Here is my look forward to 2013 from last January. It's a pretty extensive and exciting list. I accomplished a lot of that list including daily time with God, reading 52 books, eating and cooking good food, making my marriage a priority, going on a Disney cruise, and maintaining a debt free lifestyle while increasing savings.
There are also some areas where I didn't quite make my mark. My bee hives are a wreck. I didn't accomplish my goal with Operation Christmas Child. I don't have a working system for jobs, family time or serving others.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, I'm going to revise, edit, adding and subtracting to make a working plan for 2014. It might also be a great idea to look at this list more than once a year to remind myself of my intentions for the year.
1. continue to spend daily, personal time with God.
2. read at least 52 books.
3. develop a community relations team for Operation Christmas Child by adding one member and one event from each of my target counties.
4. participate in sustained physical activity/exercise at least three times each week.
5. maintain a healthy diet, heavy in fruits, veggies, and healthy choices.
6. continue to provide my family with meals that are healthy and, as much as possible, home made.
7. date my husband and nurture a relationship that will last for another 25+ years.
8. pray with Rob and for Rob daily.
9. create a planned family night each week.
10. enjoy family meals as often as possible.
11. celebrate Kady's graduation from high school.
12. SHOOPA!
13. provide opportunities and encouragement for family time that is physically active.
14. continue to pray for and with my children each day.
15. nurture closer relationships within our family by providing quality time, activities, and opportunity for interaction.
16. provide quality, personally matched education for each of my children.
17. continue to look for the best curriculum and educational opportunities for my children.
18. encourage reading, writing, independent learning, and personal growth in my children.
19. develop a plan for chores, jobs, compensation and cooperation that works for our family.
20. maintain a debt free lifestyle.
21. increase retirement contributions to 15%.
22. continue at current level of charitable giving.
23. continue college savings for all four children.
24. celebrate our 25th anniversary
25. be intentional about sharing time with friends.
26. complete one family act of service each month.
27. develop five year plan for the farm which includes raising turkeys, chickens, and grapes.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Reflections on 2013
Another year sped by while I was busy living. How does that happen?
The older I get the more I realize how necessary it is to take a moment to reflect.
I was being pretty ugly to myself this morning. It's way too easy for me to beat myself up with the momentary discontentment rather than keeping my eye on the real accomplishments. In order to help myself out the next time I come at myself with that particular board and to get myself over the current episode of mud wallowing I offer this list of reflections and accomplishments for 2013:
Personally, I read more than 50 books, many of them classics. I spent time with lots of people I love including each of my family members, the Keegans, the Barnes family, cousins, and friends. Through various activities I became acquainted with new people. I hope that many will become friends. I celebrated life in big ways with parties and pig roasts and joyful reunions. I skiied, traveled (Richmond, Snow Shoe, St. Augustine, Louisville, St. Augustine, Washington, D.C., Tybee Island, Grand Caymen, Mexico), snorkled, climbed ruins, road trains, served God, my family and others. It's been a wonderful year!
Professionally, I taught 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th grades. I raised and harvested over 100 chickens. Hatched, with the help of an incubator, five turkeys for harvest. Raised and harvested two steers. Helped raise two sheep. Sold dozens and dozens of eggs. (Yes, I had some help with all this but it's a valid accomplishment.) I continued my volunteer role with Operation Christmas Child attending a connect conference that gave me an amazing picture of God's work in this ministry. I joined the leadership team of Cornerstone Co-op as their junior high coordinator.
Spiritually, Rob and I started sharing a daily Bible study and prayer time. We are learning more about God and each other with each lesson. We also are learning to support and hold each other accountable.
Emotionally, I continued to nurture relationships with my husband, children, sisters and parents. I consistently took part in several groups outside my family including a book club, homeschool co-op, and church groups. I desire to find a few close friends and am trying to identify those women. I have met several new, interesting, challenging, fun women this year.
Physically, I lost 20 pounds over the course of this year. I am makingbetter smaller food choices. For my family, I am being very conscious of the choices I make for them. We are eating more "real" food. I'm buying non-gmo grain products. I'm being very intentional in what I serve and eat. A glass of water before each meal has worked wonders.
The older I get the more I realize how necessary it is to take a moment to reflect.
I was being pretty ugly to myself this morning. It's way too easy for me to beat myself up with the momentary discontentment rather than keeping my eye on the real accomplishments. In order to help myself out the next time I come at myself with that particular board and to get myself over the current episode of mud wallowing I offer this list of reflections and accomplishments for 2013:
Personally, I read more than 50 books, many of them classics. I spent time with lots of people I love including each of my family members, the Keegans, the Barnes family, cousins, and friends. Through various activities I became acquainted with new people. I hope that many will become friends. I celebrated life in big ways with parties and pig roasts and joyful reunions. I skiied, traveled (Richmond, Snow Shoe, St. Augustine, Louisville, St. Augustine, Washington, D.C., Tybee Island, Grand Caymen, Mexico), snorkled, climbed ruins, road trains, served God, my family and others. It's been a wonderful year!
