Umm....yeah. About that blog...

So much has happened over the course of this last year. Major changes--very positive ones--physically, in our marriage, in our children's schooling, in the responsibilities I've taken on at church, have all contributed to the last year being an intense one. And, obviously, one that I didn't document, at least on this blog.

To run down the list:

Spiritual

1. Read through the Bible at least 3 times.

I've gotten better in reading the Word, but have not yet read through it once. I'm loving the 10-chapter reading schedule, but am only reading about 2x/week. This is my highest priority to change for the next year.

2. Have a consistent quiet time, including Bible reading, prayer, and journaling.

I have not made this consistent, and again it is my highest priority to firmly establish a consistent quiet time. I've been really challenged in my daily schedule, as our children's schooling situations have greatly changed. Our daughter is now homeschooling through an online charter school, which takes up a great deal of my time as she requires a lot of active teaching. Then three of our boys have moved to a charter school, which requires me to spend 2 hours daily driving. In these first two months of our new schedule, my quiet time has really suffered. 

3. Complete the 3 year discipleship course I'm in at my church.

I'm well on track to do this. My group will finish the second year as of the end of January, and I've benefited so very much from leading this group of ladies. We recently had one of our members have to switch to a different group because of a job change, which was sad. We've grown so close over all these weeks and months and years together.

4. Establish and maintain a regular time of family worship with my kids, and my guy as he's available.

We haven't done this at all. Time to get going on this.

Relational

5.  Go to the Oregon Coast for a few days with my guy

This hasn't happened yet, but I'm confident that we'll make it happen over the next couple of years. We were in Oregon together, but it was for his step-dad's funeral. Not exactly conducive to us taking the time for a romantic get-away.

6. Read through the Harry Potter series with the kids.

My oldest is listening to them all on audiobook. The boys lost interest, the stinkers. I may just reread them myself, and try reading them to the younger boys in a couple years.

7. Stay in close touch with my parents, siblings, and in-laws, as much as it lies in me.

I've been okay, but not where I want to be, regarding staying close with my parents. With my sibs and in-laws I haven't done as well. I still want to focus my next goal on family, so time to get going on this.

8. Establish the habit of sending a minimum of one snail-mail letter weekly.

I haven't even begun this one.

9. Get to know my neighbors.

This has been a hard process. I met a couple neighbors last year, but we both haven't followed through on getting together. Hopefully I can make some contact over this next couple of months. Thanksgiving and Christmas give some good opportunity for connecting.

Health and fitness

10. Get to a healthy weight. 

This is one of the areas that I have really made a major change in over this last year. After struggling with my weight for 30 years, I decided this was the year that it all was going to change. On August 3rd, I had a gastric bypass surgery. Since then, I've lost 75 lbs. It's amazing to feel lighter, to feel more energetic, to be able to run up the stairs without losing my breath. I hadn't truly realized how limited I'd allowed my life to become, as my weight crept higher and higher. I still have a long way to go--I want to lose another 85 lbs or so--but I'm confident that I will succeed. 

11. Get into a regular routine for fitness.

Not regular yet, but I have begun walking much more. 

12. Use the C25K program when I've lost enough weight to safely start running.

I'm not quite there yet, but I'm building stamina from walking.

13. Complete a 10K race.

Nowhere near ready to contemplate this one.

14. Find a hair style I love.

After growing my hair out the longest I've ever had it, down well below my waist, I just got it cut last week into a shoulder-length blunt cut, with long layers around my face. I love it! And it was fun to donate 18+ inches to Locks of Love.

15. Find the skin-care routine and products that work for me, and maintain.

I have an appointment with a friend from church who does Mary Kay. Hopefully I can move forward in this direction.

16. Take daily walks with the dog, weather permitting. 

Have not yet begun.

I'll post an update on the rest of the list tomorrow. Really.

I Blinked

I blinked, and missed a month. Okay, almost two. Lots of living going on in our home, just not much in the way of blogging. Amazingly, I'm making some progress on my list.

1. Made the ribbon set for the Bible reading program I'm following, and accidentally made it with 9 ribbons instead of the required 10. Oops! Still, at this point I'm thinking it was a providential mistake. I've added Acts to a cycle of NT readings, and am instead reading through James (using the ribbon my Bible came with) every four day. My church is currently studying James, with our pastor preaching through it on Sunday mornings and my small group discussing it on Wednesday nights. I'm loving the system, although I've not been as consistent as I want to be.

