Reflection on 2018 Goals

Alright, time to take a look back at 2018 and see if I hit any of my goals. I really should start writing these down, somewhere other than this blog where I forget about them until the next new year, if I really want to be intentional.

Well, let's see how I did...

- Finish my RN to BSN. - I did it! I earned my BSN this spring and have no further education plans on the horizon. That seems weird for me to say as I seem to be a perpetual student, but now with my second Bachelors, one associates, and 2 certificates under my belt- unless I decide to do something else career wise I think I'm in an ok spot for now.

- Do the Bible in one year devotion. - I have 3 days left and then I did it! At times I've thought that I'm putting all this time and effort in and not "feeling" much closer to God, which is a disappointing feeling. But I had a good talk about this with my friend Jill who reminded me that God's word does not return void, and I might be being tempted to listen to the devil's lies about not feeling closer to God and needing to be aware of falling into his trap of pulling me away from truth. I know I have learned more about God and myself from reading His Word this past year, even while my sinful selfishness gets in the way. This year in my Bible Study Fellowship group Bible Study Fellowship we are reading through parts of the Old Testament as we study The People of the Promised Land, so that has been a good study too.

- Make a decision to move or buy another rental property. - It was a busy market! We looked at so many rental properties, others accepted offers before we could even look at them, got out bid on several, and had one accepted offer just to walk away after the inspection due to too many expensive repairs needed. So that was disappointing, but the plan for another rental is in place for 2019! We are pretty sure that we are going to stay in our home for at least another year.

- I'd love to make it through this stack of books - Fail! I did finish "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality" (very good), and "Saving Your Marriage Before it Starts" (also good), but didn't even crack the others, and in fact bought more books to add to that stack...

Other:

I shared a feeling of being open to what 2018 had, including hopes for an addition to our family. Thankfully God has heard and answered that prayer and I am 26 weeks along with baby girl and we are very excited for that.

I talked about not seeing any international trips in store for 2018- but in fact we did a cruise to the Bahamas (no passport stamp from a cruise though), and we did a family fall colors trip to Nova Scotia (passport stamp!). We also had a road trip to DC for a friend's wedding and a family reunion to Colorado and enjoyed a couple weekends up North as well.

And also the continued goal of wanting to be more intentional with my relationships. God, Doug, August, family, friends. This one is hard to quantify, but I think I did ok. I have a lot of good memories with Doug and August from over the year, and of course this still needs to be a top priority as somewhere along the line I have moved more towards being a person who puts tasks ahead of people, and I hate that. Quality time is a love language for me, and I used to be so good about giving it as well, so I hope to see that table turn back around.

Overall, 2018 was a good year, and the Lord has been very good to me.

2018 Goals

Well 2018 is already almost 1/12 over, time for some goals!

I have been feeling very busy with work and school and family life. It's been feeling like more of a chore to blog lately, but I have a minute now with August sleeping and dinner in the crock pot, so here we go:

- Finish my RN to BSN. This should be attainable as I only have one semester left and I'm already underway. This last class is a synthesis class and I could have either spent 15 weeks writing a paper, which I thought sounded pretty useless. Or I had the option to be in the ER for a semester. So I picked that option. After 3 years of being a nurse I still feel uncomfortable in emergency situations, and so I thought the experience would be useful for me. I already spent one day in the ER and saw lots of flu, but also saw a brain bleed, and a guy with a nail in his finger. This semester is turning out to take up a lot of time though. I have to do 126 hours of on-site experience and there are also 9 self-quiz packets on various topics: ventilators, trauma, hemodyncamics, advanced hemodynamics.... each packet is a 50-75 page PDF with 30 questions at the end and they are just so hard. And there are also 8 other fill-in-the-blank quizzes over the semester. So I am feeling stressed. But I think it will be worth it in the end and will make me a better nurse.

- Do the Bible in one year devotion. My friend Liz sent me the app and so far I'm on track. It's awesome because my phone can just read it to me while I prep dinner or wash dishes or what not. Unlike last year where there were just readings, this one also has a devotion part where it expounds on the daily reading and it makes a big difference I've noticed already. I'm also halfway through the Romans study in my Bible Study Fellowship group.

- Make a decision to move or buy another rental property. We are in the middle of lots of talking about this. Talking with a builder, looking at rental potentials. We are really in a nice spot now where our mortgage is very affordable so it seems daunting to have that possibly doubled.

- I'd love to make it through this stack of books that has been on my nightstand for years now, seriously, one of those is for engaged couples and we are in year 3 of marriage already. Now, don't get me wrong I love to read, just finished a novel in 2 days, but these non-fiction books take thought, and you can't just breeze through heavy topics all in one sitting. So they take forever. But I'd like to read them.

Otherwise I'm pretty open to what 2018 has in store. We hope it will bring an addition to our family, but that appears, like all things, to be on God's timing. I don't see any international trips in my future for 2018, but I am looking forward to a trip to DC in May for a friend's wedding, and a family reunion for my side of the family in Colorado in the summer. Doug's daydreaming about a Key West trip, so we'll see. Would also love to make an out East or Maine or Nova Scotia fall colors trip happen if at all possible.

Same as last year I want to be more intentional with my relationships. God, Doug, August, family, friends. I was just rocking August to sleep and singing Baby of Mine and of course the tears are coming down, one day he'll be too big to rock and one day he'll be gone to his own house and family. But today he is my baby and I love holding him close.

Hoping for good things in 2018 and for a closer walk with Jesus!