A New Year's Resolution

Normally, when I make goals each year, I try to make them in the following areas:

• Physical
• Spiritual
• Financial

And, because I choose ONE goal for each area, I often am able to accomplish them pretty well. For instances, last year (for 2011) my goals were as follows:

Physical: Run a marathon in May. I did NOT accomplish this because, when I made the goal, I was injured. So, a month or so later this changed to: be able to run again. And that goal I did accomplish. In fact, I run 3 times a week, 2-3 miles each time, EVERY week. I've done this for six months and have only missed two days so far, over Christmas break when we were out of town.

Spiritual: Read the New Testament. I did most of this. I got stuck somewhere after Acts (I think it was in Ephesians??), but I did a pretty good job at working toward that one. I count it as accomplished.

Financial: Pay off my remaining student debt of $15,000, which we did. We sent our last check in on January 5, and I am thrilled that I am now, officially, debt free! Woot!

Having had a fairly successful year, I've decided my goals for this year (2012) will include the following:

Physical: Run a 5k in under 30 minutes. Speed, not distance, will be my bear to beat this year. I am running a 5k in April with my sister, in May with my brother, and probably in September (Bass Lake) and October (Susan G. Komen). There should be plenty of opportunity to increase my speed over the year, and test it at these races!

Spiritual: Study the scriptures for at least 30 minutes every day. So far, I'm right on track with this one and I'm loving it. At church in Utah there was a lesson on January 1 about devoting time to God. In the lesson the teacher discussed how each day is 24 hours long and, if we just give 24 minutes a day to scripture study then we are really only giving 100th of our time to the Lord. When she put it like that, it made it seem very doable, and so I have done it. I'm really enjoying the experience, too!

Financial: This one gets a bit tricky because there's a lot involved with it. We want to pay off two more, smaller, debts this year. And then we want to use the rest of the money to further our future a bit. Let's just say that by the end of the year we'll either have a baby (birthed or adopted, TBA) or a better car, and that's my financial goal right now.

BUT, in the midst of all these other things, I wish to add one more.

On Christmas Day, again in church, one of the speakers talked about the importance of having the true meaning of Christmas in your heart all year long. She asked, "So, what will you do to have Christ in your heart throughout the coming year?"

I thought a lot about this, for some reason. I kept thinking, "What is something I WILL be able to do, will WANT to do, and can bless the lives of others?" The more I thought about it, the more I thought about my hubby's family tradition of "Jesus Gifts." Every year his family makes a gift for a sibling, on the sly (like a homemade secret santa). Then, they exchange it on Christmas Eve. I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if I could make Jesus Gifts for God's children every month this year, rather than just one for one family member?"

And, thus the idea was born: I am going to donate (at least) one item to charity every month of the year to make it 12 months of giving to others.

I decided, too, that the following are the rules for this goal:

1. Each donated item must be homemade on some level. Note: homemade can include making a meal or two for women in the ward, for example.
2. Each donated item must be completed within a month and sent to the appropriate place before a new one can be started.
3. Each month must involve a new/different charity than the months before.

This month, my charity is Empower Women in Africa. This is a beautiful Non-Profit that does extraordinary things to keep young African girls in school as long as possible. They do this by providing re-useable, fabric, feminine hygiene products to girls so they do not have to miss school and work during "that time" of the month. Please, check out their website - it is a beautiful organization and I could not be more delighted to be making these gifts for my sisters in need!!