A Year In Review 2019

 

Everyone looks back at their year with either one of two things to say, they don’t care to remember any of it because it was so terrible OR they had a great year. Certain things tend to linger in our minds, good or bad. I actually had a pretty scary thing happen right before the year ended that COULD have ruined my entire year. REALLY, my mind TOLD me that! Can you believe it? I was ALMOST willing to allow that ONE 15 minute event in my life take every great memory for the year and make me think the year was terrible. I told myself to shake it off and move on. Remember, don’t give ANYTHING the power to take your joy from you. It’s not worth it.

Since I have THE BEST planner, I went through each month and wrote down every significant entry on an unused page in that same planner. I got REALLY excited as I put everything down in one place. I wrote down our family adventures, wedding and births, fitness accomplishments, how I served at church or women’s events I attended, and debt that was paid off. Looking back at my word for 2019, I could really see how it ran all through my year.

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Some pretty big events took place in our family in 2019, none of which have anything to do with goals I’ve set. My oldest daughter got married after fourteen years, ON their 14th anniversary IN HAWAII! That was one goal I didn’t reach for 2019, to get to attend the wedding. We went from three grandchildren to five. The newest grand wasn’t supposed to come until mid January but she decided Christmas Eve Eve, during our Grand Night was the time to arrive. Our younger son celebrated five years with his sweet girl. Our youngest child graduated from high school, got her first car and her first boyfriend.

​The word that guided me in 2019 was INTENTIONAL. I vowed to be intentional in every part of my life; my faith, my family, my fitness, everything. I didn’t always keep that goal in the forefront of my mind but I can see how it guided me to do more than I had the previous year.

When it came to being more INTENTIONAL, my relationship with the Lord was at the very top of my priority list. I worked on that daily. Each morning I read my FBCA Daily Bible Readings on my app plus I either had some Bible study plans on YouVersion or I did several Bible studies with Good Morning Girls. I start a new one January 13th on 2 Kings. I even add some praise and worship time to my mornings when I am able. My favorite song has been Defender by Francesca Battistelli. We sing that at church and it just speaks to my heart is such a powerful way. I was able to attend a couple of women’s retreats, as well. It was a challenge because other I tend to let people’s needs overshadow my own. I went to one day of each two day retreat. I look at it as a start in the right direction.

As I grew closer in my walk with the Lord, I realized I needed to get back to serving in the body of believers that I am a part of. I had taken a step back for a year so it was time to find where I belonged. I’ve worked with children since I was a youth so it felt natural to serve that direction. I started subbing in the children’s department for Sunday school in the early part of the year. My youngest daughter and I taught during the Faith at Home week, she in the preschool and me in the fourth grade class. In the fall I began teaching in first grade Sunday school full time. My youngest daughter and I started teaching the four year old class on Wednesday nights. I was even a host home for our youth’s WUWE, a discipleship weekend. It was my youngest daughter’s last year in the youth so I thought that would be a great chance to be a part of it, even though it wasn’t her grade that stayed at our home. She and I even hosted a journaling Bible study during the summer in our home. That was a great time for us. I feel that I made great strides in this area. I look forward to making more connections and growing in my roll as a mentor to other women and being mentored myself.

My husband and I went on a small weekend trip for our 36th wedding anniversary. I found this lovely cabin in Broken Bow, OK. It had been awhile since we had done anything without kids. It was short but a start at getting back into the habit of doing things, just the two of us. I have another trip planned for us this year. If I don’t plan it, we don’t do it. We used to do marriage retreats and conferences all the time. As the kids got older, we got more involved with work and just everyday life. It is so important not to stop “dating” your spouse. We still don’t go out near enough. But it’s a new year. We can change that.

We were able to attend the FBCA Family Getaway over Labor Day weekend. We’ve been doing those for six years but the year before we didn’t go simply because I just didn’t want to put forth the effort to make it happen. That is another area that I intentionally made a huge effort to make it happen. So many things were coming against me to stop us from going. I am so glad we did. It was a good weekend for us. Our younger son was in town and able to go. It was great getting to sit and talk to him a bit here and there. Our oldest grandchild went with us. She’s been with us a couple of other times. I would love for my older daughter and her family to start going every year, too.

We started some new-to-us traditions. One was a pumpkin farm in October. The kids really enjoyed the petting zoo. Of course, I had to grab a picture with my grands in my lap. I decided to have a Grands Night in December each year since in 2018 it was super challenging to get a picture on Christmas morning of the grands together, there was only three then. The number keeps growing. No one wants to wait around while you try and get pictures of the kids on Christmas morning. Let’s face it, it is a LOT of work trying to get multiple children to all look at the same time. It just doesn’t happen very often, if at all. Plus, not everyone is going to be able to come at the same time in the same mood. This way everyone was here at the same time and we fed them dinner right after we did pictures so they would be happy for the rest of the evening. We managed to get some good pictures, although not any of them were “picture perfect”. I do hope to add a few more traditions throughout the year because family time is so important. They aren’t going to remember how much money we spent on them. They will remember the TIME we spent WITH them.

My oldest daughter and I have gone to a couple of big events for the fitness company we are a part of and met two of the super trainers that designed the workouts we love so much. We have missed the BIG summer event two years in a row because she had babies both years. 2020 we will be back on track with our summer conference. We both completed certification for the Ultimate Portion Fix Master Coach. While I did struggle a bit with my weight going back up from lack of activity during the late spring early summer, I was able to end the year being 15 pounds less than my highest weight of the year. What I am most proud of is the fact that I stuck with several programs all the way through. That may not sound like a big deal, but trust me, it is. Following through on what you say you are going to do, especially to yourself, is KEY! I’m making progress and getting my muscle back. It’s not easy working out at my age. The reason ISN’T my age, believe it or not. The reason is because there were years where I was really hard on my body with what I put in it. I have since changed that but the effects linger for years. That doesn’t mean I can’t improve my fitness. I’m making progress every single day. My husband paid me a huge compliment the other day, I’m not sure he realizes just how big a deal it was to me. I told him I always struggle taking care of myself and doing things for me. He said he couldn’t tell because I never give up. I keep working on it. WOW! That is one of the greatest things he’s ever said to me. That meant so much! HE sees that I just keep picking myself up when I “fall down” and get right back to work.

A really BIG project that I started in 2019 was to get back on track with my budget and getting debt paid off. I paid off my husband’s Jeep, I paid off three large cc debts and a student loan. I have one more student loan to pay off plus my van. My goal is to get those paid off in 2020! I’m going to have to work super hard to make that happen but I know I can do it. Once those are done, I will be one more step closer to some BIG things on my vision board.

What I realized as I was looking back over last year and at the same time trying to figure out my word for 2020, is that I am not quite done with THIS word or this board. There are things on this board that are long term goals and I’m not ready to just toss them aside because I haven’t reached them just yet. I HAVE made strides that are bringing me closer to those things. I need to continue to be INTENTIONAL in all I do. I will share in a second post about my 2020 word and goals. I’m STILL adding to my board and figuring out some things I need to add back into my life that I have allowed myself to stop doing because of other people. Not that they did anything wrong. I did. I let myself take a backseat to everyone and everything. That isn’t how I want to live my life anymore. That will be changing starting this month. Starting right this minute.

Tell me how YOUR 2019 went? What memorable things happened? What goals did you reach? 

As Always,

~A Simple Texas Girl living life on the Jesus Way!