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.

Catching Up

I have now been very absent from this blog for the past month or more. The short story is, life has given us quite a lemon and making lemonade is turning out to be a very long, slow process. (More to come about the lemon in my next post.)

My 13 in 2013 goals have not gone away completely, but I've certainly changed my focus a bit. The goals were good and they were healthy, but I have taken up a couple new hobbies and tried to focus in different areas. Ultimately, I feel led by God to pursue a couple opportunities and I don't want to let this blog or some goals I set months ago get in the way of that. So, here's what's been going on with us recently:

• Kory preached at all 4 Easter services at church and did an awesome job, as always. You can watch his sermon here, if you're interested. http://www.redeemersfellowship.com/index.cfm?i=14728&mid=18&g=44607
• My 6 month rotation as a lead worker has become a permanent position, so I'm really excited about that! I love this new job and enjoy coming to work pretty much every day, which is a huge change because I was experiencing major burnout about this time last year.
• We sold my little red car in April to a college student who was in our youth group in Myrtle Creek. I was sad to see it go but really happy to be down to 2 cars and also to see Karlie get her first car ever. She was so cute and excited!
• I've gotten back into running and I'm almost finished with Couch to 5k again. Kory and I are running a 5k in June with our friends, Edgar and Florence. Sky is my running partner 3 times a week and I've loved having him to push me to go a little bit faster. 
• My garden is planted and doing well. I am growing strawberries, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, green beans, and watermelon this year. Of course, that is assuming I can keep the cats out of my garden. They think I've created one giant litter box for them...great. So far I have eaten a couple strawberries and they are quite delicious!
• Things have been really busy for us lately with the end of the school year approaching. Kory preached this past Sunday again, then we had youth group Sunday night, went hiking with some students on Monday, Wednesday we had our 8th grade mixer, tonight is a band concert, tomorrow is a different band concert, Saturday is a graduation party, Sunday morning we're honoring our graduates during the church service, and we're hosting a lunch for our graduating seniors and their families at our house for lunch on Sunday. Things should be a little bit calmer next week before we run our 5k on Saturday morning, head to a wedding Saturday afternoon and then have graduation on Sunday right after church. I know I don't get a summer break but I am excited for things to slow down a bit once summer starts!

February 13 in 2013 Update

February was a difficult month for working on my goals. We spent the first 11 days in Texas/New Mexico and then immediately came home and began working full-speed on our 30 Hour Famine for the youth group. That being said, I'm still pleased with how much I did accomplish in the month.

1.) Try 2 new recipes each month. 

I successfully made two new recipes in February. The first was a spinach, sausage and tortilini soup. I thought it was REALLY yummy and I'll definitely be making it again. I bought the wrong kind of Italian sausage though (should have been links), so I'll correct that next time. 

I also made Italian stuffed zucchini boats. They turned out pretty well, but didn't have as much flavor as we would have liked. I used ground turkey and thought I seasoned it a lot, but obviously it needed some more. Here's the progression so you can see the basic idea of how to make them. 

2.) Memorize the book of James.

I am really struggling with this one. I even set aside some time to work on this and am just stuck in the first chapter still. There is this one verse that I can't seem to get down, but I am bound and determined to get into chapter 2 in March!

3.) Pay off the Camry. 

I made our regular and extra payment on the Camry and I love watching that balance drop so quickly. I am getting really excited to have that extra money when the car is paid off to go towards other things.

4.) Give away produce from my garden. 

I did a little bit of research and planning for my garden this month and have just about nailed down what I'm going to plant. I'm trying to stick with vegetables and fruits that we really love and will eat in abundance. I'm looking forward to starting some seeds indoors next month!

5.) Complete 12 crafty projects. 

I finished the craft I alluded to in January that was a gift for my friend, Kecia. I crocheted this baby blanket for her little girl, Harleigh, and love the way it turned out! It was really fun to be able to give this to Kecia in person while we were in Texas. Mailing gifts just doesn't have the same effect.

I also made another craft in February, but I'll talk more about it on goal #13.

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

This was particularly difficult since we spent half the month away from home and only had one weekend at home. (We spent that weekend doing laundry and recovering from our trip too, so we didn't get anything house-related done.) It was good to have a break though because we were able to save a chunk of money for some bigger projects we have planned for March. The curtain rods are still sitting in the guest bedroom because we need to know the length of our curtains before hanging them. We learned that lesson the hard way in our bedroom.

7.) Take a break from my iPhone.


