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! 

Disney Half Marathon

One goal completed! Kinda. 

I had set a goal time of 2:17. I missed that by a long shot.

We were supposed to submit a proof of our time by Nov. 1. We thought it was by the end of November. When we realized we had missed the deadline, we also realized that we were going to be placed in the VERY last corral. Behind the walkers. Behind the people who walk a 20 min mile. *sigh*

At the expo

Honestly, I didn't really care. I quickly realized that this was a running EVENT for me and not a running RACE. Michael and his brother, John, ran with me since they had signed up for the Goofy event. The idea was that they would run easy with me on Saturday and then run hard the next day. They weren't counting on all the starting and stopping required by the crowds as well as all the off-road running in order to pass people. So they ended up being quite sore and had trashed legs for the marathon the following day. Oops!

Here we go!

But I digress. Back to the race! Disney just does everything so well. There were Disney characters, cheerleaders, high school bands, huge TV screens blaring music, cast members cheering, volunteers passing out water and Powerade, and spectators ALL along the way. In the half you run through two parks, in the full you run through all four parks plus ESPN zone. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Did I mention that there were 16 corrals? They started with A and went through P. Yes, we were in corral P. We couldn't even see the start line or hear the announcers where we were. We had to walk quite a ways to even get in position. Disney had trash boxes set out along the way for garbage, recycling and clothes. 

Corral P circa 6:00 am

This is what it looked like standing in Corral P for over an hour. Each corral had their very own start complete with fireworks.

Get ready! Set! Go!!!

The race started at 5:30. Since each corral had their own start, we waited more than an hour before we started. Here is ours. See the stage and large screen? And the fireworks?! Donald Duck gave our "Ready? Set! GO!" 

The first of two highlights of my race was seeing Annie on Main Street. I've gotta brag on her a little bit. She figured out on her own how to come find us, by herself! First, she walked to the front of the campground, then she caught a bus to the back of the campground where she caught a boat to the Magic Kingdom. She texted us her location so we could look for her. 

When she got in position it was dark

It turned light while she waited for us for almost an hour!

So happy to see Annie!

It was an overwhelming feeling to hug her mid race in the midst of that sea of people.

She tried to find us at the castle, but I didn't know to look for her (missed that text).

She then caught the monorail to Epcot so she could see us at the finish line. She wormed her way to the front of the line and again texted us her position so we could spot her as we came out of the park.

The second highlight for me was running into Bob and Prudence along the routes these are friends of ours from church who were also running the Goofy. We happened upon the around mile 9 and ran with them for a few miles. Those miles just flew past! It's so fun to run with friends! 

The best part was finishing. I so enjoyed running and finishing with my husband. That was a first for us! 

All done!

And at the very end Timothy met up with us. Felt great to be done! 

The next day the three of us got up early to cheer for the twins during the marathon but we kept missing them at different points (Magic Kingdom, Grand Floridian and Polynesian). We finally met up with them at mile 18 at ESPN zone.

Timothy handing out high fives!

Feeling good!

Silly boys!

All together now!

At the finish line we were able to connect with old friends. (Love those cell phones!) He was our priest from our church in Tampa and I had worked with his wife as a classroom assistant in her 5th grade class. It was so sweet to see them! They had read our Christmas letter and knew we would be in Orlando for the race. Since their son was doing the Dopey Challenge, we were able to connect!

Hanging out with the Stulls

All in all it was a great time at Disney! Although it's hard to be there and NOT go to the parks, we still enjoyed hanging out in my brother's RV at the Ft. Wilderness campground, riding the monorail and the boats around, shopping at Downtown Disney and eating at Trail's End restaurant.

Downtown Disney Princesses

Enjoying the weather on the water

Saturday night dinner

Now I want to run another half marathon so I can hit that goal time! 

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

We have arrived at the end of one year and the beginning of a new year. This is my favorite time to take inventory of where I am and where I am headed. So first, let me review the goals I had set out for last year and then examine the things I'd like to attain in the new year. Quoting from the Dave Ramsey devotional "The late Zig Ziglar used to say, 'If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time.' I've always liked that quote because it's a great reminder about the importance of planning. You can settle for breezing through life with no plan, but you'll end up going nowhere. Anything of substance in life requires some careful thought ahead of time." I do like making plans and lists!

