Time to plan

Now that the new year is upon us, it's time to tackle the year's to do list - that's how I like to think of New Year's Resolutions - and as usual, I like to begin with taking a look at how last year went. 

Physical

Run the Disney half marathon and PR at the Gate RR.  I did complete the Disney half but I was way off my goal of 2:17. We ended up being in the very last corral so we had to pass everyone! However, I ran the Jacksonville Bank Half Marathon last weekend and did it in 2:17 so I guess my goal to run a half in 2:17 was achieved. I did not PR at the Gate RR. After weeks of getting up early to do speedwork at the track I was more than disappointed that my time had not significantly dropped and consequently I dropped out of doing speedwork at the track. If I'm going to be slow, so be it. 

Run a 5K in sub 30 mins. Since I had been trying to get faster, I wanted to see what I could do in a short race. Completely forgot/missed this. I didn't run a 5K race but I did run 3.1 miles in under 30 mins. I guess I'll need to make it official though.
Strength train. I have kept it up at the Y but I never did try either Ballet Beautiful or T-Tapp. I just prefer going to the Y. I tried a Body Pump class this summer, but going into the fall the time (mid-morning) was inconvenient for me with homeschooling. So it's back to early mornings on Tues and Thurs.

Get to 25% body fat. Since finding Trim, Healthy Mama I reached a weight I hadn't seen in more than two decades. However, travel in the spring and even more so, the summer, derailed my hard work. Although I am not back to where I was, I am no longer at where I was either. 

Climb Mt. LeConte (again). When I tried to make reservations, the lodge was booked for the year. So I added the date to my calendar for when they open reservations for the following year and made reservations for then. Our climb will be next June. Michael and I climbed this third highest peak in the Smokey Mountains before we had kids. This time we will do it with kids. The cool thing about this hike is that there's a lodge at the top that you spend the night in. This time I know to bring an extra blanket. We made reservations for 10 so we will be bringing a few extras with us!

Spiritual/Ministry
Read through the Jewish NT with commentary.  This didn't happen. At all.

Read 4 Spiritual Books. Although I didn't read the 4 books I had set out to read (okay I read one: Bread and Wine), I did read! I completed 3 Busy Moms' Bible Studies (very good stuff!), reread Philip Keller's Lessons From a Sheepdog (so *SO* good!) and completed then immediately started over again Experiencing God as well as completing several YouVersion devotionals.

Meet with married couples.  We did meet with several couples and also co-taught another marriage retreat in October. This is definitely an area we are passionate about and a ministry we can do together!
Meet with my mentor. We have been consistently meeting. Love our times together!  I am also mentoring someone. I'm telling ya, everyone needs a Paul, a Barnabas and a Timothy!

Lead a Women's Tea. I did do this in the spring and then organized a fall retreat. And now I'm ready for a break.

Mental/Personal
Blog. I did make some improvements in this area. However, I still fell short of two posts per month until the latter part of the year when it picked up due to the Style Me Challenges I joined.
Photography. I did take the class with Annie and I learned a lot. And then I didn't put what I learned into practice. So it's slowly slipping away. Annie is just so much better at it than I am. She has an artistic eye that I lack. I'll have her be my photographer.

St. Augustine in 2014. This came about because we like to go to St. Augustine at Christmas and see the lights. With that in mind we made it a goal to have monthly visits to the oldest city, exploring sites and restaurants. We mostly hit that goal, minus June and maybe July since we were traveling.
Scripture memory with Timothy and Annie. Doing a little better this school year. 

Go to Italy. We did it! Saw lots of places, ate way too much yummy food, visited with family and had a blast.

Although I no longer worked as a Sonlight Advisor, I did work for BookShark, Sonlight's sister company and will continue to do so this year. That came as a bit of a surprise. It was a reminder that the Lord takes care of us, which leads me to the biggest goal of all and that was and continues to be...

Follow God's lead. The Lord places something in my life that I cannot foresee or plan for. I will follow where he leads and drop any of my plans that are not of Him. Last year was my "year of saying Yes to Him." 

And now for my goals for 2015:

Physical

Run a half marathon Since I need something to train for as motivation for running, I signed up for the Zooma Half Marathon in Fernandina. It's in just a few weeks. And since I did complete a half marathon in 2:17, my new goal is to beat that time even if it's only by a minute. I will not run the Gate RR this year due to a homeschooling convention. 

Run a 5K in sub 30 mins. Since I completely forgot about this goal and therefore missed it, I will keep it on my to do list for this year.
Strength train. I will simply keep on keeping on in this area. 

Get back to goal weight. Using the Trim, Healthy Mama lifestyle, I will resume eating right and getting back to the weight I had reached. 

Climb Mt. LeConte (again). Now that the reservations have been made, we will be able to check this one off the list too. I'm looking forward to some nice mountain hikes this summer! It will be interesting to see who the 10 people will end up being!

Spiritual/Ministry
Read 4 Spiritual Books. Continuing with this annual goal, I have pinpointed 4 books to read this year. The first one is to continue rereading Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby but this time I'm reading it with a friend. Since I enjoyed Philip Keller's Lessons From a Sheepdog so much I purchased an anthology of his selected works. And I'll give The Holy Wild and God is Able another try. I will also start Rick Warren's YouVersion devotional again. This will be my third time reading though it. Can you tell I like it?

Marriage ministry.  We aren't exactly sure what this will look like this year (another retreat? something else?) but since this is an area we are passionate about we will pursue doing this ministry together!
Mentoring. I plan to continue meeting with my mentor and being a mentor to a friend. I so love our times together!  I can't stop saying it: everyone needs a Paul, a Barnabas and a Timothy!

Mental/Personal
Blog. I monetized my blog at the end of 2014 and I paired up with some other Style Me Challengers who formed the Style Me Bloggers. We decided to keep blogging together in 2015. I really enjoy doing this with this group of ladies. Plus I really need/value the accountability this group provides. I am attending a blogging lunch in a few days and I hope to learn some good tips and tricks.
St. Augustine in 2015. We had so much fun visiting St. Augustine in 2014 that we will continue exploring this town in 2015. I will try to blog about our visits. 

Focus on the Home. We have started slowly working on the house, beginning with adding on a bedroom, then remodeling the master bath and then the hall bath and finally doing some work in the living room. I haven't blogged much about these changes but I plan to go back and get caught up as well as move forward with some new projects. I am finally getting to the point where I like my house!
Bedder Covers. And saving the best for last, Michael has invented and patented an idea that we will pursue making a reality this year. If you live in Jacksonville, plan on seeing what it is at One Spark this April!