This morning I slept in, cleaned the house, exercised, and spent some time with the kitten. Now, before the husband gets home and we head out to Roanoke for an afternoon of shooting and possibly purchasing handgun number 2... I decided to take a moment to update my hopes for this new year of 2010.
First off, my verse for the year. I started this tradition in college and it has really helped my focus throughout the year. Of course, throughout the year I have many learning experiences and opportunities to grow, but choosing one specific thing to work on with purpose through the entire year has really helped me learn about all other aspects of my faith. This year's verse I discovered back in September and I knew I wanted it to be my focal point for the upcoming year. It's so interesting how I've read the Bible so many times throughout my life but new verses pop out at me every single read through. How is that possible? God's Word is alive and active. Constantly. That is so amazing!
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
1 Timothy 1:5
One short sentence, but enough to completely reform my life, if I allow it. A pure heart- step one. I need to desperately work on humility. I have been struggling with this specifically for the past three months. I wouldn't say I'm an overly proud person, but you would be surprised at what I truly take pride in. But all is in and through my Savior- that should be my one and only boast. A good conscience- step two. Not that these things come in sequential order, but breaking it apart it fits pretty well. I really need to revolutionize my thought life. There are a couple specific things that always lead my thoughts astray. After praying about these things it is so much easier to refuse them or turn away from them. It is honestly so amazing. My mind begins to spiral and bunny trail and the next second I can't even remember what I was thinking! God is so good. He keeps my mind on the straight and narrow if only I allow Him too. A sincere faith- step three. It kind of comes with the territory. Baby steps in the right direction and then everything will just fall into place. All by the grace of God.
As far as resolutions, I feel pretty good about the resolutions I made for 2009. This year I want to keep it simple, but focused.
1) Focus my life entirely around my faith. I admit, there are areas of my life that I still have trouble allowing God to take over. Bad move. I want to focus everything I have on Him and His plan for my life. Plus, as I prepare for motherhood, I want to be able to answer my childrens' questions about God and lead them to an understanding of the faith and hopefully to a faith of their own. As a preschool teacher (which I still miss each and every day), I was given a glimpse to the minds of young children and how many answers I will have to have for their eager little minds. And I am so excited for the opportunity to raise up my children in the Lord and allow Him to mold and shape them as much as I am able to allow so that when the time comes, they will continue to walk with Him. But first, I must make sure everything is right in my life.
2) Build up our savings. My income is secondary and extra. We put most of it in savings except for very special occasions. We hope to have enough for a down payment on a house, to fix up said house if necessary, and to furnish said house. Not to mention all the baby costs that will probably come around the same time as the house. When we start having children I will be a stay at home mom so we're building up our nest egg now. We don't plan to purchase a house until after both of us are out of grad school, but we want to have it all set up before then so we're ready when that perfect house comes along. I have an actual number I'd like to see our savings at and if we don't meet it... well, that would mean there was some terrible accident and we needed to quit work or buy new cars or one of us was in the hospital for an extended time or something else way out of the ordinary. There should be no reason why our savings doesn't meet and exceed our expectations.
3) Go to the Bonnell family Christmas. I wanted to this year, but since taking a new job I didn't have vacation days yet. So next Christmas season it is a must.
4) Visit the gym with regularity. I have the weight I want to maintain and I have the body image I want to have. Shouldn't be too hard since I've only fluctuated within 15 pounds up and down since freshman year of high school. But I want to be active about keeping my weight in check as well as being fit. It was so easy in high school- with sports teams, especially cheerleading as a flyer. Even in college I had accountability with my friends who went regularly. We have gym memberships at the YMCA now and even though Matt gets a discount since he works at the hospital, I still need to take advantage of the equipment since we are now paying for it.
5) Get straight A's in my Graduate Studies. School has always come easy for me and thankfully all of my Master's classes are extremely interesting to me. My work will only pay for me to take one course at a time so I should have no reason to get anything less than an A in my coursework. I will take four courses towards my degree this year (beginning this summer) and the rest next year while I'm finishing up my time at Liberty (hopefully, if everything goes according to plan baby wise... smile). I was lazy to a certain extent in my undergrad program. There were a handful of courses I got B's in that should have been A's. I still graduated with honors, but I definitely could have had a different color cord. In my grad work there should be no excuses!
6) Be a loving, serving wife in every way possible. Day in and day out. I am a fairly selfish person. I have working on having a servants heart towards my husband. I firmly believe that it is my responsibility to clean the house, pay the bills, and do the dishes. This is not true of all families and it is not a must for all wives... but I take pride in running out household. Matthew is our bread winner and I am so thankful for his hard work to provide for our family and our future. I don't show it enough.
Then end.
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