matter how crazy life gets after tomorrow I really hope I can keep this up. Because if I can learn all of that in a year, just think what the next year holds for me? I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine life after tonight..... But I'm excited to find out.

And I'm excited to meet Little-Mister-Hope-You-Have-A-Name-By-Tomorrow....