I feel like I'm making good baby steps in this area. However, that has meant that I left my phone at work 3 times this past week alone! Thankfully I have remembered fairly quickly and been able to go back in and get it each time. Putting it on the iHome when I am at home has been really helpful. I've also made it a point to put it in my purse and put my purse out of reach when I'm out to dinner or hanging out with a group of people.

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

I didn't do anything for this goal in February. It did kind of feel like I just wrote to our kids and didn't have much else to say, so I think writing every other month might be better/more realistic.

9.) Develop a deeper prayer relationship. 

I finished reading Too Busy Not to Pray this month and I really enjoyed it! I highly recommend it if you're looking for a helpful guide with some really practical advice on praying.

10.) Play with Sky every day. 

I'd give myself a 7/10 on this one. There is more sunlight in the evenings now which is really nice, but there were a lot of nights where we had events in the evening (prep work for 30 Hour Famine, high school swimming awards banquet, Small Groups, art event at the high school, etc.) so I didn't play with Sky on some of those nights where I just came home and went to bed. Ideally, I'd like for him to get some exercise with us every day, but I know there is not enough hours in the day to do everything I'd like, so I'll just continue to do my best to make it happen as often as possible.

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

I cleaned out the cabinet under my bathroom sink and went through of all of our medicines. A lot of the medicine expired back when I was still in college, so I ended up getting rid of quite a bit of it. It was also a time I could be really grateful for our good health, because we really don't have to take very much medicine at this point in our life. Thank you, God!

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

I'm still working on Not Quite Adults and plan to finish reading it in March. The one night the Warming Center was open in February was during our 30 Hour Famine, so we didn't get to help there this month No, the irony is not lost on me that we slept outside in cardboard boxes while the homeless shelters were opening up because it was so cold outside. It was an authentic experience for sure! 30HF was a great opportunity to learn about people whose lives look SO very different than mine. It was humbling and challenging and encouraging all at the same time.

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

For Valentine's Day, I made a Date Jar for Kory and I. You've probably seen them all over Pinterest, but just in case you haven't, it's a mason jar with date ideas written on popsicle sticks. You pull a stick out to see what date you'll be going on that night. They are color-coded so you can decide if you're staying in (no $), going out ($$), or spending a significant amount of money ($$$).

(Mine isn't very creative because I had 2 days to work on it and had to throw it together, but it still does the job.)

You definitely have to be spontaneous to enjoy a gift like this (which I don't think I am!) so we're still trying to put it to use. We were supposed to use it for Valentine's Day but Kory already had a specific movie and dinner place in mind, so we went with that. I'm hoping we'll give it a go in March and really do the idea we draw out.

January 13 in 2013 Update

I made some great progress on my 13 goals in the month of January. Of course, it's the first month of the year, so that is to be expected. However, progress is progress and I will celebrate the victories, no matter how small.

1.) Try 2 new recipes each month. 

Success! I tried two new recipes this month...one a big hit and one that was so-so. The first recipe I made was Cilantro Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa.

It was just as delicious as it sounds! Kory ended up cutting his chicken into smaller bites to put it all in a tortilla and make a soft taco out of it, which was a great idea. I will definitely make this again!

At my birthday dinner, I had some Sweet Onion Soup that was AMAZING!! I didn't even know I'd like a sweet onion soup, but this stuff was seriously delicious. I tried to recreate it, and didn't really make that happen. It had a TON of onions, first of all. The recipe called for 8-9 and I only used 6 because that was filling my pot. There was also too much milk, I think, as Kory and I both felt a little queasy after we ate this soup the first night. Sadly, we have LOTS of leftover soup and I will be eating on it the next few days until I can't stand the sight of it anymore because it was pretty pricey to make and I don't want to throw it away...at least not yet.

2.) Memorize the book of James.

I've done ok at this one. I'm trying to get all of chapter 1 re-memorized at this point. It's still pretty hard for me to do in the ESV, since I'm so used to NIV.

3.) Pay off the Camry. 

We already pay extra on the car each month, but we made a plan for how much more we'll need to pay each month to completely pay it off this year. I wrote the check and sent it off. We're 1/12 of the way there!

4.) Give away produce from my garden. 

Nothing to report so far. Maybe next month I can research when and what to plant.

5.) Complete 12 crafty projects. 

I completed one pretty big crafty project this month...but I can't reveal it yet because it's a gift for one of my friends. After I give it to her, I'll share a picture of the project.

I am also in the beginning stages of making a Quiet Book for my niece, Lucy. I am really excited for this project because I've found a ton of great ideas online.

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

We made a couple baby steps in this area. First off, we replaced the wooden toilet seats in our two bathrooms. I think they look much better now.

