it was a year of transitions and changes. joys and challenges. exciting beginnings and lots of lessons learned in the process. this was probably the fastest year of my life!
in 2016, we had a baby and became parents. we muddled through the first few sleepy + delirious months of taking care of a newborn - tackling breastfeeding, sleep training, nap schedules, learning to live life with a small but very dependent human being. eugene finished pharmacy school, got accepted into a residency program and started residency. he took and passed his boards - he's a pharmacist now (whoo!) I quit my job at the hospital and became a stay at home mama. overall, 2016 was wonderful.
last year, I didn't take time to think of any resolutions -- i guess it was overshadowed by my water breaking on new year's day and having a baby (hehe, woops!) but there is something refreshing about stepping into a new year. a new year provides opportunity of introspective + extrospective reflection and examination of who + where we are today - and puts us in a posture of anticipation of what's to come! this year's new years day landed on a sunday which meant we were able to give the firstfruits of 2017 to the Lord in corporate worship - it was the sweetest! our pastor challenged us to redeem everything in our lives for the Lord -- every opportunity, every unique circumstance in our life now, every person we come across - everything that our lives touch. I was so challenged to make much of Christ, more than ever before, in this new year; to redeem everything in my life to bring glory to Him and to make Him known. when I think about who and where I want to be at the end of 2017, I honestly just want to know Christ more deeply, love Christ more fervently and to steward the things I have in my life more faithfully.. so to that end - here are my 2017 new years resolutions!
1. read more
a few months ago, I purchased a nook from amazon because I really wanted to get back to reading more books but its so hard to hold a book open and turn pages whilst watching/chasing/feeding a baby! it has been such a great investment. I am definitely reading more and having this handy and super portable device has given me a fresh + new excitement and eagerness to read. I am currently reading a biography of diedrich bonhoeffer and it's been awesome! these other books are the ones i'm currently tackling with different small groups + friends, so hopefully this year will be one with lots of reading and learning!
i'm also hoping to finish reading through the bible in 2017. I am currently on 1 Kings in the old testament and gonna trek through the new testament with this reading plan. keep me accountable!
2. memorize more
after becoming a mama, I realized the invaluable tool of scripture memorization. during those long days of cluster feedings and late nights of waking up every other hour to feed a baby, my mind was fried and I had little to no mental capacity to sit down and read something. in those times, I was so, so grateful for the verses I had memorized throughout my life because God really used His word that I had stored in my heart to strengthen + sustain me. I am hoping to really devote this year to regular scripture memorization! His word is living and active, and so powerful! my hope and prayer is that the Word I store in my heart would cause me to be changed in my inner being, rather than causing me to be puffed up in pride and mere head-knowledge! I thought it would be appropriate to memorize psalm 119:9-11 to kick the year off. join me!
3. finish trekking through the child training bible
when I was pregnant, a few moms at our church had purchased the child training bible (group discount, holla!) throughout my pregnancy, I tried to go through and put my CTB together. the child training bible provides verses for different issues (anger, anxiety, self control, etc) and enables you to mark up a bible in a way that you can easily find a scripture reference related to whatever issue you are dealing with. especially in these last few months, i'm seeing just how important it is for my parenting and my discipling to be rooted from God's word and not just my own words. my own words are tainted with sin, selfish motives and have no power. but the Word of God is powerful! I love God's promise to us in Isaiah 55:11: "so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." trusting in this promise as I prepare this tool and my own heart to really teach and disciple asher with God's word.
i've done a little bit of it so far and it's already been doing wonders on my own heart. I hope I can finish it by the end of this year so that I can actually start using it!
4. budget better
now more than ever, there is a great need for me to budget well. since eugene is in residency and i quit my full-time job, we have to learn how to be savvy with what we have. we are learning the beauty of living within our means and though there are times when I feel like I'm in want, i'm seeing how abundantly and sovereignly God always provides. I want to be a better steward with our finances, and so I really want to commit to learning how to use our budgeting app YNAB (you need a budget) better. thankfully my friend joanne offered to help teach me so cheers to spending less and more wisely!
5. purge, organize and learn to live and work with less
as you may know, i've been trying to 'tidy up' and purge like crazy after reading marie kondo's book: the lifechanging magic of tidying up. it's been fun, therapeutic and a little overwhelming. we have so much stuff! and much of the things that fill our homes and lives are things that are of little to no need to us. i've been attempting to follow the guidelines in this book to tidy up, but nobody told me how much harder it is to do cleaning extravaganzas with a hurricane-like baby running around! though my progress has been slower than I'd like, I'm hoping that I can really spend this year better organizing the things that I do have to be okay with living with less.
this goes hand-in-hand with budgeting -- but i've been really trying to make an effort to think twice, thrice and even four times before buying something, rather than impulse buying it on amazon prime (which makes buying things in one-click so darn easy!) just because I feel/think that I need it right then and there. it's been forcing me to be creative with the things i already have and making me reconsider the things I really need vs. the things that would just be nice to have or make my life a little easier.
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of course there are other goals I'd like to accomplish this year - blog more, cook healthier meals, take more pictures, minimize screen time (i removed facebook from my phone and it is life-changing!) , exercise more, etc etc. but I'm hoping that these 5 resolutions will help me to live 2017 purposefully and intentionally. I really hope that I will learn how to redeem everything in my life - every opportunity, every circumstance, every person I interact with, every coffeeshop I frequent, every play date.. to bring glory to God!
cheers to 2017!
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