reflection on goals for 2010

At the start of 2010, I outlined five goals for the year. Below are my thoughts on the success of these goals:

1. Focus on journaling on my scrapbook pages. I am going to slow down a bit and focus more on the story...and more importantly, the deeper story, the truer story. Not just fluff and happiness. No one's life is just that. We have trials and I want to incorporate those too. I want the story to be part of the page and not just an after thought...and I want it to be longer than a one-liner. I made a lot of progress in this area in 2010. I tried to take a more honest approach with my writing and believe I captured parts of our life that we're currently struggling with. I think down the road, it will be good to look back on these pages and see how far we've gone. SUCCESS!

2. Concentrate on growing my relationship with God. For some reason, my heart feels open to letting God into my life (finally). This is completely new to me, but I am going to go with that feeling and really try to learn more, and in the process love God more. I have many things planned to accomplish this. During my Sabbatical in May, I will be reading through Proverbs (one a day for 30 days). I will also be reading the devotional book Captivating, which is about a woman's life through God's eyes. Outside of my Sabbatical, I am going to read Joel Osteen's Your Best Life Begins Each Morning (one every morning of 2010). I also received a wonderful new bible from Chris for Christmas that I will be studying. I will also be participating in a book study with three other people on Waking the Dead, and I am looking forward to delving into those deep waters. I am in a place that I never expected to be. 2010 brought me a lot of forgiveness, a lot of openness, and a new heart toward God. I was standing in my own way, and now I feel like I have so much to learn. But I am excited about the journey ahead and am so grateful that the bitterness is gone and I am able to embrace this relationship. SUCCESS!

3. Restructure my week to make Sunday a day of rest, instead of a day of chores. In loving God more, and in trying to incorporate the "rest and renewal" theme from our Sabbatical into the rest of year outside of those 30 days, I want to revamp my week so that Sunday can be for renewal. I currently do not have a down day, and I do feel the repurcussions of that. Laundry, cleaning out the fridge/pantry, making the weekly menu, grocery shopping, and cleaning the house will all be moved to another day throughout the week. Eh, not so much. I worked at this for a few weeks, but it just wasn't falling into place for me. I guess I'll just have to take the rest when it comes! NOT A SUCCESS.

4. Clean eating, clean eating, clean eating. I have serious plans for this goal, and need to have serious motivation to back it up. Our church has challenged everyone to begin 2010 by giving something up for the first 21 days of January...I plan to use this challenge to kick start this goal. I will be giving up white sugar and white flour. Once the 21 days are up, I will continue on and will add more clean eating principles...no salt...lots of water...no processed foods...by the end of the year, I would like to be eating a diet that is 95% clean with one treat a month. I am tired of food controlling me. I'm going to combine clean eating with some intense workouts and hope to achieve a little weight loss (10 - 15 pounds) and also lose this horrible murky feeling. You would not believe how good your body feels when it is purged of poison. It's amazing and I want to be there and I want to stay there. This goal had mixed results. I am happy to report that I have gone a full year with no white sugar! But the rest not so much. I lost about 5 pounds through doing P90X for three months, but the eating was a free-for-all. As long as it didn't have sugar in it, I went with it. I do feel so great having purged sugar from my body though. I don't plan on starting back with that any time soon. MODERATE SUCCESS.

5. Get to know my husband's heart on a deeper level. Chris and I truly have a wonderful relationship. I believe that he is my soul mate and that we were meant to find one another and that we are meant to spend the rest of our days side by side. On a daily basis, we laugh, we love, we treat each other well. Yet, even after being together for over 6 years, there is still so much I don't know about his heart, and vice versa. My wish is for us to get to know each other on a whole new level, and one thing we plan to do is have our own study on Waking the Dead. Beyond that, we need to take some time out of our busy life to focus on each other and on our love. He is an amazing man and I want to know him completely. I feel that through my new relationship with God, my relationship with Chris is also growing. We are praying together whenever we can, and that is helping me to know him on a much deeper level. Daily life does still get in the way sometimes and I would like to make more effort to have one on one time with him so we can talk and have fun. MODERATE SUCCESS BUT ON-GOING!

2010 was an amazing year! Now I'm looking ahead to 2011 and what I hope to accomplish...