Physical

Run the Donna and the Gate RR. As I said in my mid-year checkin, I completed both. I did not beat my Gate PR but I did beat my marathon PR by about 10 minutes. I am now training for the Disney half which is in two weeks. I'm hoping that the grueling track workouts I've been enduring will pay off in a faster time. I ended up not joining the Galloway group, but my long runs have been the Galloway method. We shall see. My running pal, Kim, agreed to train with me. She is running the Donna in a few weeks. My other running partner, Lisa, runs with me mid week. It's so nice to have partners that help pass the time and hold me accountable!
Strength train. I have been consistent with the YMCA on Tuesdays and Thursdays, thanks to Lisa. We added monthly challenges, beginning with a squat and ab challenge, adding in push-ups and arms. I'm happy that Kim will be joining the Y as well!

Log food and water. I found a book called Trim, Healthy Mama that I began following in May. (It's a low-glycemic way of eating.) The BEST thing about this way of eating is that there's NO TRACKING! I made it to my goal weight and even lost a bit more for a total of 14  lbs. I am now within a healthy weight and BMI. I'm thrilled with the results! 

Spiritual/Ministry
Keep up with YouVersion's Daily Reading Plan. I finished the Rick Warren's YouVersion plan on Christmas Eve! It was a great devotional. I really like him. He's so practical! I wish Andy Stanley had one for 365 days!

Finish reading through the New Testament this year. Completed!
Read 4 Spiritual Books. I finished  Mark Buchanan's Things Unseen and In Plain Sight. I did not read Out of the Saltshaker by Rebecca Manley Pippert or Mark Buchanan's The Holy Wild. I finished Priscilla Shirer's Gideon Bible study which I began during the summer with a group of friends, and completed in the fall with Kim. 

Meet with young married (with children) couples group. This completely fell through, however, we did help out with the marriage retreat in October and have started meeting with one couple and will host a small group in January.
Meet with my mentor. We have been consistently meeting. Love our times together! I'm telling ya, everyone needs a Paul, a Barnabas and a Timothy!

Mental/Personal
Blog. Nope. Really, really failed at the "2 posts per month" goal. So much for being doable. 
Pursue hobbies. Um kinda. I did quite a bit over the summer but then school started and did nothing for a while until Christmas break.
Scripture memory with Timothy and Annie. Yeah, another one I'm slipping on. Gonna get cracking on this one too.

So I didn't nail every single goal, but I did pretty well! I accomplished more than I would have had I not set any! Now for this year's...

Physical

Run the Disney half marathon and PR at the Gate RR.  The Disney half is in two weeks and I'm feeling good. As long as I don't get sick or injured I should be able to hit my goal of 2:17. To think that there are people who can run a FULL marathon in that time...

Run a 5K in sub 30 mins. Since I have been trying to get faster, I want to see what I can do in a short race.
Strength train. Keep it up at the Y and add monthly challenges back in. Might try Ballet Beautiful or another video workout that escapes me.

Get to 25% body fat. Since finding Trim, Healthy Mama and reaching a weight I haven't seen in more than two decades, I began thinking that it might just be possible! If not quite that low than at least as close as I can get to that.

Climb Mt. LeConte (again). Our climbing friend, Phil, visited us over Christmas and his stories have inspired me to climb. Michael and I climbed this third highest peak in the Smokey Mountains before we had kids. This time I want to do it with kids. The cool thing is that there's a lodge at the top that you spend the night in. This time I know to bring an extra blanket.

Spiritual/Ministry
Read through the Jewish NT with commentary. I finished reading the NT last year using The Message translation. This year I want to read through it using David Stern's translation and commentary.

Read 4 Spiritual Books. Since I fell short of my goal, I will add the two I didn't read, Out of the Saltshaker by Rebecca Manley Pippert and Mark Buchanan's The Holy Wild, to my list plus Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist and  Priscilla Shirer's God Is Able which I hope to read with some friends. Oh I also want to read The Reason For God by Tim Keller.

