2014

I don't typically get too excited about the "new year" and all that but this year feels different.  I am very excited to see how God will use me and my family this coming year.  

First thing - I completed reading through the Bible in 2 years with the close of 2013.  Now I am have began a program to read through it again in just one year.  So far the first 6 days have gone smoothly.  I know it will become more of a challenge when I start my classes again on the 21st.

Speaking of classes this will be a big year for me, hopefully, in my classes too.  This spring semester I am taking my final two classes at Iowa and my 3rd Spanish class at a CC.  After that I will only have 1 Spanish class left that I hope to take next fall and graduate in December!  I have really enjoyed most of my classes and will be sad to see this part of my journey come to a close but I am very excited about achieving my goal of a Bachelors degree.  I am leaving it in God's very capable hands as to what I should do after graduation.

I have been babysitting part time for a little while now and one of my good friends who I sit for just had a baby last fall and we get to watch her one day a week now too!!  At times I wish we could have more children but I know that my husband does not want any more and we have been blessed with 3 beautiful children.

I just recently joined Advocare and will be starting the 24 day challenge when it arrives in the mail.  I am looking forward to becoming healthier and having more energy - along with hopefully a little less weight.  I am hoping to completely rid our house of pop this year and transition to Spark instead.  The kids don't like carbonation so just Jeremy and I drink it.  If it is not in the house then I don't miss it.  Jeremy likes to take it to work but I am hoping we can find something else instead.  I joined mostly for myself and the discount but if anyone is interested in ordering this is my website, Allison's Advocare site.   

We are also trying to pay more attention to what we put into our minds as well as our bodies.  I read a really good blog a few days ago that addressed this, Following Jesus - TV and Movies.  We just went through all of our DVDs and picked only a few to keep.  I was so proud of Jeremy for letting go of some I know he has really liked in the past.  If you take the time to read the blog I linked to it pretty much sums up exactly how I have been feeling lately.  

I also want to focus on my marriage this year.  Jeremy and I have a good marriage but I would like for us to allow God to be a bigger part of our marriage and family and take things to "the next level."  Our church is having a marriage event in February that I am hoping will give us more direction here.

We have been in a small group at church for a little over a year now and are really enjoying the closer relationships with those families in our church.  We have studied some challenging material and I am looking forward to our next study together.  We just finished up Follow Me by David Platt and I hope to use more in the new information I have learned through it.  It is a follow up to his book Radical, still need to read this one!  Please check out his website http://www.radical.net/.  

Whew!  Sounds like we will have another busy but hopefully blessed year following our Savior.

I haven't even mentioned the kids' activities, Aubrey is still taking dance lessons through May and then will have the summer off.  Nile hopes to play Rookies baseball in the spring and soccer in the fall, we will see depending on his behavior.  Hayden hopes to play his first year of Minors baseball in the spring and flag football in the fall.  We will probably throw some swimming lessons for Nile and possibly Aubrey in there for the summer as well.  Jeremy and I really enjoy watching the kids in their activities and I hope to be able to contain my competitive side while watching!