2020 Purposes

Tracy / January 10, 2020

I sort of hate the word “resolutions”.

I’m not sure why, exactly. I think maybe it’s the implication of things I may not finish.

I mean, how many of us make resolutions at the beginning of the year to complete some task, only to make it the end of the year disappointed with ourselves because life happened, and we just didn’t find time to reach those goals.

The word “purposing” is such a better plan! At the end of the year, even if you’ve only been able to make baby steps, you have still made progress, and ultimately, that is the most important thing!

So, here we go:

First, a state of 2019.

I lost my precious father in law this year. It was a dose of his humanity, and mine, to my spirit. I thought we would have him many, many more years and had looked forward to years ahead when he might come and live in our home.

He was a very sweet man, and one who I see echoed in my husband. He was the first person outside of our family here I called when I found out my mom had cancer. He was at the hospital when I had babies and when Jon broke his arm. He was someone who would give wise advice and laugh easily. I loved him.

At some point, I may write more about this, but for now, I just can’t. It was unexpected, and hurts far too much.

I also lost one of my closest and dearest friends to a very rare, and aggressive form of cancer. I know she is with the Lord, and whole and without pain, but I sure miss her.

We had new babies added to the family! That was a good thing. The little fellas born at the end of last year are AMAZING to watch. They both came on the same day and made this grand-mama so happy. All of them are just so sweet. I could sit and watch them for hours.   #babiesareablessing

WE PAID OFF OUR HOUSE. (Insert happy dance!) It was such a huge goal. For a few years, the children and I worked markets and did little things to help make extra payments (and we made a couple), but in the end, my husband worked like crazy to reach this goal. He did not want to have this debt hanging over our family and had often commented on how nice it would be to have it paid off by the time he was 50. He did it!!

We did big things, and hard things, and wonderful things, and made a whole lot of memories. I would say it was a busy, but good year!  God is good!

We celebrated New Year’s Eve, just like always. Games, cheese balls, and brownies with ice cream and hot fudge. We prayed over each of our children, even those who no longer live in our home. It was just perfect.

On New Year’s Day, I thought back to the last two years and how grateful I am to not be re-living those, for many reasons, but one big one is that the last 2 years the first day of the year has found me only a couple of days past pretty big surgeries. Last year, I was having a polyp removed, the year before a pretty large tumor from my back. New Year’s Eve that year was so hard, my back had been aching since I had arrived home from the hospital. We had other things happening, too. It was just a lot. I found out just a few days later the surgical site had filled with fluid, which is why I was having so much pain.  YOUCH!

I’m so thankful to not be living through either experience at the beginning of this year, lol!

Paul and I sat across a table and planned. We firmed up new budgets for our family and made plans for the year for our family. I was able to discuss my “purposes” with him for this coming year. It was so nice to plan and be on the same page for the coming months!

The following are my official “2020 Purposes”. I have prayed for months over where the Lord would have our family in this coming year. The following are where we will be making intentional efforts (and progress we have made, so far!):

1. Pre-plan our meals- A couple of years ago, I sat down and pre-scheduled 18 months worth of meals. It was THE BEST THING, EVER. I thought is was too big. I figured it would take forever to do, but it didn’t! I’ll admit, I got a little spoiled never having to plan menus, and even the grocery lists became super simple. Our plan finally came to an end in December so I had to sit and plan it all out again- this time, I could only find a 1 year calendar, so in December I’ll be busy again, but it will be worth it!

2. My health- I have been on a journey this last year that allowed me to lose 60lbs. When Dad went into the hospital early in the summer, I was with him almost every day, for months. I gained 30lbs back. :/  I’m back on target now, and have already lost some again. I will be so glad to be feeling better again!

3. Intentional Marriage- This means we have pre-planned dates, and even some time away a couple of time a year. We actually started doing this more last year. It was so good for our relationship. I’m looking forward to more focused time with my dear one this year.

4. Block scheduling for school- We started this school year by switching to an entirely new curriculum (we are still using Teaching Textbooks for math and LOVE it!). It is easy to do with each child and even I am learning so much.  It is all a good fit and we are enjoying the change. Pairing it with block scheduling means that we are able to get it all done, pretty much for the first time, ever. It is a relief to my mind!

5. Intentional Homemaking- This means planned special events with the children. FlyLady scheduling (which has been working so well for our family the last several months), and creating a COZI calendar to keep our family organized. I will try and share more of these details a little later!

6. Home remodeling- This one scares me a little. We’ve actually made some pretty big changes to our home over the 9 years we have lived here, but they are about to ramp up a bit.  This year’s planned projects include, purchasing the flooring for the entire house, remodeling one of the front bedrooms and re-locating the door, creating what will be our permanent dining hall, re-locating our front door, and completely re-modeling our master bathroom. It’s a lot and it is about to start. I know that will mean we have contractors in our house for a good bit of this year, but it will be so nice to have done!

7. Finish what you start! I’m going to write about my experience with this one soon.  Paul actually beat me to this…today, he’s already installed a router we have had for 3 months, but haven’t had time to get connected.

8. Holiday prep- I’m doing pretty good with this one. I already have gifts for friends, grandsons, many of our church families, and our cards for next year are already purchased and return addresses have been added! We are budgeting money each month to allow us to hopefully finish most of our holiday purchases by the end of the summer. So far, so good!  Those after-holiday sales have allowed me to already take a chunk out of this “purpose”.

9. Intentional Hospitality- I’ve stayed away from having too many people here for a couple of years now, but we are making plans to be intentional this year. I miss opening our home to others. I truly believe that is why the Lord allowed us to find this house. I’m also making plans to better know my neighbors. I try to speak to them when we see them out in their yards, but I would like to go further and know them better (the Lord willing!), this year.

10. Intentional Playtime- This is part of our block scheduling. I now have time built in to sit in the floor and play with my little ones!  Of everything I’ve mentioned above, this one makes me the happiest. <3  It’s just too easy for moms, who have a million things piled up on the list of things they have to do, to lose this time. Now it’s scheduled!

11. The absolute most important, is that I want to find more time to spend with the Lord. I’m still working on my Good Morning Girls Bible study, but I’ve recently added the app Fighter Verses to help me memorize more scripture. I try to work through my verse, and review previous verses each morning as I’m doing my Bible study. I’m also finding that turning off the radio when I’m in the car and spending that time in dedicated prayer has been such a blessing. It’s time to really pour my heart out.

That’s it! I hope at the end of this year, I can look back and be absolutely amazed to see what the Lord has done as I purpose to work in each of these areas.

Blessings to you,

 

 


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