Meet with married couples.  Since helping out with the marriage retreat, we have started meeting with one couple and will host a small group in January. We have found our passion and a new ministry we can do together!
Meet with my mentor. We have been consistently meeting. Love our times together! I'm telling ya, everyone needs a Paul, a Barnabas and a Timothy!

Lead a Women's Tea. I had an idea to have a ladie's gathering, in place of a retreat, and do it at the church. I have an idea for a theme and I'm excited about it! Now I just need to get cracking on organizing it.

Mental/Personal
Blog. Okay, seriously now. I recently got an iPad and blogger now has an app so I'm trying this again. Third time's a charm, right? Two posts per month. I CAN do this!
Photography. We bought a Cannon Rebel T3. Annie has been taking a photography class at co-op and I've signed up to be the assistant. Last semester we learned with a point and shoot camera and I learned how to shoot reflection, silhouette, rule of thirds, framing, point-of-view and other types and techniques. Next semester we learn how to use our DSLR! 

St. Augustine in 2014. We like to go to St. Augustine at Christmas time and see the lights. While walking around we decided it would be fun to have a supper club type of group experience and try new places to eat. So with that in mind we will have monthly visits to the oldest city, exploring sites and restaurants.
Scripture memory with Timothy and Annie. Yeah, committing to doing better on this. 

Go to Italy. We are IN! Got our tickets already! Planning now on what to see, where to go and stay within our budget. 

And that's it! Seems like a lot once I write it all out. But I'm excited to tackle these goals, especially now that I will no longer be working as a Sonlight Advisor. I'll have time to fill, right? <insert maniacal laughter here> 

Actually, the biggest goal of all is...

Follow God's lead. I'm sure The Lord will place something in my life that I cannot foresee or plan for. I will follow where he leads and drop any of these plans that are not of Him. 

Here's to a productive 2014! Le Chaim! Salute!

Resolution Mid-year Check In

We are more than halfway through the year so I thought I would do a little check-in to see how I'm doing. Maybe you'll be inspired to do the same with your resolutions.

Physical

Run the Donna and the Gate RR. I completed both. I did not beat my Gate PR but I did beat my marathon PR by about 10 minutes. I have signed up for the Disney half in 2014 and I've started track workouts on Wednesday mornings to drop my times. Although it's a HARD workout, it seems to be working. My new goal is to run a sub-30 min 5K. I haven't decided yet if I'll join the Galloway group again. We shall see. It was a great experience running with friends and running injury free but my running pal, Kim, isn't going to and I'm not sure I want to do it without her.
Strength train. I've been pretty consistent going to the YMCA on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My friend, Lisa, and I did another round of working out with a trainer. We also added monthly challenges, beginning with a squat and ab challenge, adding in push-ups and arms.
Log food and water. I found a book called Trim, Healthy Mama that I began following in May. (It's a low-glycemic way of eating.) The BEST thing about this way of eating is that there's NO TRACKING! So far I've lost approximately 8 lbs and am within a few lbs of a healthy weight. I'm still not good about drinking water but I feel good about my health and I hope by the end of the year I will have lost all the weight and will have kept it off.

Spiritual/Ministry
Keep up with YouVersion's Daily Reading Plan. I'm only a little behind on the Rick Warren's YouVersion plan from when we went to the Bahamas and we had no internet. I really like him. Now if I can just keep up with it for 365 days. I did finish the 21 day Made to Crave 
Finish reading through the New Testament this  year. Starting with 2 Corinthians, I'm up to Peter. I will keep at it.
Read 4 Spiritual Books. I finished  Mark Buchanan's Things Unseen and am currently reading In Plain Sight. I still have Out of the Saltshaker by Rebecca Manley Pippert  Mark Buchanan's The Holy Wild. I am also working on Priscilla Shirer's Gideon Bible study this summer with a group of friends.  