BEFORE:



AFTER:

You can tell we also have some lovely wallpaper to take care of someday, but that will probably not happen for quite some time. 

We also purchased curtain rods for our four large windows in the living room. They are 6.5 - 8.5 feet wide so these are some pretty big curtain rods, which means they were pretty expensive. We'll aim to buy some curtains in the February or March budget now.

7.) Take a break from my iPhone. 

I've done decent on this one, but not great. I'm trying to put my phone on the iHome in the kitchen when I get home, so it's not right by my side. I've noticed I just check it out of habit a lot, so if it's not close-by, I don't check it out of boredom.

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

I wrote letters online to Baraka and Patience this month. I just found out that if you write them online you can include uploaded pictures and put it on really cute stationery. Plus it's free! I think I'll be doing this more frequently, at least once per month.

9.) Develop a deeper prayer relationship. 

I'm finishing up the book Too Busy Not to Pray, which I've really enjoyed so far. I've also tried to make use of "down times" like when I'm showering or driving to work to spend some time praying. Lots of room to grow on this one, but I'm working on it.

10.) Play with Sky every day. 

Sky and I have played together almost every single day this month. We maybe missed 2 days? Our favorite game lately is to play fetch in street with his tennis ball. We live on a secluded road that gets very little traffic, so it works great for him to get some good exercise running from one block to the next.

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

I ended up tackling a few areas this month. I completely cleaned out my bedroom closet and got rid of about 3 grocery bags worth of clothing. I also went through all 5 of my dresser drawers and organized the spice cabinet in the kitchen.

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

Kory and I have been volunteering this month at the Warming Center, which is a temporary homeless shelter that is set-up in a church building here in Roseburg when the temperature drops below 30 degrees. We've been there 3 nights so far, and really enjoyed it every time. This has been a great opportunity to serve and also to get to know some people in our town that we probably would never meet otherwise.

I've also been reading a book called Not Quite Adults, which is about how 20-somethings are taking longer to get "real" jobs, move out of their parents homes, get married, have kids, etc. I am very interested in this because it's about my generation and also because it affects my work (helping people find jobs) and my youth group involvement (what will the future be like for these high schoolers?), as well as my general curiosity about the world we live in. This has been really interesting to read about people my age whose lives have turned out so differently than mine.

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

We have instituted technology-free meal time, which has lead to some great conversation and also helped me with goal #7. We have also spent time this month looking at the stars on a (rare!) clear night, planning and working on home improvement projects, enjoying Netflix movie nights, and eating lunch together almost every day. I have an idea planned for February that I think will be a fun way to accomplish this goal and will also make a great Valentine's gift.

13 in 2013

Well, I have officially spent far too long thinking about this post and now we're a couple weeks into 2013 and I am just now solidifying my goals for the year. I have gone back and forth in my mind about what I want to do, and I've finally committed to them...I think ;)

I read a blog recently where the author did 12 goals in 2012 and 13 in 2013, so I think I'll follow Regina's lead and do 13 goals. However, some will be smaller than others, as I know that I have a lot going on already and don't want to set myself up for failure. Here are my 2013 goals, in no particular order:

1.) Try 2 new recipes each month. Since having all this dental work done, my desire to cook has declined significantly. I've spent so much time lately with a sore mouth that I either don't feel like eating or have very limited soft options, so I haven't cooked a real meal in...well, I don't remember the last one, so that tells you how long it has been. I really enjoy cooking most of the time and want to get back on track, so I'm hoping to try some new dishes and be more adventurous in this arena. I need to get going if I'm going to make this happen in January--time to get on Pinterest and start searching for new recipes.

2.) Memorize the book of James. I've actually already been working on this one for a while. Each year at CIY (the summer camp we go to), students get Kingdom cards and they receive some sort of challenge for the next year. You don't have to open an envelope, but if you open it, you have to do it. I have seen cards that include selling your most expensive possession and giving away the money, joining a new club at school, raising money to go on a foreign mission trip, starting a bible study at your high school and even memorizing the book of Ephesians. I decided I'd take on a Kingdom challenge at CIY this year along with the students and committed to memorizing my favorite book of the Bible, which is James. It's been tricky because I grew up with NIV (didn't we all??) and now our church uses ESV, so trying to memorize it with different wording than I already knew is a bit difficult. I've slacked off the past couple months and am still on Chapter 1, but I'm ready to kick it back in high gear again. I will complete this goal by August when we go to CIY (Christ in Youth) again.

