A Purposeful 2012

My Handsome Man and I welcomed in the new year with an incredible hike to Cascade Falls near Lake Tahoe today.

It was a wonderful time to refocus on our "oneness" as we left our sweet Kayleigh behind at the cabin with a Grammy, Papa, and two doting aunts to fight over her :)

We talked about everything from past trips, engagement memories, future vacation dreams, and our hopes for 2012.

Jesse asked me what my New Year's Resolutions were. I don't have any. I've never really done "resolutions" because I see them as kind of a way to set up for failure. Sorry to be pessimistic.

I had goals I wanted to achieve in 2011, but a lot of them got set aside in anticipation of our baby girl. I'm happy with that, and I don't feel like I failed anything because my goals weren't resolutions set in stone. 2011 wasn't anything like I expected, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Over the past month, though, I have been thinking of things I hope to be and do in 2012. Nothing huge, nothing monumental. Just ways that I can use the time that God has given me as a stay at home mom to be more purposeful. So here's my list of purposeful goals that I've set out to accomplish in 2012:

Encourage Others (Hebrews 10:24)

Now that I'm at home, I don't get to interact with people as frequently as I did when I was working outside of the home. It's easy to become an introvert and think only about my own little family. This year, I want to purposefully focus on being an encourager to others. One way I can do that is to write letters of encouragement to those in my life. I want to write encouraging letters to my grandparents, church friends, far away friends, and family.

My goal is to write one letter a week.

Cherish Each Day (Luke 2:19)

A lot of people scrapbook, take a photo a day, or do something to preserve memories for each day of the year. I love to scrapbook, but totally fail on faithfully archiving memories. I love taking pictures, but never actually print them out. My solution to this is the index box calendar that I found on Design Sponge. This is something I can actually do! And I love the idea of seeing daily reminders of what my family has done through the years. It's exciting to think of writing "Kayleigh took her first step today!" and then a few years down the line, writing "Baby #2's first ultrasound!" on the same index card.

My goal is to purposefully treasure each day of the year by writing down one line per day.

Blog with a Purpose (Matthew 25:14-30)

I'm excited and honored with the interest in this blog. I haven't done a good job of cultivating it into something purposeful, but that is a big goal for this year! I want to be more organized in my blogging, share more craft ideas, invite more guest bloggers to share their posts, and eventually get to where I can have sponsorship on my blog. This is an exciting goal for me!

My goal is to spend more time learning about how to create a successful blog, less time just bumming around on the internet. Work with a purpose.

Teach Kayleigh about her Savior (Matthew 19:14)

Yes, she's only three months old, but she's growing so quickly and learning so much each day! She loves looking at brightly colored picture books and being sung to, and I'm going to be purposeful about using her interest in these things to read the little children's Bible stories we have, and sing her songs about Jesus. Babies understand more than we give them credit for, and I want my little one to be aware of her Heavenly Father's love!

My goal is to read to Kayleigh every day, pray for her with Jesse each night, and sing to her.

Love My Husband with Everything in Me (1 John 4:7-8)

It's alarming how easy it is to move from "wife" to "mother" and forget that my calling now is to be both. There are so many times that I place Kayleigh's needs first, mine after that, and then give Jesse whatever energy, love, and strength is left in me. That's not fair! I want to love him with a purpose--to rejoice in every triumph, comfort in each sorrow, and be there to listen to each detail of his day. I love our Kayleigh--and she is a precious gift--but I wouldn't have her without my Handsome Man. Spending today with him alone reminded me that I need to be more purposeful about finding time to spend alone with him.

My goal: more date nights, love notes, good conversation, hand-holding.

So there they are. Nothing earth-shaking, but things that I want to work on this year.

What are your goals for 2012?