a few things that describe my goals for 2014
Thank you for your encouragement about setting goals and working them out in everyday life. I’d love to hear what your goals are for the year!
When Elliott and I went on a recent (glorious!) 24-hour getaway, we spent an evening talking about our goals for 2014. I wrote them all down in an email draft, and then my phone didn’t save it and the email evaporated. So frustrating! I went home and tried to think through every one that we’d discussed. Now I’ve written these goals down not once but twice, thought them through and through, and I think I’m going to stick with them!
1. Love Elliott, Lena, and Gil.
To expand on this goal from last year, I have a few specifics for each person:
Elliott: Encourage him to write. He asked me for this one! He’s writing a book and wants to have it completely finished by the time we leave Sicily this July. I’m going be invested in his writing and progress by checking in with him, helping him carve out blocks of time, and motivating him to get started each day.
Lena: Establish a morning “school” period with Lena for 1 hour at least 2xs/wk when at home. I’ve been thinking about this one, and I’m excited as well as a little overwhelmed by it because it will be more structured — and require more planning — than any mother-child teaching I’ve done so far. There is an obvious chunk of time for this every day: Gil’s 2-hour morning nap. Generally this time is spent doing household chores together, but I want to devote at least one hour of it to: reading books together, working on a craft project (play doh, artwork, sewing), doing a Montessori activity (learning to set the table, planting and caring for seeds, helping with the laundry), or practicing numbers, letter sounds, and [eventually] reading.
Gil: Read one book with Gil every day. By the time Lena was 4 months, we read faithfully to her before bed as well as during the day. We haven’t nearly made the same effort with Gil. But we’re committed to reading with our children! So here we go… now where’s that copy of Peek-a-Who?
2. Read, Read, Read
- Read 5 classics
- Finish War and Peace!
- Read 5 parenting books (such as Shepherding a Child’s Heart, Grace-Based Parenting, Boundaries with Kids, and Montessori from the Start)
- Read 3 books about Italy (such as La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind, The Leopard, Mattanza)
3. Make contact with my siblings (Eric and Emily) once per week via email, phone call, letter, package, or a visit. We’re growing up (or have grown up?) and our hearts and lives are so full. Days turn into years so quickly. I want to share more with them and reach out regularly to love them.
4. Write daily in my One Line a Day Journal. It takes 2 minutes. I love flipping through my [sporadic…] entries for the past three years.
5. Learn more about and practice the manual settings on my camera. The photographer whose work I admire most is Paige; her use of natural light and the simple beauty of her images always leaves me breathless. My goal is to photograph more like her by the end of the year. Aim for the moon and I might land among the stars!
6. Publish a piece of writing (fiction or non-fiction) in a non-blog setting.
7. Write 12 guest posts for other blogs (average of one per month). This is a huge, enormous goal that will require a great deal of time and putting myself out there. However, I love this blogging community and I do aspire to contribute to it and share with it. I get in a rut of just focusing on my own blog and not interacting with and contributing to the community. Here’s to changing that in 2014!
8. Study Italian: finish Italian Made Simple before we leave Italy in July 2014. Which means… start working on the workbook every night, right?!
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Several bloggers I admire (such as Mary Beth) have chosen one word to encapsulate their goals for this year. I thought about these goals and the driving motivation behind them, and I honestly think the best way to describe them all is love.
I want to love my family by making their goals and success and progress a part of my mission for this year. I want to love other bloggers and blog readers and the military community by not just being encouraged by them but also by contributing my own thoughts, experience, and encouragement to them. I want to love my siblings by pursuing them with time, words, prayers, and individual contact. I want to love the place where I live — Italy — by reading about it and studying its language. I want to love and treasure the good things of this life by reading great books, recording our days, and sharing God’s blessings and involvement in my life with others through the written word.
So love it is!
What is one word that would describe your goals, hopes, and dreams for 2014?
I especially can relate with your goal to intentionally connect with your siblings on a regular basis. My sisters and I do keep in touch pretty regularly, but two of them live out of state. As our parents are aging, I think of how things might change when they are no longer here to be the glue that holds us together. We need to really work on this, so that we will continue to be “present” in each others’ lives! I’m also curious about how you make connections to be a guest blogger?
Yes, so wise, Alica! I guess I sort of thought in the back of my mind that this growing up thing was temporary and we’d all be back in the same house and having similar lives again soon, but of course that hasn’t happened. I hope this goal will help you and me stay in better touch with our siblings!
My experience with guest posts (like… the one or two I’ve done) has been to just email the blogger. Hopefully you hear back from them about your ideas or proposal, and then you craft a post together or they give you free reign to write as you see fit. I’ll hopefully have a lot more experience soon, though…!