New Year Resolutions 2013

Happy New Year!  
There is something fresh and exciting (sometimes scary) about a new year.
ESPECIALLY 2013 for this little family.
A new baby...new job...let's just put it simply=new LIFE!

Do you make new year resolutions?  Seems like a lot of people associate this "new beginning" with failure, but I personally think it is good to begin the year with a little bit of reflection, soul searching, and thoughts about the expectations that you want to make sure are a part of the year to come.  I will be the first to admit I have set some pretty wacky goals for myself in the past that I never follow through with, but now I am leaning toward setting my sights on important things that I want to remember throughout the year instead of "benchmarks" to be attain in a certain period of time.

1.  I want to be present in every moment.  I tend to find myself living in the future or "trying to just get through the day," and never soaking in each moment.  Life is too short to live in this mindset and I just want to be present and enjoy every second of it.  ESPECIALLY knowing how fast this little boy is going to grow up on us!

2.  Eat cleaner.  Here it is.  The classic food resolution.  I don't have any kind of tight regimen that I am going to set for myself, because personally, that only leads to failure.  I just want to make good choices for my body and set a good example for our little guy.  I can't expect him to eat healthy when I am not doing that myself (not to mention the pure fact that we only have ONE body, meaning we need to be taking care of what we GOT.)  I'm going to start journaling about this again very soon...especially after the baby is born.

3.  Be Active!  Again...I know...another classic resolution, but I have to include it.  I know my life is about to change drastically: new job, new baby...making it MUCH harder to find a time to be active during the day but that is one reason I created this blog.  I want to find ways to make this a type of "me/baby/stress relief time" that I include at least 5 days a week.  Cade and I are usually very active in the summer, so I am excited that will be around the time I will be trying to lose the baby weight.  I hope that we can establish a routine to our day to ensure that we are getting the exercise/family time we need and make it a natural everyday part of our life.

                                         

4.  ALWAYS make time for family and friends.  It seems like this past year, so many people have passed away.  Cade and I both lost our grandpas, something we knew was inevitable for the near future but you can never really prepare for when it actually occurs.  It is a sobering thought to realize that we nor our loved ones are promised tomorrow, therefore I NEVER want to pass up the opportunity to spend time with those so special to me.  It is so easy to crave alone time, but I can always find another time for that if an opportunity arises to spend time with others.

                                       
5.  My relationship with Jesus.  Another tough one for me.  SO ashamed to admit this but it is true.  I really want to learn more about Him, grow spiritually, and prepare myself to raise our baby!  I know that there isn't a "self help" or "how to" book on raising a baby any better than God's word.  Instead of trying to read through the Bible in a year (which I ALWAYS fail miserably at) I am going to just take time every morning to read something from his word to "meditate" on during the day.

                              

6. Graduate & Get a Big girl job...okay so this is one of those goals that I said I wasn't going to make-but I am determined to mark it off!! It's been a long time coming for six years!

                                        

7.  Be more like a dog... yes you read it right!  I want to take a lot of what my dogs have taught me over the years and apply it to my attitude and outlook on life.  I was really touched Sunday morning as I read a blog by Francis Chan talking about Proverbs 30:7-9:

Two things I ask of you;

deny them not to me before I die:

Remove far from me falsehood and lying;

give me neither poverty nor riches;

feed me with the food that is needful for me,

lest I be full and deny you 

and say, "Who is the Lord?"

or lest I be poor and steal

and profane the name of my God.

I often find myself wrapped up in all the materialistic things of the world, wanting more and more while failing to take notice of ALL that I DO have and God himself.  I am SO beyond blessed and I am so ashamed that I don't take notice of this at ALL times as I should.  This verse just goes to show the more we put our faith and set our eyes on materialistic things...the less we depend on God to meet our needs.  

I look at my dogs, who are the happiest little things in the world just to have their human (aka love), a bowl of food and water.  I think God made them our friends for a reason and there are a lot of lessons we can learn from them.  This one...the most prominent.  

The little book below is A MUST:)  I encourage everyone to read it and view the video from Francis Chan's blog here.

8.  Begin a Thankful Journal.  My friend Nellie over at Nellie's Cozy Place inspired me to start this.  I love reading hers and she encouraged me to try it.  I think this will also improve Goal #7 as well.  So for the year of 2013, every week I am going to think of something I am thankful for each day and write it down.  So here goes: Day #1?  The blessing of a new year with health, my family, and our new little blessing on the way.  Day #2?  A great NY celebration with family and friends.

Well...I think that covers it for me!  I want to do a mid year check-up with these around June to see how I am keeping up with these values.

What are YOUR resolutions? ;)