New Year

For myself (and I would imagine most people), each new year rolls around with hopes, dreams and goals. I don't typically make formal resolutions, but as Chet and I were driving home from Montana, we had lots of time to discuss what we desire for the coming year. Mostly, it involves making ourselves and our relationships stronger and healthier... challenging ourselves and each other to grow. Here are some things we thought about...

1. Growing in our faith walk. For me, I feel that a lot of this is fully give up control over my life daily and give it over to God as well as spending more time in prayer and the Bible. That's the brief blog version. :)

2. Deepening our marriage. We both want to spend more time praying for each other... aloud! Also, prioritizing date nights weekly... :)

3. Eating healthy and taking care of our bodies! I think that this means some more meal planning is in my future (not one of my skills). We are just going to make little healthy changes like well-rounded meals, less sweets and focusing on using fresh, whole foods. Tonight we had Spice Rubbed Chicken with Israeli Couscous and Spinach. Pretty healthy, only took 30 minutes to make, and quite tasty... let's keep this up!

4. Having people over to dinner more often. We have a great home in which to host a meal... we need to get out of our introverted shells and initiate more meals with people we love (especially on weeknights). If you want to be on this list, let me know!

5. Less TV on as background noise when I'm in the house along. Well, this isn't really one that Chet discussed with me but I need to stop filling the quiet evening with Chet at work with TV that I don't really care about. If I get lonely, I need to call a friend, read a book or start a new hobby!

6. Living our lives with abandon... treasuring each day and not just being satisfied with what is safe and routine. We want to experience life fully, try new things, see new places and just enjoy relationships with people in our lives!

Other things that we are hoping for this year is just God's direction for our lives... I'm a bit stumped on the PNP job thing combined with the desire to start a family. If you think of it, we are appreciating any and all prayer.

We'll see what joys and struggles this year brings! It will be exciting to see where God leads us!