Meet with young married (with children) couples group. This completely fell through. Not really sure why. I suspect that these families are just busy, busy, busy. I understand. I was there once too. (Well, still am really!)
Meet with my mentor. We have been consistently meeting. This summer has been busy and we haven't met in a while, but soon. Very soon.

Mental/Personal
Blog. Nope. Really, really failing at the "2 posts per month" goal. So much for being doable. Starting NOW, I'll climb back on that wagon.
Pursue hobbies. Um kinda. These last two days I completed 6 projects. But before that I hadn't done much.
Scripture memory with Timothy and Annie. Yeah, another one I'm slipping on. Gonna get cracking on this one too. I'm so glad I did a mid-year check in! 

What about you? Have you kept up with resolutions? If not, it's not too late! You still have half a year left (I like to round off; ask my kids!)

Resolutions

The new year is slipping past and I haven't made my goals for this year official yet! Part of setting new goals is reviewing old ones. In looking over my list from last year, I find that, as usual, I did some things well and others not as, complete as I'd hoped. As I've said before, we are creatures who are always growing, always improving, and since I am still a work-in-progress, so I must progress in the work I have set before me. Here are last year's goals and how I did with them.

Physical

Get fixed. I had been complaining of a hurt left shoulder and right ankle. I went to physical therapy and got those issues resolved. It took a while and quite some $$ but it happened. YAY!
Train for a race. Last year I wanted to run the Donna half marathon, then the Gate River Run. Neither one of those happened. I joined a Jeff Galloway group in September and am now training for the FULL Donna marathon! It's been a great experience so far!
Log food and water. I fell off the bandwagon of daily logging with My Fitness Pal. Then I climbed back on. Then fell off. On. Off. You get the picture. My verse for this year regarding this was Gal 6:9.


Spiritual

Live the 10 Second Rule. Eh. It's not that I DIDN'T live it. I didn't feel any nudges for a while then forgot about it.
Read through the New Testament in One Year. I got to 2 Corinthians before I lost track, etc. Maybe this year I'll finish this one!
Read 4 Spiritual Books. The books I had planned were One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst,  Out of the Saltshaker by Rebecca Manley Pippert, and Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg and Jesus Calling as my devotional. What actually happened was One Thousand Gifts and Walking... as well as Kelly Minter's Nehemiah, and half of Mark Buchanan's Things Unseen. Oh and Touching Wonder for Advent. Really? It seemed like I had read more. Huh.

Mental/Personal

Blog. I did NOT hit my goal is to write something weekly. But I did write. So that's better than nothing.
Photography. I took the photography class with Annie and learned a few things. But because I didn't put them immediately into practice I forgot most of it.
Pursue hobbies. That sweater...I doubt I'll ever finish it! I started to crochet a hat because I took a class but haven't gotten very far. Got most of the way through Tommy's quilt but still need to finish it. Haven't started one for Timothy yet. I do still love my (still new to me) Bernina though and want to sew more! Maybe next year when Tommy is off and college and I can set up the machine in his room...(gotta look at the  silver lining of his leaving...can't dwell on the subject too much...waaaaahhhhh!!!!)
Read with Timothy and Annie. Read most of 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens with Timothy but none of  Beautiful Girlhood with Annie. She lost interest. I've started Purpose Driven Life with Timothy. Need to figure something out with Annie.


And there you have them. The good, the bad and the ugly of last year's resolutions. Now on to this year's.


Physical

Run the Donna and the Gate RR. Since I'll be nice and trained up for the Donna marathon, I hope to beat my Gate River Run PR using the Galloway method. It's been such a great experience running with friends and running injury free (so far)!
Strength train. Last year I started meeting a friend at the YMCA for accountability. In November we upped the challenge and started working out with a trainer. It's been good, both having an accountability partner and a trainer to push us. I want to keep it up.
Log food and water. This will probably be a lifetime goal. I tend to fall off the bandwagon of daily logging with My Fitness Pal. So I just need to keep climbing back on. I cannot grow weary of doing good. This is doing good for my body so I can do good for others (Gal 6:9).