6. We're about halfway into the first Harry Potter book, and it's even better than I remembered. I don't think I've read the first books since the first time I picked them up, when I was pregnant with my oldest. Eleven years ago, now--too long. These are great books.

10. Continuing on, slowly but surely, to lose weight and get healthy. Am still competing with my online friends, for a third round, now, and truly appreciate the daily accountability and encouragement.

18. Purchased some bulbs, and they're sitting in the garage on a shelf. If they're going into the ground this fall, I think I need to move on it quickly--we're supposed to have some nasty weather this weekend. Hoping to get this done tomorrow or Saturday.

25. Confession time: I haven't scrapbooked at all this year, other than at Crop Because You Care in February. Have made zero progress in using up my stash, and have felt very unmotivated to scrapbook. Just today I suddenly felt a spark of interest in doing a specific project, to help catch up a family member who missed a big chunk of our lives. Considering doing this as a quick project for Christmas, using only stash materials. I also learned this person loves scrapbooking, herself, and am now mulling over sorting through my stash and giving her some materials with which to work.

30. While I've made some progress in using up my yarn stash, I've also added to it--kinda counter-productive, but hard to resist some particularly luscious fiber, especially when my fantastic parents gave me a Knitpicks gift card for my birthday.

31. Some good progress towards the goal of knitting a hat for everyone in my immediate family. I completed the one for my guy, and he loves it! I also finished one for my daughter, as well as one for my new niece. I'm currently working on one for my niece's cousin, who will be born in the next couple of weeks. I think they need matching hats, so I'm on a little side tangent right now, but am really enjoying the trip.

All in all, I'm happy to have made the progress I've made so far, but have a long way still to go.

Mercy

Tonight I got some time alone at a local coffee shop and worked on the Bible study for my discipleship group. We're studying Romans, and this week's study was on Romans 8:18-39. Such an amazing passage.

One of the questions in the study was to focus on verses 28-30 and identify the five actions God takes toward his people, defining each as accurately as you can. 

My response:

*foreknew--before creation, He knew us

*predestined--He chose those He would call to be His own

*called--by His love, claimed us as His own

*justified--made righteous, not through any effort or work of ours, but by His love and mercy and Christ's work on the cross

*glorified--in eternity future, we will no longer be in bondage to this fallen world, but will be free of sin and all its effects

While working through this question, I found myself having to hide behind my cup of chai so no one could see my tears, crying in the middle of a Beans & Brews over God's unbelievable kindness towards me. 

The last couple of years have seen me changing my doctrinal viewpoint regarding the doctrines of grace. It was a long, slow, and at times painful process for me to recognize the irresistible grace God gives to those He unconditionally elects, despite our total depravity.

Now I believe it, and reading through Romans breaks my heart in ways I can't even describe. His love and mercy are overwhelming, especially as described in the final two verses in the passage:

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 38-39 ESV

Where I'm at, part 2

Finishing up the rest of the list today.

Creative

25. Use up my current paper/product stash for my scrapbooks.

This is going to be a challenge. I have a lot--kinda a ridiculous amount--of paper and product for scrapbooking. And the sad truth is, I haven't done any scrapbooking at all since January. That's over eight months it's just sat untouched. At this point, I need to focus on organizing my stash so it's accessible and usable, and then I'll be able to think about getting going on it again.
26. Get all the children's baby and school albums current, as well as our Christmas album and our family album.

Working towards this goal should significantly move me in the right direction for completing the previous goal. Some of these album haven't even been started, so I need to get moving on it. I'm thinking I'll plan at least a once a month night to go to a crop, as a way to begin. But before going to any crops, I need to organize the pictures and ephemera I want included in the album. Again, organization.
27. Scrapbook albums of me and my husband before our marriage, and complete our wedding album.

Our wedding album was the first one I made, and I now can't even look at it. It's just too rough. I need to start completely over from scratch. The albums for me and my guy will require getting pictures from my folks and his mom, as well as plowing through the boxes (and boxes and boxes) of slides we have from his dad, putting them into a digital format, and finding the missing pictures of his childhood.
28. Make the move to primarily digitally scrapbooking.

I'm excited to think about doing this. I have Photoshop--an older version, but it works for me--and I've played around with it a bit. Very fun. Primarily digi-scrapping will have to wait until I've plowed through my current stash and projects, though, so it's going onto the back burner for now.
29. Set up my own Library of Memories system for scrapbooking

I'm hoping to implement this with all new pictures I upload, and then to gradually work through older pictures. I need to purchase some storage so I can make the drawers, and also work through the thought process of how exactly I want to break down the years/people. In the next month, I want to have the bare bones system set up on my computer, so I can tag and label appropriately.
30. Use up my current yarn stash for my knitting.

