2014

Many posts were meant to be written around Advent, Christmas, New Year, etc. etc. but Jill and I both got sick and then throw in travel, holidays, kids breaks from school and we missed our window. But that is OK because one thing Jill and I are and that is real. Life gets busy. Life gets hard and every now and then you get hit with a big ol virus and it wipes you out for weeks.

Despite being sick we had a wonderful Christmas and I treasured the time with my children. I find myself craving the deep, personal time with them more and more as they get older. I sign my daughter up for kindergarten on Monday!  Yes, I join in the ranks of saying, "where have the years gone"???

Every year I do set goals. I love change and I think that is why I love January. New beginnings, clean house (sort of), new goals, new clean slates and calendars. My husband struggles to let go of December but I welcome in January with open arms. Here are some goals I have personally set for myself this year. Over the weekend, I will review my 2013 goals and give you my opinion on how it went.

2014 Goals

1. Health is a priority. I suffer from chronic acid reflux. Over 10 years of suffering and this year my Doc changed his tune. After tons of tests, scopes, blood work, etc. he said things have to change or I could see cancer in my 40's. That makes my health #1 this year. Diet, exercise, life changes.  It will be hard but I got a little wake up call. It isn't that I have lived poorly or I eat terrible, but there are many triggers for reflux and eating healthy has gone from a desire to a necessity.

2.  More quality time with my family. I feel we have always had a good balance in this area but as my kids are getting older the need of having meaningful time alone with them is critical.

3. Time for myself. Last year I learned with 3 kids under 5 that I need to carve out time for me. Two years ago I had to stop a lot of activities I loved - accountability group, a lot of missed girls nights out, summer bible study, even reading less on a personal level because I had a 3 month old, 20 month old and 3 year old. I needed to be home. I needed to rest. I needed minimal responsibilities. While I needed to be home and I was ok with it, I didn't get a lot of time for me.  It was a season.

Fast forward two years and my kids are older and we are back in the groove of a "normal" life and routine.  All my kids go to MMO once a week now and the Y is my best friend and a necessity for me (see point one).  I will most definitely keep this a priority.

4. Seeing Christ in the pages of scripture. I am craving God's word and I feel refreshed and renewed in studying and seeing what things He is teaching me.

5. Continue to partner with Jill as we move our blog and book forward. We are very close to being done. It is a longggggggg  process but we can feel it coming to completion. Once our friend Michele (our cover Designer) gets a hold of the interior we know it is good as gold! We have SO many ideas and hopes and dreams. We have always said it is God's timing and that has proven to be true for us over and over.

6. Writing book #2 with Jill this spring/summer. We already have the idea picked out and a mental cover that we know Michele will design perfectly.

7. Being a good friend to others. I love people and I love serving others. One of my daily prayers is that I would see those around me and love on them and encourage them as best as I can.

8. Being a loving/supportive wife to Greg. He is such an incredible guy. I love how he takes humility to a whole different level. I can't explain how he does it but I long to be like him in this area. Trust me - I watch and study him. He is meek and many times I marvel at how strong but yet how humble he carries himself. It is such a great character trait of the Lord. (He would probably be mad I even wrote this)

9. Read more. I love to read. It is my passion. I'll post more later on what I plan to read.

10. Use my words to build up, encourage, love, and spur others.

11. Be transparent. I want my life to be a place of safety and freedom for others to also struggle, wrestle, and work it out with "fear and trembling". We are all messed up but by God's sweet grace we have a great hope. I promise to be transparent. I promise to live it out and wrestle it out with you.

I have more but these will do for now.

May 2014 be a year of great hope for us all. I don't know what it holds - good things, bad things, hard things, sweet things, great joy, great pain, gain, loss, contentment, discontentment, sin, redemption, forgiveness, grace, love, joy, and hope....  Whatever may come - Jesus Christ loves us and His grace and mercy and love will carry us through.

Leeanne