Spiritual/Ministry
Keep up with YouVersion's Daily Reading Plan. I did one for advent last year and really enjoyed it. This year I signed up for Rick Warren's YouVersion plan. I like it. Now if I can just keep up with it for 365 days. I also am following the 21 day Made to Crave one since I never read that book last year.
Finish reading through the New Testament this  year. Starting with 2 Corinthians, I will keep at it.
Read 4 Spiritual Books. This is that reoccurring goal. I'm picking Out of the Saltshaker by Rebecca Manley Pippert (again) since I didn't read it last year. I will finish  Mark Buchanan's Things Unseen and also read his other books In Plain Sight and The Holy Wild. I must be on a Mark Buchanan kick.
Meet with young married (with children) couples group. We used to meet with a small group of newly (less than 5 years) married couples a few years back. It was wonderful. We were the older couple giving advice to younger couples in how to build a great marriage. We loved it. Loved the people, loved the subject. We met for a year and then were done. Now all those couples have had babies and we thought it would be good to "get the band together again" and go through what it's like to work on your marriage while raising children. We feel a lot less confident in this area. It's a little more painful sharing our not-quite-as-successful stories. A good lesson in humility :) The upside is my mentor has joined us and she can give the RIGHT suggestions when we can't (since we are still in the trenches).
Meet with my mentor. One of the outcomes of the 10 Second Rule goal was to pursue having a mentor. My mentor is wonderful and has all the answers :) I fully expected to be a drain on her with all my questions and lack of depth but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I could pester encourage her to pursue writing a book. "Iron sharpens iron" as the Proverb says...

Mental/Personal
Blog. More blogging. Just more of it. Maybe 2 posts per month rather than one per week. That would be 24 in one year. That seems doable. Right?
Pursue hobbies. Keep on that sweater...and hat... and Tommy's quilt... and *maybe* start Timothy's. Or maybe not. I really want to have time to do some projects on my Pinterest board so that I can use my beloved Berrnina!
Scripture memory with Timothy and Annie. I started the year off with a bang. I set up a method of scripture memory. And then life got busy. And then we stopped. I'm renewing my efforts! Starting this week. Oops. It's already mid-week. Better get started quick!

Time to put this into practice. Thank you Jackie for the Facebook call out today so that I would sit down and do this! Better late than never...

Resolutions 2012

I finally crystallized the resolutions that had been rolling around in my head. Many are similar to what I had resolved to do in the past, but since we are creatures who are always growing, always improving, I am still a work in progress so I must progress in the work I have set before me. So here the things I am going to work on this year:

Physical
Get fixed. I have been complaining of a hurt left shoulder and right ankle. I also have a persistent (chronic?) cough. I will schedule appointments to look into solutions for these annoyances.
Train for a race. I was hoping to run the Donna half marathon for my friend Libby who was diagnosed with breast cancer but with the pain in my foot, I'm off track for that race. So I've set my sights on the Gate River Run.
Log food and water. The best way to weight loss and maintenance is to log my food. I can't do it any other way. So I resolve to log every day using My Fitness Pal. If you plan on using that program/app, you can friend me and we can keep each other accountable.

Spiritual
Live the 10 Second Rule. After reading the book, I decided I would try to do what I reasonably felt God was telling me to do, in the next 10 seconds, without thinking much about it except to obey. Trust and obey. A song I learned with the kids in BSF. A good rule to live by.
Read through the New Testament in One Year. I'm being realistic. I've tried the whole Bible in a year and I've always come up short. So I'm taking a smaller step. The NT this year. Maybe the OT next year? I do listen to the Daily Audio Bible but I know there will be days that I miss. So this goal is more attainable.
Read 4 Spiritual Books. This is something I do every year. This year I have picked the following four books: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst,  Out of the Saltshaker by Rebecca Manley Pippert, and Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg. I am also using Jesus Calling as my devotional this year. I have plenty of reading to do!

