My Year of Less: 2013

My resolution last year was to accomplish all 12 things on my 12 in 2012 list. Let’s take a (slightly embarrassing) look at how that turned out:

1. Read the entire Bible. Was awesome to take it so seriously. I loved it, & plan to do it again this year. 

2. Read 24 books. If you check out my ‘Books I’ve Read’ page, you’ll see I’ve read 23!! But I’ve skimmed & started-but-not-finished many more, so I’m counting it. Hey, this is my blog & I can do what I want. :-)

3. Write to our Compassion child, Masereka, once a month. I don’t want to talk about it… :(

4. Save money. We can probably be more intentional about this, but we really are trying!

5. Pay off debt. My student loan was paid off! Yaaaay freedom!

6. Have a baby. This all but wipes out my plans for a 13 in 2013 list. :)

7. Make a quilt. Bahaha I did try, then I learned I can’t even sew straight. Maybe after a little more sewing practice I’ll try again.

8. Go to the Denver Aquarium. We hadn’t gone yet by the fall, & I didn’t feel like walking around for hours at that time, so we figured we’d save our passes for when our Nemo is old enough to enjoy it too.

9. Find a favorite Ramen restaurant. Yummmm! If you haven’t tried Ramen (traditional, not packaged college-student style), go find one! My favorite was Kobe An in Lakewood & Michael liked Domo in downtown Denver. Read more here!

10. Do something big for Michael’s 30th birthday. So, I can’t cross this off but I’m ok with it because I learned an important lesson. I wanted to do something big for Michael, but I learned that Michael didn’t want something big. So we had a dinner out with some friends then just he & I went to the mountains for a weekend (and had pizza & BBQ) & he was perfectly content. What’s more important is that he got to do something he enjoyed.

11. Grow something I can eat. Ummm… all I did was kill a plant this year. Definitely didn’t expand my gardening abilities. But now that we’re settled in our new home I’m hoping next Spring that will change!

12. Start a new tradition. I wasn’t very intentional about this, but we do want to start doing 5280 Restaurant Week each year. Denver has a big list of nice restaurants that offer a couple a meal for $52.80 that would normally cost a lot more. I wanted to start a Christmas Eve tradition, but I learned that Isaac wasn’t all that excited about cuddling up on the floor & watching a movie. Maybe in a few years. =/

7 for 12! More than 50% alright! Ok, not exactly the grade I was hoping for, but this is exactly why this year will be my Year of Less. If I couldn’t accomplish 12 things in a year before we had a baby, what makes me think I can accomplish 13 things in 2013? Instead of adding more onto my plate for 2013, I’m going to take a step back & simplify, expect less.

So instead of goals or resolutions for 2013, I have My 3 Priorities. These will be my help as I make choices as to how I spend my time in 2013. It’s based off Mark 12:28-31 which says, “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

#1: God

#2: Family

#3: Everything Else

#1: God: It is my desire to make God the center of my life. I fail at it all the time, but want to grow in my relationship with Him & really make this a priority. After all, if you really believe something to be true, won’t you pay attention to it?

How?

Read the whole Bible

Pray- keep a journal of significant verses & thoughts, & prayers (think of Abileen from The Help!)

Church- serve & be a part of a community of people at Calvary Church

I believe that God provides ways to serve & express faith in Him throughout the day, I just have to be open to actually doing them. Like, I might feel a nudge to call a friend, or buy something for someone, or even just pray for someone. Instead of ignoring that nudge, I should just do it!

Read more books on the subject of faith to help me grow in knowledge & confidence. Some books I have on my list are: Sacred Marriage, Grace for the Good Girl, Feminine Appeal, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, The Case for Faith. Any other good suggestions?

#2: Family: The most important relationships I have on this earth are with my husband & now my son. I really want to focus on them this year & give them the best wife & mom possible.

How?

Husband: Encouraging him with my words, serving him with a willing attitude, not harboring anger or resentment (aka working on communicating better), intentionally speaking his love language more often, doing things I know he likes (playing games, watching movies, baking chocolate chip cookies)

Isaac: Giving him my undivided attention is my main focus. This means shutting down facebook & email & only checking each twice a day. Also, I’m going to stop reading so many blogs that tell you how to be a good mom & better run your household. They’re wonderful blogs, but instead of reading how to be a good mom, I want to practice being a good mom. I’ve chosen 1 blog to follow & it’s called GraceFull Mama. Also, I want to watch less TV (sorry Dr. Phil). Actually, I’d like to watch no TV, except for sports & movies.

#3: Everything Else: So many people I know are so busy, myself included. Sometimes I feel like I can’t keep up with life because of everything I’ve said yes to, then I take a look and realize I’m not even enjoying all the things I’ve said yes to. Not to mention I often put many of my ‘Sure-I-Can-Do-That’ commitments ahead of my husband & now my son. Something about that just doesn’t feel right, so I’m determined this year to change it. If it’s going to go before God or my family, it isn’t going to go at all. At least, that’s the idea…

How?

Fewer commitments! (I have ideas on this but will talk about them as I de-commit!)

Work on my inability to say no. This includes confronting the struggle I have of people pleasing & wanting everyone to like me. I might say no to you this year, I’m just warning you.

That’s it! That’s all I want to focus on for a whole year. I need freedom. I need focus. I need to say no. I need less.