Professionally, I taught 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th grades. I raised and harvested over 100 chickens. Hatched, with the help of an incubator, five turkeys for harvest. Raised and harvested two steers. Helped raise two sheep. Sold dozens and dozens of eggs. (Yes, I had some help with all this but it's a valid accomplishment.) I continued my volunteer role with Operation Christmas Child attending a connect conference that gave me an amazing picture of God's work in this ministry. I joined the leadership team of Cornerstone Co-op as their junior high coordinator.
Spiritually, Rob and I started sharing a daily Bible study and prayer time. We are learning more about God and each other with each lesson. We also are learning to support and hold each other accountable.
Emotionally, I continued to nurture relationships with my husband, children, sisters and parents. I consistently took part in several groups outside my family including a book club, homeschool co-op, and church groups. I desire to find a few close friends and am trying to identify those women. I have met several new, interesting, challenging, fun women this year.
Physically, I lost 20 pounds over the course of this year. I am making
Reading List 2013
The Iliad by Homer translated by Robert Fagles
The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate
The Truth About Style by Stacy London
Someone by Alice McDermott
Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight by M.E. Thomas
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin
Safe House by Chris Ewan
The Hero's Lot by Patrick Carr
A Cast of Stones by Patrick Carr
The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls
Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse by David Ferry
He Who Saw Everything by Robert Temple
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Gilgamesh: A Verse Play by Usef Komonyakaa & Chad Gracia
Mighty Be Our Powers by Leymah Gbowee
The Cherry Cola Book Club by Ashton Lee
Telling the Bees by Peggy Hesketh
The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott
The Complaints by Ian Rankin
Die Trying by Lee Child
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Killing Floor by Lee Child
So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Disobedience by Jane Hamilton
The Good Mother by Sue Miller
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Frank
Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Runaway King by Jennifer Nielsen
The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen
Lost in a Good Book (A Thursday Next Novel) by Jasper Fforde
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson
The Light Between Oceans: A Novel by M.L. Stedman
The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde
Legend by Marie Lu
Peace Like A River by Leif Enger
Tear Down the Walls! A History of the American Civil Rights Movement by Dorothy Sterling
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Falling Home by Karen White
Showdown Trail by Louis L'Amour
The Ruins of Lace by Iris Anthony
Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Thirteen Days/Ninety Miles: The Cuban Missile Crisis by Norman Finkelstein
City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman
The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn
The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott
One Shot by Lee Child
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had by Kristin Levine
Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother by Eve LaPlante
Elsewhere: A Memoir by Richard Russo
The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin
Brilliance by Marcus Sakey
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett
Prairie Tales by Melissa Gilbert
The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate
The Truth About Style by Stacy London
Someone by Alice McDermott
Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight by M.E. Thomas
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin
Safe House by Chris Ewan
The Hero's Lot by Patrick Carr
A Cast of Stones by Patrick Carr
The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls
Gilgamesh: A New Rendering in English Verse by David Ferry
He Who Saw Everything by Robert Temple
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Gilgamesh: A Verse Play by Usef Komonyakaa & Chad Gracia
Mighty Be Our Powers by Leymah Gbowee
The Cherry Cola Book Club by Ashton Lee
Telling the Bees by Peggy Hesketh
The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott
The Complaints by Ian Rankin
Die Trying by Lee Child
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Killing Floor by Lee Child
So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde
Disobedience by Jane Hamilton
The Good Mother by Sue Miller
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Frank
Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Runaway King by Jennifer Nielsen
The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen
Lost in a Good Book (A Thursday Next Novel) by Jasper Fforde
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson
The Light Between Oceans: A Novel by M.L. Stedman
The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde
Legend by Marie Lu
Peace Like A River by Leif Enger
Tear Down the Walls! A History of the American Civil Rights Movement by Dorothy Sterling
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Falling Home by Karen White
Showdown Trail by Louis L'Amour
The Ruins of Lace by Iris Anthony
Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Thirteen Days/Ninety Miles: The Cuban Missile Crisis by Norman Finkelstein
City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman
The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn
The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott
One Shot by Lee Child
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had by Kristin Levine
Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother by Eve LaPlante
Elsewhere: A Memoir by Richard Russo
The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin
Brilliance by Marcus Sakey
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett
Prairie Tales by Melissa Gilbert
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