Goals for 2014

Below are my career, financial, spiritual, physical, intellectual, familial, and social goals for this coming new year.

Career- 

Blog again-

I have found my old blog posts really helpful lately, especially for home school purposes. My blog works like a file cabinet and it allows me to go back in time and see what I was using when my oldest child was younger. That serves to remind me what I can do with my younger children now.  So I think keeping a record of what we're doing will help me in the distant future in much the same way. 

Complete another professional, fitness certification-

In 2013, I gained my basic AFAA Group Fitness certification and I started teaching cardio and muscle classes at a local gym.  I'd like to pursue another, more specialized certification this year, perhaps a Bodypump certification through Les Mills. This particular certification is a tough one to attain, but barbell classes choreographed to music are my favorite workout to do on my own and my favorite type of class to teach.

Improve on my housework-

I have been doing Fly Lady's daily flight plan for years. It's a list of basic, daily chores like making the bed, doing at least one load of laundry a day, emptying the dishwasher in the morning, and loading it before bed, etc. But this year, I want to also complete her daily missions and the detailed cleaning lists as well. 

Financial- 

Save money on groceries-

We ate a very clean diet in 2013, buying only organic groceries.  This served to reduce toxins in our systems and heal our bodies, but it almost doubled the amount of money went to spent on food last year. I went to some regular grocery stores this month and began substituting some of the organic products we were buying with regular ones and we have already saved hundreds this month alone. We plan to continue eating healthy foods this year, but we are willing to compromise on the cleanliness of some of the products we buy so that we can save money in 2014.  I plan to give the hundreds of dollars I save from our grocery/ household budget back to our family budget so that we can continue to pay off all our debt and be totally debt free, per Dave Ramsey's plan, in two years. 

Spiritual- 

Read through The One Year Bible online.  I did this a few years ago and it was a rewarding experience that kept me in a habit of reading, praying, meditating, and worship almost everyday for a year.  I should never have stopped it. 

Physical- 

Complete P90X-

By eating a healthy, clean, whole foods diet and exercising in 2013, I lost 70 pounds and reached my ultimate goal weight.  This year, I simply want to continue eating healthy and challenging my body with exercise.  I am already on the second week of the P90X workout program.   With my group fitness classes at the gym, I can't complete as many workouts as I am supposed to each week so it is going to take me more than 90 days to get through the program.  But I'd like to finish this workout as quickly as I can in 2014 and see some benefits like losing more belly fat and gaining upper body strength. 

Intellectual- 

I read a lot, but I want to be more deliberate to start, finish, and retain content from quality books, some of which will make a difference in important areas of my life.

The History of the Medieval World by Susan Wise Bauer

My children and I are working through The Story of the World: The Middle Ages in our home school and we are also memorizing the timeline and important historical events that occurred in the Middle Ages through our participation in Classical Conversations.  So I have been reading The History of the Medieval World by Susan Wise Bauer to enrich my understanding of what I am teaching and learning with my kids right now.  It's been a really challenging book to get through. I could teach a college level class from the basic notes I am taking on each chapter. But I think that reading and retaining much of the information in this book is a worthy goal that I want to pursue more diligently as the new year begins.

Read C.S. Lewis' Entire Bibliography

More than ten years ago, I bought a paperback copy of Mere Christianity because I was told it was a cherished Christian classic.  The book might as well have been written in Latin, because I couldn't really understand or appreciate any of it. C.S. Lewis' writing style was too advanced for me to read for leisure, even though I was majoring in English and Religion in college at the time. But, over the years, I've been reading more and more advanced books and I recently had the courage to try and read that book again and this time, it made sense!  That was thrilling experience and since then, I've been reading book after book by C.S. Lewis in my leisure time, understanding them better and being very inspired and even entertained by his ideas.  There are still quite a few of his books that I haven't read yet and I want to try and read as many of them as possible this coming year.

Read The Lord of the Rings trilogy

My husband read The Hobbit to our family out loud recently and it has inspired me to want to read all of Tolkein's books in this series, something I've never done.  I've seen the movies, but I know that the books are always so much better.

Finish The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

My husband has read and listened to the audio version of this celebrated book.  He tells me it worth reading again and again, so I've started it. I want to finish it and retain and apply some of it to my life this year. 

Familial-

Call and talk to my parents and my in-laws once every week.  (Yes, Mom and Dad, here it is in writing.)  


Read and apply Laying Down the Rails

I've been meaning to read this book for at least two years.  Based on what I have heard about it, I believe it will give me some very useful, practical ways disciple and nurture my daughters.

Social- 

Continue to learn the names of people who attend my fitness classes and build relationships with them in the time I have with them each week.

Continue participating in Classical Conversations community the rest of 2014 and sign up again for 2014-2015.

Begin sending encouraging emails, letters, cards, gifts, etc. to our friends in our church's small group.

Pray to the Lord for opportunities and take opportunities given to spend time with a younger woman I can mentor.

Pray and ask the Lord for opportunities to continue building a relationship with an older, wiser woman who is mentor to me.