My yarn stash isn't as big as my paper/product stash, but it's still pretty good-sized, especially for someone who only began knitting last year. I'm looking forward to going through my stash and thinking about assigning projects to yarn.
31. Knit a hat for everyone in my family (husband and kids).

I have a hat almost completed for one of my twins. It was originally intended for my guy, but when I was done it was obviously not going to work for him. I do have the yarn to start a hat for my guy again, so that will be next, after completing the hat for my boy.
32. Knit other cool stuff. Lots of it. Document on Ravelry and eventually scrapbook.

This is going to be purely fun. And, bonus, will use up my stash. Happy for me.
33. Make quilts: for each new baby in my extended family, for each of my children, a memory quilt of my father-in-law as a gift to my mother-in-law.

I have the materials to make a quilt for my soon-to-be-born niece, and need to pull out the ironing board and my cutting supplies. Hoping to get this done this week--we'll see how it goes, with my kids off track and my guy out of town.

For my father-in-law's memory quilt, I have some clothing from when we were in Oregon for his funeral. At the moment, I'm waiting on my mother-in-law to get me the rest of what she wants in the quilt, so on hold for the moment.
34. Start singing again.

I'm hoping to find an opportunity to join the worship team at my church or a local choir at some point, but it isn't an option right now, with my kids all being quite small and my guy traveling so much. On hold for now.
35. Cross stitch a beautiful piece for our bedroom.

I began this a few months ago--designed the text portion, and started. On hold for now. I need to focus on other creative projects for the moment, and this is a project that I need to reserve for times when I feel up for it.

Community

36. Something with the ladies in my church. 

This needs some thought.

37. Volunteer at the kids' school.

Again, I need to think about how to do this. Logistically, I need a sitter for my little guy if I'm going to the school. 
38. Volunteer at the local PRC.

On hold for now. Thinking about it.

Reaching Beyond
39. Go back to school. Eventually (after 40) get my Bachelor's degree.

Also on hold for now. Finances are an issue, as well as the time commitment. I'm hoping to be able to take a portion of our tax return next year and allot it for this. Need to discuss with my guy.
40. 

So, there it is. I have a long way to go. I'm looking forward to the process, as well as the results.

37

Today's my birthday. I'm planning on a low-key celebration.Got a surprise gift card for Borders, and am going to go out today--alone!--and get a couple books and some coffee. I may even take myself out for a quiet lunch. My guy will hang out with the kids, while I indulge in some peace and solitude. Before going, though, I wanted to evaluate my list, and note where I am on each item.

Spiritual

1. Read through the Bible at least 3 times. 

I've gotten much more consistent in my Bible reading over the last 8 months, since beginning with the three year discipleship program, Metochoi. One thing I'm not happy with, though, is the program I'm following. It just feels too disjointed, reading only out of one section a day. I'm starting a new one today, and am planning on giving it at least a month to evaluate how I like it. I've printed the bookmarks, and plan on laminating them today. If I decide to follow this plan long-term, I'll likely make a set of ten ribbon bookmarks for my Bible.

2. Have a consistent quiet time, including Bible reading, prayer, and journaling.

This year I've gotten better (although not where I want to be) with consistent Bible reading, but tend  to be not be systematic with prayer. And journaling is something entirely new to my walk in faith. I've got a couple ideas rolling around in my head for ways to consistently incorporate them both into my daily quiet time. One thing I'm thinking about is digitally creating a journaling page for each week's Metochoi study. This would be a neat way to bring some different parts of myself together, my faith and my creative side. I'm going to try it this week and see where it goes.

3. Complete the 3 year discipleship course I'm in at my church.

My small group began in January with three of us regularly meeting every Sunday evening, and grew to four in spring. It's been a stretching experience for me, particularly in leading a group where I'm the youngest member. I love these ladies, and the time we spend in study, accountability, prayer, and just sharing our hearts, has become a highlight of my week. We're studying Romans using a study guide by John Stott right now, and once a month hitting a chapter in Donald Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.

4. Establish and maintain a regular time of family worship with my kids, and my guy as he's available. 

Yesterday I ordered a book I've been wanting to read with the kids. They're off track right now, and that makes it easy to spend time with them. Once they go back on track at the end of the month, though, this will get tougher. We have Awana on Tuesday nights and small group on Wednesday, and between their school schedule, homework, chores, and music practice I'm already feeling  strapped for time with them. And yet, family worship time needs to be a priority. I'm considering doing it during dinner, since I often don't eat with them anyway. Am hoping to get this started this week.

