Last year around this time I began the task of creating my list of New Year's Resolutions. I wanted them to be more meaningful and attainable than in year's past. I was greatly inspired by a friend of my brother in law who blesses me daily with her transparency on Facebook and Instagram regarding life raising children. She had created a list of goals that I used as a template for my own and as I looked back over it today I was proud of myself for the places I saw improvement and also I was spurred on to journey further with these goals, tweaking them a bit for 2018.
In the spirit of transparency that was so encouraging to me I am bravely posting these goals not as a way to brag by any means as they are truly only goals, but hopefully so that they can also encourage others.
I have another dear friend who said today that for her New Year's Resolutions she has chosen each year to focus on one word and I love that idea. Maybe I will begin to pray and try to refine my list into one word, and you know as I type that last sentence it came to me; The Lord seems to have a word He wants me to hear and focus on even now, FORWARD.
So here it is, my crazy brain trying to narrow down and at the same time define out a list of focus areas for 2018 where I can improve.
Journal Entry for Jan.1, 2018-
"The transitions of 2017 for our family were not easy and there were some very dark moments as the shadows of doubt fell away from our eyes and we slowly made our way into the light of grace and new day. I steal those last lines in part from a popular Christian song I am listening to as I write because they resonate so clearly as this last one has been a season of telling our hearts to beat again, to trust again in God's faithfulness and to bring us to a place where He has been, I believe, leading us all along. We are happy here in C6 with our boys and we pray for continued happiness in the new year, for growth both for the boys and for us as a family.
I am proud to check off more yeses and successes (even if some were just baby steps forward) than not on my list from last year.
I am realizing that New Year's Resolutions are more about forward progress than checking off a box of something completed.
God did great and mighty things in the life of our family in 2017. He gave us rest and renewal, stretched us, blessed us, caught us and held us when we found ourselves falling, He transformed us, healed us, moved us on, spurring us forward into a December that has been nothing short of a new beginning, reminding us that our journey truly began with a cry that pierced the night all those years ago in Bethlehem.
Lord, open our hearts to the wonder of the next steps you want to create within us in 2018."
2018 Goals
~Focus Areas~
1. Faith
2. Family/Cottage Life
3. Relationships
4. Health
5. Creativity/Passions
6. Education/Edification
7.Organization
8. Travel
9. Finances
10. Joy/ Gratitude
11. Homeschooling/Campbell
Faith:
Lord, Help me to be LOVE above all else, to exhibit Christ and His attributes.
1. Find and join a new church with C6
2. Make Daily Devotion and Prayer time a habit--truly!!
3. Memorize scripture
4. Embody Christ, unconditional love, joy and
gratitude to my husband, family and friends and
find more tangible ways to make this meaningful
5. Be more intentional in my community, find and
carry out campus wide and cottage service projects
(like Days for Girls), family service projects and personal mission activities
6. Bring marriage and family counseling options
to BGC families and couples and continue for Cliff and I
7 Take better sermon notes and study later as part of daily devotion
8. Find ways to grow the C 6 boys and Bug's faith
Family/Cottage Life:
Lord, Help me to be You for my family and the cottage where I serve.
1. Plan and carry out monthly date nights with Cliff
and try to plan at least 30 minutes of quality not just quantity time together daily.
2. Practice Strength and Hope for my family
3. Set Specific goals for each child including Bug
4. Set specific academic goals for the cottage and
come up with creative ways to facilitate
5. Make room for Mommy and Bug time that is
non-school related at least once a week
6. Send B-Day cards (Snail mail) to family and friends
7. Find ways to grow each new relationship in the
cottage and on campus and find ways to cling more meaningfully to old ones
Relationships:
Lord, Help me to not take for granted the gift of
relationships but to make them meaningful both for myself and those around me.
1. Prioritize people over "accomplishing things".
2. Make more meaningful interactions happen
3. Continue to grow and prioritize Bug's friendships
4. Be more proactive in making/sustaining couple friends
5. Be more proactive in making/sustaining personal friends
6. Make "me time" a priority
7. Begin a more focused and intentional prayer time with Cliff
8. Look into growing our family through adoption
Health:
Lord, Help me to truly think of my body as a Temple and to treat it as such.
