Maybe its cheesy, but I love picking a word for each new year. Not a big resolution, but instead more of a focus. It's always fun to look back and see how the word played out or how I did with keeping it at a focus throughout the year.
My word for this year was Steady. Firmly fixed, supported or balanced, not moving. I spent 2015 and 2016 developing some great habits and I wanted this to be a year of maintaining them- of strengthening the roots I had put down.
Looking back at this year, I can see that it was steady. It wasn't full of new, big things. Instead, I (and we as a family) built on the things we've been working on for the past few years. Health-wise, we added more natural/clean recipes to our rotation and just exercised more. Financially, we had more and more conversations and planned more for our future. Relationally, we put in real work to keep developing community. Spiritually, we kept committing to our local church and to our habits in our walks with Jesus.
Overall, I would say that we just kept up with the idea that little by little, things keep growing. Small seeds planted in faith can increase abundantly!
Here are the goals I set to go along with my word for 2017:
Read through the Bible. I did it! I say it a lot, but this is my favorite habit. You can read more about how I go about reading through the Bible in a year in this post.
Run a 10k. Well, I didn't exactly run a 10k. Instead I ran a half marathon and helped raised money for World Vision (with help from so many of you!)! See all about my race here.
Date nights. Justin and I absolutely did a better job with prioritizing dates this year. Maybe we could be a bit more consistent with them (we average one a month right now) but overall we had a ton of fun dates (beach vacation, night away in Cincinnati, basketball game, dinners and movies, Christmas shopping, christkindlmarkt market, comedy show, soccer game, dinner party with friends, group dates and game nights). We've even tried to be creative with babysitting costs (it gets so expensive!) by swapping date night sitting with my sister and having friends over after our kids are in bed.
Family bucket list. This was way less formal than my other goals. I did make small bucket lists for each season and it was fun to slowly work through them! (here are our winter and summer lists)
Ride out Noonday. This goal was the BEST surprise of 2017! I just wasn't sure if I was going to continue on as a Noonday ambassador. I decided to sit down, set intentional goals and truly work hard this year with my business. And it paid off! Literally and figuratively. I had the best season ever as an ambassador, which means my impact was bigger than ever! Financially, it also meant great rewards and support for our family. Plus, I just remembered how much I love the mission of Noonday, gathering women, and encouraging others to make a difference with their purchases.
Girls trip. Didn't happen! And honestly, I didn't really try for it. So many of my girlfriends are in different stages of life (babies, job changes, moving, etc) that it didn't make sense to try to put a trip together. Maybe 2018 will be the year?
Host. Justin and I both prayed specifically about ways to open our home in 2017 and two great things came from those prayers. We initiated First Fridays- where we invite anyone/everyone who is free on the First Friday of every month over for a meal. It is always a different group of people and the size always varies. But its also been so fun! I've also started doing a summer and winter Play Date with a Purpose- which has been a blast. (read more about those here and here)
Can't wait to share about my word for 2018 and some goals I'll be working on!
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