Relational

5.  Go to the Oregon Coast for a few days alone with my guy.

We've been to Oregon as a family several times this year--a wedding, a funeral, a family trip--and I don't anticipate my guy and I being able to plan this trip until at least next year. It will require not  only funds for us to use at the Coast, but also coordinating the logistics of our kids being cared for while we're away. On hold for now.

6. Read through the Harry Potter series with the kids.

I have some of Rawling's books, but not all. Will be keeping an eye out at yard sales/thrift stores/book stores. I do have the first, though! I'm thinking I'll begin with it on Monday, and could reasonably expect to  complete the first book before they go back on track. It's pretty short, comparatively, and I'm looking forward to it.

7. Stay in close touch with my parents, siblings, and in-laws, as much as it lies in me.

Facebook has been an enormous help in maintaining some regular contact with my sisters. My brothers tend to not be very active online, so I need to make sure to write them somewhat regularly. I tend to talk with my folks on the phone a couple times a month. I want to actively work on strengthening all these relationships, though, especially with my siblings. I tend to think they'll be the primary focus of my next goal.
8. Establish the habit of sending a minimum of one snail-mail letter weekly.

I jotted quick notes in cards for a friend and my sister-in-law a couple days ago. Still haven't dropped them in the mail, even though they're addressed and stamped. Will drop them at the PO later this morning, and am bringing some supplies to write an actual letter to one of my brothers today.

9. Get to know my neighbors.

A couple weeks ago I finally--after 3.5 years of living in our home--met my neighbor who lives directly behind us. She's lovely! A Christian, which in our LDS-dominated neighborhood is a rarity, and just a sweetheart. We talked for almost an hour. Last week she came by and introduced me and another neighbor, who goes to her church. We chatted for a few minutes--I had dinner pending, and had to run. We exchanged phone numbers, though, and agreed to get together for coffee when my bigs are back on track. I'm excited to make some friends in my neighborhood. 

Health and fitness

10. Get to a healthy weight. 

I'm currently going low carb, and am down 14.8 lbs from when I started working on losing weight. Have a long way to go, but am at least going in the right direction. I'm in a contest with an online group of friends right now, and find that surprisingly motivating. My competitive side emerging.
11. Get into a regular routine for fitness.

I've actually been doing pretty well on this over the last few months. The online competition has required regular exercise, and I've been alternating between 30 minutes walking and 30 minutes on the recumbent bike. When the kids go back on track, I'm planning on going to the rec center and using the weight  machines 2-3 a week. I took a class at the rec center earlier this year, to learn how to use the machines properly. My guy did weight training way back when, and he's going to help me get started on the appropriate settings for the machines so I can get the maximum benefit.
12. Use the C25K program when I've lost enough weight to safely start running.

I'm still too heavy to feel comfortable thinking about starting to run, but as I get stronger--and lighter--I'm planning on starting this program. I've seen a couple friends successfully become runners, starting from being similarly sedentary. I want to do this. Right now, I'm thinking of starting it in the spring.
13. Complete a 10K race.

This is a long-term goal. After I've worked through C25K, I want to see if I can push further. 
14. Find a hair style I love.

In the last year, I've let my hair grow pretty long. My guy prefers it long, and I recently got it cut in some long layers, so it's not just laying limp. I want to start putting a little time into my hair in the mornings.  

15. Find the skin-care routine and products that work for me, and maintain.

I have no plan on this, beyond being more regular in using what I currently have. Need to see how my skin reacts to daily care, and go from there.
16. Take daily walks with the dog, weather permitting. 

This should be simple, on the days my guy is home. I just need to get up a bit earlier. I don't like taking walks with all the kids--it defeats my goals of getting exercise, since they dawdle, and their incessant chatter doesn't allow me any peace or time with my own thoughts. When my guy is out of town, as he often is, it gets a bit more complicated.

Domestic

17. Harvest and preserve a vegetable garden yearly

We put in a late garden this year, but I didn't really put in any effort into it. We harvested about three cherry tomatoes, and that was two more than we deserved. I need to clean up the garden this fall and get it put to bed for the winter. Will plan on doing that over the next couple of weeks.

18. Plant bulbs in the fall. Enjoy them in the spring.

I'm looking forward to getting some bulbs in the next month.
19. Tackle our front yard. Grow something pretty.

This project I'm likely going to plan on for the coming spring.
20. Make our bedroom a pretty, peaceful haven.

