This might surprise some people, but I am not exactly an optimist. I tend to get anxious over things to come, to over-think all the pitfalls or ways things could go haywire. When I do that, I forget to acknowledge God and His Promises. There are a couple of big things coming up in 2014, some I am sure of and some that may not happen. I am choosing to focus on the word PROMISE for various reasons - to remember God's Promises, to remind myself of hope and faith, to honor the promises I have made to others and myself and basically to flip my thinking. I have been so blessed by God - He has kept and continues to keep many of His promises. In my head over the past couple of days, I had much more to say about this one but I'm realizing that I'm not in a place to share it all. But please trust me when I say that this word is needed. This word is one I'm clinging to this year.
In regard to the action word, I chose GIVE. Part of me was thinking of people I know who are so very giving of their time, money, talent and themselves! Many times I wish I was like them. Then there are times I feel like I already do a lot of giving and it's exhausting! Sometimes I think of my Lord and Savior on the cross and all that He has given to me and I can barely fathom it. Many people will say things like "I don't know how you do it!" or "I could never do what you do!" when they find out we foster and have adopted. (My response to their comments is a whole 'nother blog post, but that's not the point right now.) There are few people who's opinions and feelings on the matter that count when it comes to decisions about whether or not we are going to continue or try again. When it comes to the kids, obviously there are times when they get jealous or feel left out. (Side note - go read the book 'How Are You Peeling'! Everyone of our kids - bio, foster, adopted, babysitting, friends' kids, etc has LOVED this book!) We talk to our kids about their feelings a lot. It's ok to have feelings, it's ok to express them, it's NOT ok to be disrespectful and out of control when expressing them, etc...We always say that we love b/c He first loved us. We receive so much love, grace, mercy, compassion, etc that tons of extra comes pouring out of our hearts and there's plenty of it to go around. The fact that the kids tell other people that in their own words is...special. Now, when I say GIVE here, I don't just mean money. Like I said before, for me, I'm going to focus this year on how I can give support, encouragement, physical stuff, money, my time - all of it. Not to the point of being empty, mind you, I still need to take care of myself. But truly I/we have been so blessed and it's time we actively bless others. Another reason I chose this word is for the last definition. As I said earlier, I am not the most 'chill' person out there. My brain cooks up these ideas of what the future could look like and then when reality doesn't match, I feel overwhelmed and stressed and I just hang on to those thoughts of what could have been...so this last definition was for me. GIVE - as in be flexible. Life for me so far has thrown a lot of curve balls, some I handled better than others. Admittedly I am still 'handling' or processing some of those curveballs b/c I didn't want to deal w/them at the time. But I can see that now and I can see that I didn't 'GIVE', I wasn't willing to be shaped or molded by those events. So I have learned something, even at my age, about how to go forward. Whether I wanted to or not, many curveballs have already changed who I am and what I do when thrown the ball.
Like I said, I have chosen some words to focus on but also written out some goals. Not much has changed from last year - w/4 kids in the house at the beginning of the year, it was a struggle to move forward on some things. Then when they left, it was a different kind of struggle. Some of you know what I'm talking about! It's ok if you don't, in fact, I pray you don't ever have to struggle like that. Even though many or my goals remain the same, I'm still writing them as goals for this year.
2014 goals
Spiritual
-I will be joining Inspired To Action's Maximizing Your Mornings Challenge once again! (REPEAT)
-I'm hoping to do more scripture memorizing w/the whole family. Out of all the verses I had memorized w/Moses, a little over half have 'stuck' in my gray matter. I can do better. (REPEAT)
-I am serving as a part of the women's ministry at church. I hope to be a part of a small group soon!
-(NEW) I've been reading a lot more about accountability partners or mentors or just having a person in your life to talk to about spiritual matters...it's been a long time since I've consistently had someone like this in my life and I would like to change that. Not sure where to start, but just by writing it down here and praying about, I believe God will give me wisdom and maybe bring a woman like this into my life.
-(NEW) As faithfully as possible, be involved in a small group. I started going to one on Tuesday mornings and I am amazed at the ladies assembled there. I really appreciate the diversity and the women who come together to pray.
-(NEW) As faithfully as possible, be involved in a small group. I started going to one on Tuesday mornings and I am amazed at the ladies assembled there. I really appreciate the diversity and the women who come together to pray.
Personal
(REPEAT ALL OF THESE!! - we did pretty well at the last one, but there's always room for improvement!)
-Step it up in the homemaking department. (Said the woman sitting on her couch w/2 torn out pages of a magazine, a binder, a highlighter, the remote, a banana peel, some laundry and a pile of kleenexes!) This one is super broad so I need to break it down into smaller pieces...
-Make more hot breakfasts.
-Get better at meal planning and prepping things ahead. (2013 was better...barely...)
-Buy less cans, packaged foods and aim for more things from scratch.
-Sew - do you think I can do 6 projects in 2014?
-Declutter in general.
-Declutter/minimize clothing stash. (This is still so hard for me!!)
-READ. Again. I miss reading books! (Doing better b/c I've found some 'old friends' to re-read and actually found some time to read them.)
-Get involved w/the Intergenerational Center.
-Make it more of a habit to have Sundays be outdoors - hiking, playing kickball, going for bike rides...just keeping at least one day a week for family oriented stuff. Not family oriented in the way that it's just us, but I mean that we're doing things as a family, maybe w/other families, outside.
There are others from last year's list that I just don't feel are as big of a deal for me this year...
Physical
(REPEAT ALL)
-DRINK WATER!!!
-Get sleep - 7-8 hrs each night. I know everything else in life goes sooooo much better when I do!
-Run a 5K in less than 30 minutes.
-Thin the thighs. Ugh. I've recently seen my weight go up by give or take 10 lbs. No one else probably can tell, but I can. Those 10 lbs are in all the wrong places and quite honestly cause physical discomfort at times. Just being real people. I'm not even going to get into the psycological/emotional disgust for those 10 lbs. So - the goal is to kick them and a few other to the curb!!
Family/Household
(REPEAT ALL)
-Adoption. Step one already done! At this point our license has been switched from the county to the state and our 'study' has been tossed in to the pool of those waiting for a match.
-Memorize Bible verses together.
-Out West trip.
-As always, we're are moving in the direction of less waste, less plastic, less consumption of unnecessary goods, real foods, less chemicals, more garden boxes, more chickens, etc...just keep moving in that direction.
-Move? out of the city. This is a long shot again this year, but it's still a goal and we can be taking steps toward it every now and then.
-(NEW) Better record keeping. I am so not organized but I do have a few binders and such...getting better every day at finding systems that work for me.
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