My 2014 New Year's Resolutions--How did I do?

Last year I posted my goals for 2014 on my blog.  It is important to write down your goals--it makes them more "real," and makes me accountable to (5 or so) people that read this blog.  I wanted to look at those goals and see how I did.

So on that note, here are some of my (Colleen's) goals for 2014:

1)  Write on my blog! My goal is to write on my blog at least 2-3 times a week.  Well, I have documented the highlights of the year on my blog, but it usually happens in gluts--nothing for a while, then 3 or 4 updates in one night.  I can't really use my laptop when the kids are awake, as they come push buttons non-stop.  And at night I have a lot of stuff to catch up on, plus it is my only chance to see my husband.  And for most of this year, bedtime has not been fun.  

2)  Cook more food from scratch!  I already try to do this a lot, but also rely on a number of staple processed foods: among others, "cream of" soups, chicken stock, and my favorite food ever, cereal.  I want to make more of those staples from scratch, and reduce my personal reliance on cereal...I love cereal.  It's my favorite.  I am no longer eating cereal for breakfast!  I buy some cereal for the kids to munch on, but I now eat eggs or homemade granola on yogurt for breakfast.  And I have switched out "cream of" soups, taco seasoning, waffles/pancakes, and many other things to homemade foods.  I'm still working on this, but I'd say it was a success.

2.5)  Stay within the grocery budget!  I feel like our grocery budget it pretty generous--we give ourselves $300/month, plus additional money for dining out.  I want to buy fresh produce, which isn't horribly more expensive than other options.  But I also try to cook different kinds of meat, and meat is expensive!  And then if we also have a holiday meal or invite people over, the grocery budget seems to disappear quickly.  I was mostly successful at this goal.  It helped that we joined a CSA.  We had to pay money our of our regular budget (not the grocery budget) for that, but it really saved me a lot of money on produce.

3)  Family devotion time!  With our schedules, the best time for us to do a family devotion/prayer time is after supper.  There are some nights a week where this will be tough because we have other scheduled weekly events, but we want to spend time teaching our children about God, praying together, and growing closer as a family through devotions.  We have not really accomplished this!  Scott's work schedule has become very grueling in the last year, and no effort was made to do devotions after supper.  I have done an advent calendar and other devotional stuff with the kids, but we did not succeed on a family devotion time.

4)  Accept and give love!  Have you read the book "The 5 Love Languages."  I think about the ideas in that book a lot because Scott and I have quite different love languages.  I am working hard to show love to him in the way he feels loved (acts of service--he loves it when the house is clean and tidy...not my greatest attribute!).  He is working to show love to me also in the way I feel loved (words of affirmation), but that is not his greatest attribute...isn't it amazing how that works.  My goal is to accept the love that Scott gives in the way he gives it.  I'm getting better at this.  I did a small group and we read the book "Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thompson, and that has really made a difference...which will lead into one of my goals for 2015...coming soon.

5)  Survive two children!  I will be having this baby by the end of February, and will be home taking care of an infant and a two year old.  I will be tired, I will be nursing a baby while keeping a toddler out of trouble, and I still want to be able to keep the house in order, cook meals, and sleep.  Oh, and keep up a strong relationship with my husband.  Did I mention I will be having a c-section, so will also be recovering from surgery?  March and April will be crazy, but I will maintain a positive attitude and God will give me the strength to still be loving.  We made it.  Still sane, still loving each other.  

6)  Get ready for the baby!  We're doing pretty well on this.  I have about 4 meals in the freezer, but would like to get a lot more in there.  Still need to decide on a name, get some diapers, pack hospital bags, etc.  Also a success, obviously.  The baby has a name, I didn't have to cook for a month thanks to the generosity of the ladies in my church and Mom2Mom group.  Now I just have to worry about keeping up with the 10 month old!