3.) Pay off the Camry. We bought a house and a car in the same week last March. We wish we would have waited on the car, but we were stressed to the max about the house and bought the car in a bit of a rush. Silly us; lesson learned. Even so, we are blessed to have the money to pay for it and are going to really attack that debt and completely pay it off in 2013. Then, we'll probably start saving for our next vehicle, but putting money in savings always makes me feel way better than giving it away to some bank in California who charges us interest. Oh, and that will make us debt-free, except our house, which is always exciting!

4.) Give away produce from my garden. As I attempt to have a better, more productive garden this year, I want to be able to bless some other people with the fruits of my labor. Ideally, I'd like to give away at least some small portion of everything I grow. Based on last year's garden, that would mean I should have given away one of the 3 total snap peas I grew...let's hope for better results this year!

5.) Complete 12 crafty projects. I'm trying to leave this one a little bit more vague so I can have the freedom to sew or crochet or make holiday decorations or whatever I feel like. I'm totally ok combining this with another goal...my blog, my rules! haha

6.) Make our house feel more like a home. This one is pretty subjective, but I'm the one who has to follow through, so as long as I understand it, that is all that matters. With this one, I am thinking along the lines of buying/making curtains for the living rooms windows so our neighbors can't see straight in our house, getting a couple rugs for the bedrooms, putting some decorations up on the walls, replacing old yellow light fixtures, etc. I did quite a bit of holiday decorating, but now that Christmas stuff is put away, it feels pretty empty and bare in here.

7.) Take a break from my iPhone. I need to just say it: I am addicted to my phone. There is no denying it or excuses. It has gone too far. I have it by my side pretty much every second of the day; it is the last thing I look at when I lay down in bed and the very first thing I look at in the morning. I don't plan to get rid of my iPhone, but I am going to take some important, difficult steps to spend less time staring at that little screen. Plus, it's going to be much easier to accomplish these other goals if I'm spending less time checking social media on my phone.

8.) Keep in touch with our Compassion-sponsored children. We sponsor a little girl named Patience and a little boy named Baraka through Compassion International. Our monthly donation is deducted from our bank account directly, so the money always gets to the kids, but I think I only wrote 2 or 3 letters all of last year. I really want to be better about writing letters and sending small gifts to these two. I want to have more of a relationship with them instead of just sending money their way and hoping for the best.

9.) Develop a deeper prayer relationship. My prayer life has really been suffering for quite some time now. It's sporadic and inconsistent and sometimes non-existent. I always say I'll pray for someone; I occasionally actually do pray for them. I think about what I want DAILY; I ask God what HE wants sometimes. I've recently been convicted about this significant problem in my spiritual life and am making it a priority to improve immediately.

10.) Play with Sky every day. We have a seriously energetic dog with two prone-to-be-lazy owners, and that is just not fair to Sky. I don't think I could ever tire him out, but he does deserve to have more of our attention. Again, less time with the phone will really help here! Every day (when I'm in town, of course) I want to do something with him...go for a walk, play in the yard, throw a ball, run around the house in circles (this one is one of his favorites!), SOMETHING. We got a dog to play with and love and I want to do just that in this next year.

11.) Clean, organize and purge one drawer, closet, or cabinet each month. I am really not a hoarder/pack rat and I don't enjoy keeping a lot of junk just in case I might need it someday. I LOVE the feeling of sending unused items out of my home, so this one will be really satisfying for me. I don't think I'll have a ton of things to get rid of since I already try to do this on a fairly regular basis, but I know I will find things I didn't even know we owned (since some drawers have remained closed since we moved in almost a year ago).

12.) Spend time with and learn about people different than me. It is easy to be with people who are like me, but I don't want "easy" to be how my life is described. I want to step out of my comfort zone this year and make a real effort to be around people who don't fit in the same demographic as I do.

13.) Plan quality, creative time for Kory and I to be together. Kory and I spend lots of time together, but we don't always really engage with each other or spend meaningful time with each other. Right now, for example, I'm blogging on the laptop while he plays games on the iPad. We are sitting in the same room but haven't talked to each other for the past hour or so. I want to make a real effort to plan some technology-free time for us to be together and have fun!

As I read back through these, I realize that it might sound negative or like I'm really unhappy right now and have to make all these changes in my life to be satisfied. That is most definitely not the case. I just know that I have to make these commitments now if I am to become the person I want to be. I won't hold myself to the expectation of being perfect, but I will require that I make a valiant effort with each of these.

My plan is to do monthly updates on my progress with these goals. I know better than to promise a goal update every single month, but I'll do my best. Being a better blogger didn't make the list...maybe next year :)