Last week I tidied it up a bit, but our room is a long way from being where I want it to be. I'm going to take this slowly, though--partly because of money limitations, and partly because I didn't get the home decorating gene and I'm unsure about how to proceed. I'll likely end up completely copying a room I like from a magazine, so I should start looking at pictures and taking notes.
21. Paint and decorate our home.

This will also be a longer-term project. Right now I'm going to start looking through magazines and clip pictures I like. 
22. Create a master menu list, monthly menus/shopping lists, and consistently use them.

I have several different versions of this. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to work on compiling them and coming up with a 4 week menu plan. 
23. Master living in my budget.

Ugh. An ongoing struggle, and something I want to learn to do joyfully. Will require prayer.
24. Maintain a clutter-free and tidy home.

This is an area I've struggled with over the years. As I work towards this, I'm going to think about incorporating the routines of a program, maybe Flylady, perhaps something else. I've never successfully kept up my house to a level of cleanliness that I'm proud of, and I'd like to be able to change that.

I'll come back later to finish the rest of the list, but for now I want to go out and enjoy my birthday!

Creative

25. Use up my current paper/product stash for my scrapbooks.
26. Get all the children's baby and school albums current, as well as our Christmas album and our family album.
27. Scrapbook albums of me and my husband before our marriage, and complete our wedding album.
28. Make the move to primarily digitally scrapbooking.
29. Set up my own Library of Memories system for scrapbooking
30. Use up my current yarn stash for my knitting.
31. Knit a hat for everyone in my family (husband and kids).
32. Knit other cool stuff. Lots of it. Document on Ravelry and eventually scrapbook.
33. Make quilts: for each new baby in my extended family, for each of my children, a memory quilt of my father-in-law as a gift to my mother-in-law.
34. Start singing again.
35. Cross stitch a beautiful piece for our bedroom.
Community

36. Something with the ladies in my church. This needs some thought.

37. Volunteer at the kids' school.
38. Volunteer at the local PRC.

Reaching Beyond
39. Go back to school. Eventually (after 40) get my Bachelor's degree.
40.

I wasn't kidding about the OCD thing

I couldn't handle the randomness of my first list. Here's the newest version of my list, properly categorized.

Spiritual

1. Read through the Bible at least 3 times.
2. Have a consistent quiet time, including Bible reading, prayer, and journaling.
3. Complete the 3 year discipleship course I'm in at my church.
4. Establish and maintain a regular time of family worship with my kids, and my guy as he's available.
Relational

5.  Go to the Oregon Coast for a few days with my guy

6. Read through the Harry Potter series with the kids.

7. Stay in close touch with my parents, siblings, and in-laws, as much as it lies in me.
8. Establish the habit of sending a minimum of one snail-mail letter weekly.

9. Get to know my neighbors.
Health and fitness

10. Get to a healthy weight. 
11. Get into a regular routine for fitness.
12. Use the C25K program when I've lost enough weight to safely start running.
13. Complete a 10K race.
14. Find a hair style I love.
15. Find the skin-care routine and products that work for me, and maintain.
16. Take daily walks with the dog, weather permitting. 

Domestic

17. Harvest and preserve a vegetable garden yearly

18. Plant bulbs in the fall. Enjoy them in the spring.
19. Tackle our front yard. Grow something pretty.
20. Make our bedroom a pretty, peaceful haven.
21. Paint and decorate our home.
22. Create a master menu list, monthly menus/shopping lists, and consistently use them.
23. Master living in my budget.
24. Maintain a clutter-free and tidy home.
Creative

25. Use up my current paper/product stash for my scrapbooks.
26. Get all the children's baby and school albums current, as well as our Christmas album and our family album.
27. Scrapbook albums of me and my husband before our marriage, and complete our wedding album.
28. Make the move to primarily digitally scrapbooking.
29. Set up my own Library of Memories system for scrapbooking
30. Use up my current yarn stash for my knitting.
31. Knit a hat for everyone in my family (husband and kids).
32. Knit other cool stuff. Lots of it. Document on Ravelry and eventually scrapbook.
33. Make quilts: for each new baby in my extended family, for each of my children, a memory quilt of my father-in-law as a gift to my mother-in-law.
34. Start singing again.
35. Cross stitch a beautiful piece for our bedroom.
Community

36. Something with the ladies in my church. This needs some thought.

37. Volunteer at the kids' school.
38. Volunteer at the local PRC.

Reaching Beyond
39. Go back to school. Eventually (after 40) get my Bachelor's degree.
40.