13 in 2013 Review

As I look back on the past year, I see a lot of time dominated by our house situation. Ever since finding out about it in March, I have spent a lot of hours calling contractors, researching foundation repair, praying, crying, and just generally thinking about our home. I most definitely got derailed from my 2013 goals because of it, which is understandable in some ways, but also disappointing to me. I feel like I lost a lot of motivation and productivity due to the bad news, and I hate that I let so many of my goals go by the wayside. However, I did accomplish some of these so I will celebrate what was done and move on to 2014 and try to do better!

1.) Try 2 new recipes each month. 

I don't know if this happened, to be honest. I definitely tried new recipes, but I wasn't very intentional about it. I'd say that, most likely, I didn't try 2 new ones each month.

2.) Memorize the book of James.

The first chapter of James is safely tucked away in my memory, which means I have 4 chapters to go. This one will be carried on to 2014 and I'll keep working on it. Despite my snail's pace, I really am enjoying this one!

3.) Pay off the Camry. 

Check! This one goes in the win column. We paid the car off completely in August.

4.) Give away produce from my garden. 

Two in a row! I was able to give away zucchini, tomatoes, apples, mint, basil and cilantro to friends and co-workers this summer and fall.

5.) Complete 12 crafty projects. 

Yeah, not even close. I did make a few things including a crochet baby blanket, Easter egg wreath, baby turban/beanie, and a crochet ear warmer. My crafty projects mostly stopped when we found out about the house because we went into overdrive on trying to save money, so I was pretty strict about not buying things we didn't need.

6.) Make our house feel more like a home. 

We bought curtains for all our living room windows and painted the living room in February/early March. I know you're tired of reading about the house (and I'm tired of typing about it), but it honestly made no sense to keep investing money into our house this year, so we didn't do anything else in the way of upgrades or renovation.

7.) Take a break from my iPhone. 

I did take some intentional steps towards this goal. I would still say I spend far too much time on my phone, but I have made big strides toward not looking at it during conversations and meal times.

8.) Keep in touch with our Compassion-sponsored children. 

I think I sent about 4-5 letters to our Compassion kids this year. They sent back about the same and it felt like a good amount of correspondence. We also sent Christmas and birthday gifts to them, which are really just donations we make and then Compassion picks out appropriate gifts for the kids.

9.) Develop a deeper prayer relationship. 

Wow. It's amazing to look back and think about what my prayer life looked like when I set this goal in January 2013. I can say with 100% confidence that I accomplished this goal over the past year. There has been very little good that has come from our house situation so far, but the drastic improvement in my prayer life has been one of the positive results. I read a really powerful book called Too Busy to Pray early last year and I also co-led a small group for our high school girls that was focused entirely on prayer--specifically the ACTS prayer model.

10.) Play with Sky every day. 

Nope. Didn't happen. However, I did train for and run a 5k this summer and that means Sky was going with me on at least 3 runs a week during that time. We also spent many nights in the (hardly ever busy) street in front of our house playing fetch with a tennis ball and tennis racket.

11.) Clean, organize and purge one drawer, closet, or cabinet each month. 

Hmm. I am sure I didn't do one per month, but I did do a few this year. I cleaned out the medicine cabinet, camping closet, wrapping paper closet, and two drawers in the guest bedroom.


12.) Spend time with and learn about people different than me. 

I spent quite a bit of time volunteering at the Warming Center in the early and late months of 2013 and that was probably the best time spent towards this goal. One of my favorite moments was when I was sitting at a table with a group of homeless men after dinner one evening and each person was going around the table teaching everyone else the card games they learned while in jail. When my time came around, I shared that I'd never spent any time behind bars, but I was able to teach them Golf, a game none of them had ever played before.


13.) Plan quality, creative time for Kory and I to be together.

Well, this happened some, but not a lot. We have a fair amount of date nights, but that's not too hard since we don't have kids yet. It seems like the best times we have together tend to be unplanned, spontaneous moments, so I am trying not to focus too much on the planning.

Overall, I think I did ok for the year. I accomplished 7 out of 13, so it wasn't an overwhelming success, but I don't want to measure my life in numbers and accomplishments, so I just look back on the year and am grateful for the progress I made and lessons I learned along the way. I thought a lot about making new goals for next year, particularly after reading a few blogs suggesting we should stop trying to plan our lives out and just enjoy God's blessings. I see a lot of good in that, but, ultimately, I like making goals. I like to plan. I get a strange high off thinking about a new year and a new start and planning what I'd like to do in the next year. I don't think it's one or the other...I think I can set goals for the year and also KNOW that life will happen as God has ordained it and that may or may not coincide with my plans. Trust me, I learned that lesson well in 2013.