Year in Review

Each year since we’ve been married, Brian and I sit down together at New Year’s with yummy coffee drinks in hand to review our past year and set goals for the new one.  The past couple of years, this process has spanned a couple of days beyond New Year’s Day, mostly cause we have a lot of little people distracting us from our reflective bonding moment, but we persist in doing it because it is so rewarding to us.   We walk ourselves through vacations, events, ministries, projects, people, hard times, good times, and significant things that shaped us, grew us and filled our hearts and our calendar.  We literally filled an entire 2 pages worth, but some of the highlights from 2010 for us were…

* Every one of our parents here for Christmas * Sting at Hollywood Bowl * WICKED weekend in San Francisco for 10 year anniversary, including Calumet Photography class and time w/ the Pfeiffer’s * Camping in San Simeon & Mammoth Pools * Avila Beach w/ Brian’s folks * Zeke starting 1^st grade, 6^th birthday Mario party, becoming a huge Star Wars fan, losing teeth and broken nose * Emmy as a flower girl in her Aunt Michelle’s wedding, birthday celebration trip to Sea World, learning how to do monkey bars & flips on trampoline * Ethan’s fun personality, new words (hi-ya!), and snuggles * Grandpa Al’s 85^th birthday * Grandma Ruth’s 100^th birthday celebration and then her passing 3 weeks later * Kirsten joined gym & Brian started running again * Brian backpacking trips out of Tuolumne Meadows and Cleo’s Bath * both of our jobs being solid and rewarding * and so many more… including other loved one’s highs and lows, but they are their stories to tell =)

We also review the goals we set last year and determine if or how they have been accomplished, and then set new ones to bring in the new year with intention.  We were very pleased to discover that we had done a pretty good job on the family goals for 2010 and stepped it up a bit for this next round.  We also have individual ones, but those aren’t necessarily public information!

2010 Family Goals:

1. Review Awana material consistently with kids—Brian does this regularly at night and each weekend

2. Organize—got a desk area set up and working efficiently, got TV cabinets built (now they need to be finished in 2011!), system for laundry room/clean laundry, garage is clean & organized!

3. Get 8 seater car—purchased Sequoia in May… so happy with it and all the carpooling we can do now!

4. Develop cleaning/chore routine with kids—Jewels are working well!!!

5. Keep up nightly Bible reading & prayer time with kids—on a regular basis!

6. Recreation 1x per month—not perfect on this one, but much better this year

7. Investment in Bible Study group—relationships have grown, especially amongst the guys through trips together and figuring out good meeting plan.

8. Service as a family—help at ATCAA Food Bank with small group once a month.

2011 Family Goals:

1. Recreation as a family 1x per month

2. Continue ATCAA and add at least one challenging service project as a family

3. Add bedroom for Emmy w/o borrowing money to do it

4. One couple’s get-away (anniv?)

5. Plan marriage retreat/conference for small group at conclusion of Solomon study

6. Kitten foster care for Sonora Cat Rescue

7. Help kids build good friendships—playdates, etc.

8. Get all the painting done outside and in

9. Start kids college funds

10. Kids growth stuff: Ethan big boy bed, potty training; big kids learning to ride bikes w/ no training wheels; Emmy learning to read and soccer in fall; Zeke into activity (karate?)

I already am looking forward to see how God works in our lives with this new year.  It is our prayer that God’s hand will be on us, guiding us and blessing us as we seek His will for our family and our time and purpose on this Earth.