New Year!!!! Welcome 2011

I am thankful.  Oh so very thankful!  We are living in TLF till Friday and I have wireless Internet to keep up with my Blog, emails, and FB.  We are loving our friends who have offered to invite us over to their homes for play time for Gabriel and lunch/dinner.  Yes 2011 is off to a wonderful start.

I sat down to catch up with Blogs that I follow and just about every blog was about New Year's Resolutions.  Feel like I am about to beat a dead horse with a stick but today's post is about my New Year's Resolutions.  However I decided this year my NYR will be more like 2011 Goals.  Here are my goals for this year and for many more years to come..........

#1 Goal - Get OUT of debt.  As in pay off two of our credit cards that helped us during college, paid for our wedding, and purchases since being married.  Nathan and I have wants of traveling, paying for things using cash, adding more into our 401K than the average, building Gabriel's and future children savings/college accounts, and have the feeling of living life comfortably.

#2 Goal - Eating out only twice a month.  We did this last year and wow we saw a huge difference from Jan-March-ish....then we fell off the wagon.  As much as I love to cook and try new recipes, both of us really enjoy going out to eat and letting someone else take care of the food and clean up.  Plus with this goal it will go a long way of achieving #1 above.

#3 Goal - Instead of working on my Master's Degree, I have decided to focus on things that I have a love or want in this life.  Such as photography classes, cooking classes, learning to restore furniture, taking a bow making class, and many more.  I have always wanted my Master's Degree and even toyed with the idea of getting my Doctorate, but I have changed and those are just not important to me right now.  Maybe one day.

#4 Goal - Continue my growth with my Faith in God.  Find a church home and Sunday school classes.  I miss church.  I miss the sense of peace, love, and support from attending church regularly.  Nathan has made comments on how he misses it too. 

#5 Goal - Continue to appreciate life and live in the moment.  I will still make plans for I am just a planner.  But  I want to continue to find the positives in life.  Truly be thankful for what God has given to me so far.  To continue to be a supportive wife, mother, and friend, but realize that I can't control other people nor I am I responsible for their happiness and truth.

#6 Goal - Add to our family.  I honestly can't express the need and want I feel for more children in our home.  Even Nathan has expressed his need/want for more children in our family.  So whether we try one more time for our own child, adopt, or become Foster Parents, both my husband and I pray that 2011 will bring a child(ren) into our home. 

#7 Goal - Travel the East Coast.  We will be in NC for at least 3 - 4 years and just like what we have done here in Ohio, I plan to see everything I can while living in NC.  I have a goal to visit all 50 states before I die.  NC will bring me closer to the states I haven't visited yet.

#8 Goal - 2011 my Blog will become a fabulous blog...by my standards.  I am still not 100% on the direction I would like my Blog to take.  For now I will say that I want this Blog to be more "me".  I have 12 months to get it there.  Who knows, maybe one of the classes I take will be about Blogging and how to design one.  I don't think I want to pay someone to "design" my blog for me because then it wouldn't be 100% me.  That may be selfish or weird, who knows, but I truly want this year to be all about learning.  Me setting out and achieving my goals.

I pray for my readers that you have set achievable goals for 2011 and the years to come.  If you fall of the path of your goals, find your way, and get back on the path.  For every day is a new day.  No such thing as failing unless you truly just stop and give up!

Happy New Year!!!!