Moving Forward

It's taken me awhile to find the time to write this post.

I've been meaning to do it for a few weeks now but life has been very busy.

I've been writing this post every January for a few years now. I'm not one for New Year's resolutions but I like to share some goals and hopes I have for myself for the year.

I feel like I'm still working on some of my goals from the past two years: balance and letting go of fears. Both are getting easier and easier, but I still struggle with both daily. I'm trying to focus on how best to balance my two jobs and normal life stuff. I was exercising 5 times a week for awhile there but I haven't been doing that on a regular basis since October. I'm still going to Pilates every week but that's only one day a week. I know I feel so much better when I exercise on a regular basis so I need to find a way to get it back into my normal routine.

I also feel like I need to make more time to connect with people. Facebook has that On This Day feature that constantly reminds you of what you did on that day in different years. And I used to spend a lot more time with people one on one. My schedule is kind of hectic these days and I don't ever have a day "off" anymore unless I purposefully schedule one, so I have harder time finding the time to set up those one on one hang outs. But I miss them and I miss connecting with people that way. So that is one of my goals that goes along with balance.

One of my hopes for this year is to continue to strive to look more like Jesus. I feel like my faith has been stretched so much in the past few years and I've learned a lot and grown in ways I never expected to. I've had ups and downs, and I feel like I've gained a lot of wisdom, but I know I have so much more to learn. It's hard to describe all of it, but I really want to keep pursuing and keep striving and keep moving forward.

2016 was a good year. We had a lot of fun, we spent a lot of time with friends and family and we experienced a lot of changes. Life always has its ups and downs, but I'd say 2016 was a year of growth. I'm looking forward to the challenges and good times 2017 is going to bring.

12.16

December was another busy month for us!

Here are some of the highlights:

We had a little Christmas shindig at our house with a few friends. We ate a lot of food, played games (including a white elephant gift exchange) and laughed a lot. It was a good night.

We got together with some friends from out of state. Our friends C.H. and Y.H. were in town for the holidays, and we were able to see them twice while they were here. It's always so good to spend time with them.

We had a full two days of Christmas fun with family and friends. All of Josh's family members were in town, so we were able to spend quite a bit of time with them. We also spent time with my grandparents, my family, and some friends.

 (Josh and I got engaged 10 years ago on Christmas Eve!)

Some other things that happened this month:

We went to a baby dedication for our friends S.S. and A.S.'s new baby. He's so cute!

We went to our niece's preschool Christmas program. It's so fun to see the personalities that come out in these kinds of situations. Plus the kids are all super cute!

We saw Rogue One with some friends. It was really good! I liked it a lot.

It's still hard to believe that 2016 is over. As I was going through pictures from this year and putting together my year-end collage, I smiled a lot at the happy memories. It was such a great year full of many wonderful things, but it had its rough moments too. I'm looking forward to 2017 and all it will bring (I will share my full thoughts on 2017 in another post)!