1. Wash and moisturize face daily
2. Cut sugars, carbs, carbonation, caffeine, and red meat significantly
3. Use more essential oils in daily living and learn more about them
4. Take multi-vitamins/herbs
5. Get piercing for migraines
6. Make home feel light, clean and organized
7. Make and use more DIY organic products such
as shampoo. conditioner and deoderent
8. Walk and exercise daily
9. Seek medical advice on how to heal my tummy and foot
10. Dress for the day more regularly in order to promote
self confidence and teach dressing well to kids
11. Find and prioritize long term sustainable health physically and mentally.
Creativity/Passions:
Lord, help to use the gift of creativity that you have
blessed me with for the betterment of your kingdom
and the renewing of my mind and soul.
1. Be more intentional in surrounding myself in things
that I am passionate about and find more creative outlets
2. Continue to keep up with blog and FB pages as a way
to channel creative energy and document our lives
3. Pray about some writing submissions
4. Take some creative classes just for fun like sewing, knitting or cake decorating
5. Find a way to get back into beekeeping and be more involved in gardening.
Education/Edification
Lord, help me to be a life long learner and model this for my children.
Help me also to begin to use what I learn to glorify you.
1. Read daily at least 15 minutes of something not online.
2. Find more podcasts and blogs I enjoy and utilize
3. Study some of the saints
4. Read at least three memoirs, three non-fiction
and three fiction books this year.
5. Journal more on what I have read
6. Learn more about sustainable living
7. Continue to utilize the library
Organization:
Lord, Help me to make my spaces more intentional
and in tune with healthy living.
1. Improve time management both personally and in C6
2. Back up computer and phone pics and organize
3. Streamline and stick to daily chores for the cottage and for personal quarters;
"keep house" better!
4. Systematically organize and decorate better each room
in the cottage and the back quarters including pantries,
closets etc.. and create a "room verse" for each
5. Keep office organized
6. Organize and keep good homeschooling records and files
Travel:
Lord, Help us to not take for granted the beauty of the world
around us but instead to find the time to explore it .
Help us also to prioritize travel to see loved ones.
1. Go somewhere new as a family each month
2. Plan well for Cottage Vacation
3. Make frequent trips to Marshall and Orange or plan "Meet-ups"
4. Make Harris family "Meet-ups" a must
5. Get Cliff's dad to come stay in Houston with us for a few weeks
6. Organize and carry out one family camping trip
Finances:
Lord, Help us to be better stewards of our money.
1. Live more simply
2. Do better on tithing
3. Continue to pay down debt and grow credit
4. Be more intentional about saving
5. Be more intentional about spending on "good things"
Joy/Gratitude:
Lord, Help me to cultivate a spirit of joy and
gratitude no matter the circumstance.
1. Be more outwardly vulnerable in telling others how
much they mean --find more tangible ways to do this
2. Surround myself with words, music and people who
bring me joy and find ways to let go of those who do not.
3. Keep a gratitude journal.
4. Find other ways to create more concrete representations
of the joy/gratitude that I have
Homeschooling/Bug:
Lord, Help me to do right by my son in his schooling
and in his overall upbringing so that He may grow in wisdom and love for you.
1. Research and carry out therapies both at home and at a
center in this year for Campbell in the areas of ABA, Occupational, and Speech.
2. Make home school happen daily in a way
that is meaningful despite the hectic schedule that we have
3. Expand curriculum to include more Science and Social Studies
4. Find ways to incorporate Christ more into school.
5. Research and create a list of goals for him academically,
and with his autism for 6 mos and a year from now.
7. Find ways to create moments for Daddy/ Campbell time
That's it!
Haha!
If I can keep up with all of that it will be a miracle but I plan on using this blog and this more public platform as a means of motivation.
I pray that these goals inspire your own and that together we can move FORWARD into 2018!
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