2015 Resolutions

Happy New Year!

Now I'm not normally a resolution person.  In past years, I have promised myself many things and continued to let myself down.  I have promised to floss every day, start taking a multivitamin, lose a few pounds... and then several weeks (or months) later I actually realize that my resolutions had gone completely out the window.

However, this year I thought we would make more of an effort to make some changes in our lives.  Some are "goals" and some are just more along the lines of "make more of an effort to..."  This way, our resolutions are more "loose ideas" and less of a strict must-stick-with-this-or else list of rules.  I have decide to share what things we are prioritizing this year and perhaps my publicizing them will help us stick to them!

1.  Cook more - I have come to the realization that I pin a zillion recipes on pinterest and then never look at them again.  I want to change this.  Even before January 1st, I had already tried 3 new recipes - one breakfast and two dinner recipes!  The goal for this new year is to cook more, and incorporate 4 new meals per month.  (Side note - I have also realized that 80% of the pins on my "food" board are desserts - more specifically chocolate!  I am also going to try to make an effort to make more of these, maybe one a month or something like that.  Although, I am a firm believer that you can never have too much chocolate if the dessert resolution doesn't work out it won't be the end of the world.)

2.  Work out more - This one is fairly stereotypical, but now that I don't have a baby inside of me anymore, (well, it's really more like now that I am no longer recovering from having a human come out of me) I want to get back into a more regular workout routine.  I also spent a lot of (some) time in high school and college lifting weights, which I would also like to get back into.  I'm not sure if my pelvis is quite ready for another half marathon quite yet (the half I ran in November was pretty rough - which I will write more about later) I would at least like to make sure that I am keeping up with the shorter distance runs.   I'm trying to keep this one simple.  No "must work out 5 days a week" or "must lose 10 pounds" or anything super strict like that.  Just make a effort to be active more and a lazy ass less.

3.  Tithe - this is a pretty big one for us right now.  We have been thinking and praying about what God says about this and what he directly instructs us to do as Christians.  We will be making some major changes to our budget so that we might be able to give according to HIS will.

4.  Be on our phones less - okay this one is probably more for me, but now that Heidi is getting "older" (aka more observant) I want to make a very conscious effort to spend less time looking at my phone.  I don't want her to see me staring at a screen constantly and I don't want her to have the desire as a toddler to "be like mommy" and always have to have a toy phone/screen/whatever in front of her.  I am also resoluting (yes I realize that is not a real word) to click less links on facebook.  So-and-so shared this link "15 Obnoxious Celebrity Faces!"  "10 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before I Did THIS!"  "Watch This Video It's So Hilarious!"  I should be spending less time reading that garbage and more time doing something else, so I will try to limit clicking on those links to only those that look super appealing and semi-informative.

5.  Become more active members of our church - I am a firm and passionate believer that one hour of church per week does not make you a follower of the Lord, the hands and feet of Christ or true member of the church, in the same way that running for a half a mile once a week does not make you a marathon runner.  Especially after my brief stint as an employee of a church, I have realized how truly important it is to involve yourself in more than just sitting in a service once a week.  The church IS the people and if the people aren't doing anything or being active participants than what do we have?  We have been super guilty of this at various points in our lives, so after talking about it for what seems like forever we finally took the leap and got in contact with a community group that meets semi-close to our house.  January 5th, we attended our first gathering and it was AMAZING!  I have missed having that community SO much and I am so thrilled to see where that journey leads us.  I would also like to involve ourselves in other ways through our church as well although, we haven't quite narrowed that one down yet.  Perhaps we will volunteer with the childrens' community and/or maybe contribute to the homeless ministry.  Pray that God will continue to place this on our hearts and guide us so that we might fulfill His will!

6.  Live more simply - This one is a little more ambiguous, and I am continuing to pray that God would reveal what this means for us exactly.  I know that there are some material things that we do not currently struggle with as a family (the need for fancy cars, the newest Apple toys or fancy decor for our home) but I know that there are still many things that we can change about our lives so that we are living more focused on the Lord and less on worldly things.  No matter how much or how little we have, I want to lay down those things holding us back from drawing nearer to Him.  As Jack preached this past Sunday, Christianity is a marathon and like taking off a jacket during a race and tossing it aside we must also toss aside those things keeping us from running a better race.  (I'm sure he said that way better than I just did but you get the gist.)  What does this mean for us at this point in our lives?  I'm not sure yet.  Spending less money that's for sure.  (Less Starbucks, less eating out...etc.)  but in what radical ways can we live simpler lives, desire less, compare ourselves to others less and be more satisfied with what He has provided to us?  I know he will speak to us and our hearts so we can know what this truly means.

Spending less and living more simply by learning to make my own
mochas at home - including homemade chocolate syrup!
Take that Starbucks!  Recipe found here!

Wishing you and your family a joyful new year that is filled with love, growth and peace!