On June 4, I “celebrated” (okay, acknowledged) my two-year anniversary as a full-time homemaker! I realized it was a little late to get a post out on time, which I regret, but, you know, who cares? I’m just glad that I have the date marked down to observe! I got over the regret quickly and resolved to think about what I shared on my one-year anniversary, and what goals I should make now.
A quick list of my goals a year ago:
- Exercising
- Limiting computer use
- Getting out of the house
- Serving
[If you want more details about these goals (or what I actually termed “a few things that I still really suck at”), check out that post at the link above. ]
Okay I’m going to get real here. I completely forgot about this post listing things I suck(ed) at. Completely. Yet I’ve met or at least made progress on all of them! God is so good, and this is why everyone should journal! If I hadn’t had this post from a year ago to reference, I would have completely missed God’s specific answers to my prayers. Consequently, I would have failed to praise Him for His sovereignty, wisdom, and tenderness in leading me through these areas of growth!
A year ago, I called myself the pillsbury doughmom. I couldn’t figure out a workable plan for exercise with so much other stuff going on (namely, my son not napping well). Today, I ran more miles than I would have ever thought possible at one time (for me) — my personal best! My right hip is aching, and I am pretty sure I’ve developed arthritis in my left knee because of all this running, but I have probably never been this healthy in my life. Although I only run 2-3 times a week, it’s part of my routine that I’ve come to crave. I don’t exactly enjoy it, but I need it. I feel the difference in my body and in my general emotional well-being.
A year ago, I struggled with getting sucked in to Facebook and blog-reading. Today, I still struggle with that a bit here and there, but tremendously less so than a year ago. I simply don’t have time. (You may have noticed that I almost never blog; this is also because I don’t have time!) My son, now nearly two years old, is so busy that it’s impossible to be on the computer like I used to be. This is a great thing! How much more important and rewarding is it to invest in exploring outside, or singing and dancing together to extremely loud music, or reading THE truck book again (“Mamma! Read it!”), or wrestling, or tickling, or chasing, or spinning, or running, or hiding-and-seeking, or ______. Infinitely. Infinitely more important and rewarding.
A year ago, I was a slave to my baby’s schedule and never wanted to deal with all the packing up and planning that went into leaving the house. Today, there is rarely a day when we DON’T go somewhere! Granted, hauling a two-year-old is easier than hauling an infant, in my opinion, but this is definitely somewhere I’ve intentionally grown. I found story times, and we go twice a week. I joined a gym that has an AWESOME kids’ club, and we go two or three times a week. We go to the park (a lot) and to the zoo and to play dates. Today, I find this section from last year’s post a little prophetic:
I have a feeling that my little boy might be all critters and baseball and dirt like his daddy, so I need to do my part in not confining him to the house. How boring for a little boy anyway! We need to get out into the wide world, meeting people and getting our toes dirty.
That he is, and that we have! This introverted reader/writer is way out of her comfort zone with all this activity, but she has to admit that it is pretty fun.
And a year ago, I recognized how I wasn’t serving others outside of my immediate family. Today, serving my church is a major part of my life. I’ve grown in teaching and discipleship, and I’m very active in serving the women’s ministry and in the nursery. I’ve participated once in a neighborhood outreach where we brought food and hope to those in need, and it was a profound experience for me. I hope to go again. As I connect with people through the gym and the library, I’m praying for ways to encourage new friends and show them Whom I serve and why. Recently, we purchased a zoo pass that allows us to bring a guest for free. The idea was both to save money and to use it as a ministry. I’ve gone a few times and invited mom-friends, and I hope to be able to use this to reach out to new mom-friends I don’t know that well. As a result of reading a really amazing book called Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism, I am getting bolder in simply being a Jesus-follower publicly. To know what I mean by that, read the book. 🙂 Although I’m far from having “arrived” in the area of service, I’m undoubtedly growing.
Year Two? A success! Praise God for His faithfulness! Come back soon to read about my goals for Year Three.
Life is Good 