Mental/Personal
Blog. I've done better this year but my goal is to write something weekly. I didn't realize how time consuming writing is! You have to think of what to write about, then write it, then edit and then add pictures and finally fix all the formatting.
Photography. Annie bought herself a new camera so for Christmas we gave her a photography class so she can learn to take better pictures. Knowing she wouldn't want to do that alone, I signed up too. Hopefully this will help my blogging too as clear, crisp pictures are a vital part of a good blog.
Pursue hobbies. Continue knitting the sweater I started several years ago. Crochet a hat (just learned how to crochet). Sew quilts for Tommy and Timothy (just finished one for Michael.) Gives me a great reason to use my new Bernina!
Read with Timothy and Annie. 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens with Timothy and Beautiful Girlhood with Annie. We started these books last year and put them down during the summer and never picked them back up. Going to finish them by spring.

And there you have them. There's so much more I will actually work on.

Holding my tongue. Trusting others. Keeping up with the laundry. Decluttering the house. Making the bed. Being a good wife. Being a good mother. Being a good friend. Forgiving when I've been hurt.

So much to always work on. But my official list is the first one. They are the things that are measurable (and more easily attainable?) so I will stick to focusing on these for now.

What about you? Do you make resolutions? What are they?

Reflecting on 2011

Last year I didn't make any resolutions. Just never got around to it. Part of the problem was that I’d not accomplished the goals I’d set in 2010 so I was feeling a bit apathetic towards the whole thing. What’s the point? I don’t accomplish much anyhow…blah, blah, blah. Stinkin’ thinkin’. 

I spent a little time reviewing 2011 and despite the fact that I hadn't set any new goals, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I actually accomplished quite a few new things that I would never have known to even strive for. The Lord really stretched me this year to try new things that I would not have thought possible or even probable. Here are a few things of those things:

1.      1. Taking on a new, larger convention. I’ve been working as a SonlightCurriculum Consultant since 2004 (7 years?? Wow!) and the largest convention I had ever done has been about 1200 people. This year I joined the big leagues with the Southeast Homeschool Convention which was about 2500 attendees. Felt great to take that next step as a consultant.

2.      2. Go on a mission trip. This wasn’t even remotely on my radar screen. Michael was going to take Tommy to Honduras to visit La Esperanza de Jesus, a missionary our church supports. But in the end I ended up being the one to take him. It was my first missionary trip and it was powerful.

3.     3. Run a 10K race. I have been struggling with plantar faciitis for a number of years and had just about given up hope of ever running again. But during a conversation with a friend who suffers from the same condition, he mentioned that hard orthotic inserts have helped him. I had been trying cushioned inserts but hard?? I was skeptical. But I decided to give them a try and started walking in them. No pain. In June Timothy and I began a couch-to-5K program, an app on my Iphone. As the weeks went by and the distance increased but the pain did not, I was able to run and complete a 10 K race. A new niggling pain in my ankle has arisen which I plan on tackling in the new year, but the plantar is doing well. It feels good to run again.

4.    4.  Emcee our women’s retreat. The past two years I have served on the women's retreat planning team as the “hospitality coordinator” which is an area I feel comfortable with. But this year I wasn’t feeling called to that. I didn’t really know what my role should be. You can imagine my surprise when at the first meeting when it was suggested I be the emcee. REALLY?! Me? A borderline introvert who stutters?! Despite the fears I immediately had, I also had a peace that this is what God wanted me to do. And so I did. And I got through it.

5.    5.   Learn a new hobby. I’ve wanted to learn to crochet for years now but never found anyone who would teach me. I would ask people who knew how but it just never worked out to get together. However just last week my friend Natalie taught me. She taught herself with the help of YouTube videos and made a lovely scarf for her daughter. I begged her to teach me and during a coffee date she did. I’m already halfway through my scarf and I’m really enjoying it. It’s easy to do and very portable. I look forward to making more fun projects with this newly-learned hobby!

