Monday, March 26, 2012

a bucket list

So, I made this list of 101 goals back in November and posted in on my blog in December.  Since then, I haven't really done a whole lot with the list.  In fact, what has gotten done has been more by accident than design.  I just haven't felt very goal oriented or motivated these days.

Last week was Spring Break, and for whatever reason (maybe because I actually had time?), I started to think about my goals.  I pulled up my list, and I realized that it read more like a really ridiculous "to do" list rather than a list of goals.  I decided I needed to make some changes; I decided I needed to make it less of a "to do" list and more of a "bucket list."  After a lot of changes, it is still partly just a "to do" list, but now it includes some really great things that I think could not only challenge me, but also be enjoyable.  So, here it is...

101 Things to Do
Start Date:  November 22, 2011
End Date:  August 17, 2014

Health:
  1. Weigh 130 lbs. 
  2. Exercise 5 times a week for 1 month
  3. Strength train two times a week
  4. Jog for 30 minutes straight
  5. Run a 5k
  6. Go on a bike ride on the Katy trail
  7. Find 10 new healthy recipes for dinner
  8. Wear my retainer every night for a month
  9. Get an eye exam!

Family:
  1. Take a family vacation
  2. Take a family camping trip
  3. Do a fun activity as a family once a month for three months
  4. Go on a cruise with my sister
  5. Take the boys to the zoo in St Louis
  6. Take the boys to the science center in St. Louis
  7. Visit the nature center in Springfield
  8. Take the boys to a parade
  9. Get a family photo taken
  10. Read the boys at least one book every night for a month
  11. Spend a half an hour each day playing with the boys – NO distractions!
  12. Have a movie night once a month with Logan for three months
  13. Buy a Christmas tree for the boys to decorate Completed November 2011

Marriage:
  1. Have one date night out of the house every month 
  2. Read Love and Respect with Justin
  3. Go on a vacation just the two of us
  4. Make our next three anniversaries special
  5. Read a book for fun with Justin
  6. Spend one night a week just the two of us for a month

Friends:
  1. Get together with Rae, Marcia, and Miranda
  2. Continue sending monthly emails to Rae, Marcia, & Miranda
  3. Get Rae a baby gift Completed December 2011
  4. Get Miranda a baby gift
  5. Plan a get together with Derek & Sarah at least twice a year
  6. Plan summer play dates for the boys and me!

Spiritual:
  1. Pray every night for thirty days
  2. Pray as a family before dinner
  3. Read a daily devotional every morning for a month
  4. Read the entire Bible 
  5. Have  God time for 30 minutes every day for 30 days
  6. Do a personal book study
  7. Write in my prayer journal every night for a month
  8. Get baptized again?

Financial:
  1. Save money by spending more than $50 per month on eating out for 31 days 
  2. Pay off our credit card
  3. Build up a savings account again
  4. Get Logan’s savings account to $750
  5. Get Gavin’s savings account to $500
  6. Get the boys bunk beds
  7. Buy new car seats for Logan Completed January 2012

Household:
  1. Landscape the front yard with stones
  2. Learn how to plant a garden
  3. Plant a summer garden
  4. Put up a privacy fence in the backyard 
  5. Start recycling
  6. Learn how to compost
  7. Learn how to coupon
  8. Plan eight weeks of menus that can be rotated
  9. Pack away all of the boys’ outgrown clothing Completed February 2012
  10. Pack away all of the infant toys Completed February 2012
  11. Donate all of our baby clothes and gear to Goodwill (or someone)
  12. Paint (and decorate?) the laundry room
  13. Repaint and redecorate the guest bathroom
  14. Repaint and redecorate the master bathroom
  15. Clean out and reorganize the hall closet
  16. Clean out and reorganize kitchen cabinets
  17. Replace the air filter in the heater every six months
  18. Frame and hang collages of the boys
  19. Re-hang Gavin’s birth announcement in his bedroom
  20. Find a new, space-saving way to store DVDs
  21. Re-organize and find space for all of our photo books Completed March 2012
  22. Create a weekly cleaning schedule
  23. Stick to a weekly cleaning schedule for one month

Personal:
  1. No TV for 30 days
  2. Make an address/telephone book of all friends and family
  3. Send out Christmas cards
  4. Send birthday cards to all immediate family members and close friends for a year
  5. Finish our Beach Vacation scrapbook
  6. Finish Logan’s second year scrapbook
  7. Make Logan’s third year scrapbook
  8. Finish updating Gavin’s baby book
  9. Finish updating Logan’s baby book
  10. Update Logan’s portrait book
  11. Create a portrait book for Gavin
  12. Blog every day for a month
  13. Comment on each blog I read at least once a week for a month
  14. Watch all of my seasons of One Tree Hill
  15. Take a photography class
  16. Learn how to use the white balance on my camera
  17. Learn how to use the different flash settings on my camera
  18. Participate in You Capture every week for three months
  19. Complete a 365 photo challenge
  20. Learn how to use photoshop (take a class???)
  21. Keep my car clutter free, vacuumed, and dusted for 3 months
  22. Play clarinet in a concert band
  23. Get a manicure
  24. Get a massage
  25. Find a really great red/pink lipstick
  26. Learn to shoot a gun…and do it well!
  27. Learn how to grill using charcoal (or gas too!)

Work:
100.                      Re-organize and write units for Communications
101.                      Find two new novel units that can be used in any class


Thursday, March 8, 2012

Blessings

It is no secret that my family and I have been going through a very difficult time for awhile now.  Last week (or maybe the week before?) a good friend of mine sent me a link to a youtube video.  She told me that it was a great song - one of her favorites at the moment - and that she thought I might like it knowing what I was going through.  She also warned me that it would probably make me cry.  I tried to watch it - like three different times - but just couldn't get through it.  I just didn't want to hear those words!

Then today, another friend of mine (who doesn't even know my other friend!) emailed me an attachment to the exact same song.  I took it as a sign that maybe it was time to listen to the whole song, that maybe - just maybe - God is trying to tell me something.

So I listened.

And I did tear up.

And it was good.


"Blessings"
Laura Story
We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise
http://www.lyricshall.com/lyrics/Laura+Story/Blessings/

There are big changes on the horizon for me, for my children, for my husband.  I don't even begin to presume to know what those changes are going to look like, but I do trust that God will use these hurts and hardships for good if I will let Him.