What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

2014: Resolved





From the look of things, it seems as if this will be my "a step behind" year.  Seeing how I am blogging about goals for the new year and it is practically February and all.  But if this says anything about me, I hope it says that I firmly believe that it is never too late to make a fresh start, to begin anew.  Frankly, I have to do goals each year- I'd be lost without them.  Unlike what it seems most people say about resolutions being made and then forgotten...in my case, they help me to strive toward something greater, better...and actually, in fact, often bring me much closer to my goals.  I liked what Lydia.Purple said in my comments the other day~

 " You know what, having goals (like your financial ones) somewhat in the ridiculous high realm, might actually be good to keep us striving for more.If we keep the goal in the nicely reachable level we might just lean back and go nowhere. It's like facing holiness, we can't reach it in this life yet, and we could lean back and say, well I am never gonna reach it, so I won't try. Or, we take the challenge and see how close we can get. I'd rather live a life trying to reach the unreachable than just leaning back in the comfort zone."  

Isn't that great?  Yes, Lydia.  Me too.

So...with that in mind and without further adieu...  my hopes for 2014:

 Personal Goals:
  • Have all homescool arts in place by the first of each month.  (Composer, Artist, Poet of the month.)
  • Mail Opa and Aunt Mate notes or pictures at least TWICE a month.  (Once a week is a goal that I can never seem to reach, unfortunately.)
  • Write five other letters each month.
  • Exercise at least three times a week.
  • Begin writing a book.
  • Get up to send Matt off to work each morning.  
  • Personal Bible reading- 15 minutes each day.
  • Decorate the children's rooms, thriftily and handmade.
  • Read more fiction.  Not fluffy fiction.   (The reason I got out of fiction in the first place.) Worthwhile fiction.  (Any suggestions?)
  • Begin a new afghan project.
  • Clear out the bottom of the granary this year.  Matt said it could be "MY SPACE" and that is a lovely thought.
  • Downsize and work to get rid of more clutter.  Specifically, craft supplies I do not use.  Clothing bins in storage we do not need.  Books we do not have room for.  Etc.
  • Finish a sheepskin.
  • Make 1st year albums for Adele' and Judah

Financial Goals:
  • Save $5,000 for a replacement van.
  • Put our whole tax return toward that cause.
  • Save $1,000 for savings.
  • Put $1,200 toward principle of mortgage (in addition to mortgage payments.)
  • Matt to add to a bandmill fund as he is able.  (money from logs, etc.)
  • replace our dinosaur of a computer before April and Windows XP expires (or whatever that whole hubbub is about.)

Homestead Goals:
  • Plant two fruit trees.  (Likely, cherry and pear?)
  • Plant two more blueberry bushes.
  • Plant a few more rhubarb plants.  (I am doubtful the ones I planted last year made it.)  
  • Plant grapes and make grape trellis.  Okay- the trellis bit is more of my goal for MATT  ;-)
  • Divide filbert trees to double (triple?) them.
  • Prune apple trees, roses and lilacs.
  • Propogate hydrangeas.
  • Make maple syrup ourselves without the fancy sugar shack.  The redneck way.  :-(  (Matt's parents got rid of their syrup house and boiler. *sniff*)
  • Become an expert cheesemaker. (Okay, maybe EXPERT is pushing it  But GOOD, anyway.)
  • Learn how to milk a cow.  I'll be needing to know that.
  •  Research and make plans for a root cellar.  (Though the actual making of one will probably be a 2015 thing.)
  • Fence off pasture.
  • Get a new batch of piggle wiggles.  (I miss bacon!)


There is one more goal for 2014 and it is a BIG one.  So big, it needs it's own post.  

That's coming.   

Soon.

9 comments:

lydia.purple said...

i feel honored you quoted me, surprised, too. and after thinking to make a list with goals, we had a women's bible study about vision for the new year... followed by a creative session to make our vision boards. and here i am with actual written and creatively expressed goals for 2014.

Bonnie said...

Oh you stinker, leaving us hanging like that. Based on your goals, and some things I DIDN'T see listed, I have a few guesses as to your unnamed goal. So hurry up and post it missy, I'm impatient!
Bon

(P.S. Your post is the motivation I need to do my own goal post. Soon. I need to take some pictures but my camera charger is MIA. Boo.)

Rozy Lass said...

Write what you know. Sort of trite, but oh so true. Perhaps you could write a story about going through some big life changes, or an unbeliever finding the Lord and changing; or something that shows the eternal value of a Godly mother. So many worthy things to write about. Listen to the whisperings of the Spirit and you'll know what you should do.

Four Girls said...

Fiction suggestions? Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry, Emma by Jane Austen, Baby or Journey by Patricia MacLachlan. :) I love your blog. You are an amazing lady!

Bobbi said...

For fruit trees check out fedco it's an awesome company with great trees, we have a peach and cherry tree from them, organic, earth friendly, and the trees come from Maine so you know they will make it in cold climates!! Ok that's all from me ;-) happy goal achieving! You can do it!!

Mari said...

What type of fiction do you like -action, suspense, relationships? Let us know and it is easier to make recommendations.

For decorating the kids rooms, you can try rainbow paint chip wave. My daughter and her roommate at university just did this by taking one of every paint chip at a big box home improvement store and taping them horizontally to their living room wall in a wave pattern. The darker chips start at one end and go across the wall gradually changing colors to end with the lighter chips. These are the cards with 5 colors on them. She sent me pictures and it looks great. It also sounds weird so I wish I could email you a picture but don't have your email address. It would actually be a good art project for your kids to sort the colors and design the wave.

Unknown said...

Fiction - City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge - any of the novels by Miss Read - for light, mystery romance with beautiful language, anything by Emilie Baker Loring! :)

Rebecca said...

Lydia- isn't that JUST how it goes?!? ha!

Bonnie- I presume you wondered 'baby' (which IS a goal but not one I will write down because, if the Lord doesn't give me one- I won't be able to check it off! hehehe. But, I will be working TOWARD that goal- if you know what I mean. winky wink. AND YES, I want to hear YOUR goals too. You'd better Missy!

Rozy Lass- thank you for that. It has been a dream of mine to write, but I have been hung up on who I should be writing TO. I think perhaps you are right, I should just WRITE. If you write, they will read?! We shall see....

Four Girls- great! Love the authors of your suggestions- I am putting them on goodreads right now. Thank you!

Bobbi- awesome tip! Thanks!

Mari- I try and stay away from romantic fiction, for this reason mainly:

"The unblushingly romantic has far less power to deceive than the apparently realistic. Adults are not deceived by science-fiction; they can be deceived by the stories in the women’s magazines." C.S.Lewis

Other than that, I have been out of fiction for over ten years- I don't have a particular bent. Hoping to change that though.

Cool rainbow trick!

Amy- I LOVE your goodreads acct. and get lots of ideas from there too!





BajaManna said...

Oh PLEASE put on your list to add individual photo prints to your etsy shop! The ones for this post are GLORIOUS!!!!!