6.     6.  Sing in the Christmas Choir. This is something I NEVER thought I’d EVER do! Way back in 4^th grade I sang in a school choir called Los Cantantitos and the choir directory discreetly told my parents that I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. Years later they shared that comment with me which has forever scarred me. Oh I sing in church, as long as others are singing too. So when Jessica talked me into auditioning for the special Christmas choir and then telling me I’d made it, I couldn’t believe it! I have to say that it was probably the hardest thing I’d done (harder than emceeing). I worked at it a LOT, following her instruction on how to breath and trying to sing “dark” and attempting to “raise my soft palate.” I admit that I sang timidly and lip synced the really high notes that I couldn’t hit. But again, I did it. I overcame that fear and did a hard thing (Ever read that book?)

       So there you have it. These are the things that came to mind as I thought back over the year. I wonder what the Lord has in store for me next year?

This year I’m back to setting goals. They look remarkably similar to some old ones but I'm going to keep following the old adage “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!” I’m going to keep trying!

• So goodbye 2011 and here's hoping for a happy new year! What about you? What do you feel good about last year?

New Year's Resolutions written

They seem kinda weak this time around but I finally did come up with something. As I was reflecting on things I wanted to change/improve upon I kept being reminded of things that I am thankful for. So let me begin with those, in no particular order:

1. A warm, cozy house. Despite the fact that we want to sell and get something a little bigger with 4 bedrooms (so the boys can have their own room) and a separate room for the kids to hang out in (and play Rock Band, drums, and a place to put all the school stuff, etc) I am grateful for the home we DO have with our good neighbors. It could be worse...
2. Michael's job. In this season of lay-offs Michael has a good job and he really enjoys what he does. What else can one ask for?? Do what you like and like what you do.
3. Health. After last year's cancer scare we are not taking our health for granted. Despite feeling a bit older (needing a little help reading from glasses, not as flexible as we used to be, reoccuring plantar fascitis that keeps me from running) we are still very healthy and able to do a lot! So thankful for that!
4. Family. Having our extended family so close -- my brother and parents right down the road, Michael's parents and sister in the same town, seeing Michael's twin brother and older brother at holidays. We rejoice in having a close, tight-knit family where my kids can know their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.
5. Homeschooling. After losing my oldest to private school this year, I hold onto the priviledge of homeschooling my younger two that much closer to my heart. I've been reveling in their hugs and kisses, reading aloud, going out during school hours for a treat, and scheduling field trips. I love being so involved in their lives and learning right along with them!

So after counting my blessings, here are those things I will endeavor to improve this year:

Physical:
Continue weight loss. After reaching an all-time non-pregnancy high at the beginning of last year I have lost about 15 lbs with another 5-10 to go.
Continue exercise. After joining the YMCA this summer I have started weight lifting, pilates, yoga and other exercise classes. I had been walking then started running but in Nov. my plantar fascitis came back with a vengeance. Consequently I had to find other ways to be physical. I will contiue doing whatever it takes.

Spiritual:
Read 4 books - one per quarter. I wll continue to grow mentally in the spiritual dept by reading books (other than the Bible, which is a given). For sure I want to read The Jesus of Suburbia, and Out of the Salt Shaker along with my FP4H bible studies and my Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life devotional. I will leave the other two open for now.
Serve the poor. Michael has felt the need to put our faith into action by serving those less fortunate than us. I will join him in that.

Personal:
Knit a sweater. My goal last year was to knit something other than a scarf and I failed. This year I have started a sweater (which I had begun last year but ended up ripping out 3 times!!!) and plan to continue until completion!!!!
Blog more. I began blogging last year and although I enjoyed it I never made the time. I resolve to do more of that this year.

And that's it! Feel free to ask me how I'm doing! I love accountability and work well when I'm feeling guilty :)

New Year's Resolutions

Every year I make Resolutions at the beginning of the new year. You know the old saying, "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail." This year I'm having a hard time making them. One I know for sure that will make it to my list: to blog more! It's something that I enjoy doing but I seldom take the time to do. After watching Julie&Julia I've been inspired to blog and cook, two things I enjoy. And knit. Last year I failed at my resolution to knit something other than a scarf.  But I'm already on my way to making a sweater this year. Last year I ripped it out 3 times. I needed a little time to go by in order to begin again. So here we go. Another saying: "If at first you don't succeed, try try again!" Once I get them written I will share. That way you can keep me accountable!