A New Year. A New Journey. A New Adventure

Every year I try to make a New Year's Resolution and actually stick to it. It never works.

This year, I am determined to make my year count. I know this could be a significant year of changes in my life, but I want my year to be significant in all areas of my life. I want to make holistic changes in my life.

I have come up with a wholesome approach to my New Year's Resolutions for this year. I have given myself a realistic goal in each area of my life and I will hold myself accountable to attaining each of these goals. Here they are:

• Spiritual :: 52 week church challenge
• Mental :: Memorize a verse each month
• Physical :: Watching what foods I am putting into my body, and not drinking soda
• Emotional :: Being more confident

These may seem like strange challenges, but they mean something to me. 

The spiritual challenge has been something I have been struggling with over the past year. I am constantly running around like crazy trying to get everything done that needs to be accomplished. Sometimes those things that need to get done are actually necessary, and other times, they are just doing things because I want to. I am a planner. I have every moment of every day planned out and I usually don't have enough time in the day to get everything done. With that said, come Sunday, I am exhausted! Sometimes it's the only day I get to sleep in. Now with my job at the diner, sometimes I work Sunday mornings, too. As you can see, church is something that I sometimes (okay, if I'm being honest, frequently) skip. I always tell myself, as I'm hitting the snooze button on the alarm, that if I sleep through church, I will listen to a sermon. Then I get up and don't make time to listen to a sermon. So, I am doing the 52 week church challenge. I am challenging myself to get up every Sunday and go to church. 

For the mental challenge, I am going to memorize one verse each month. Yes, that will come out to only 12 verses I have memorized in 2015. Here's the thing. If I tried to memorize 52 verses in a year, I would get to about 3 and then quit. 52 (a verse a week) is too many for me. I could probably do 2 verses a month and stick to that goal, but the thing is that I would just force myself to memorize a verse for the week and then be done. So, I am choosing to do one verse a month instead. That way I can choose the verse on the 1st of the month, write it down, recite it, post it on my mirror and my desk, and practice it all month long. At the end of the month, I want to know the verse instead of just memorizing it to recite it for the "test," if that makes sense. By the end of the year, I want to have 12 verses totally memorized by heart and to actually know them instead of to say "this is the gist of this verse somewhere in Philippians." And thus the memorization challenge. 

Oh, the physical challenge. Every year I'm pretty sure I say that I want to eat better or exercise more or whatever the goal may be. It never happens. Ever. EVER. So, this year it is my goal to just be aware of what I am eating. If I just take the time to stop and think about what foods I am putting into my body, then I truly believe I will make healthier choices when it comes to food. I am also choosing to give up drinking soda. I have done this a few times before, but never for this amount of time. I am hoping that if I don't drink it for a year, that I will just stop drinking it all together. So, I just want to be aware of the food and drink choices that I am making in order to provide my body with better nutrition. 

And the emotional challenge. This one is something that I struggle with on a daily basis. For those of you who really know me, you would probably say that I don't struggle with confidence. But the truth is, I really do. I struggle with being a confident person when I am in a group setting, or when I am talking to people I don't really know. I am never the outgoing person, but always the quiet one. In class, I am never confident enough to raise my hand and answer a question, and definitely not ask one. Why? I don't know. I have just been that way for as long as I can remember. I am afraid to get to know people on a deeper level. I am afraid to be open and honest with some people about life. So, I am going to try each day to make a step in the direction of confidence. I want to be confident in meetings at work. I want to be confident with customers that I don't know at the diner. I want to be confident with my co workers. I want to be confident with friends that I want to know better. I want to be confident in who I am in Christ. I want to be confident. 

In all, I just want to be more intentional about each area of my life. I want to be intentional with my relationships, with myself, with my body, with my spiritual life, just in every area. 

In order to keep myself accountable, I am going to write a blog update each month about the progress I have made in each area. So, thank you for helping keep me accountable! 

Until next time, 

Lauren

Christmas - A Year to Remember

Growing up, Christmas was always a special time of year. I remember year after year of getting the Christmas decorations down from the attic after Thanksgiving dinner (and a nap) and putting them up. I remember picking out a Christmas tree and decorating it. I remember the Christmas musicals at church and the Christmas plays. I remember weeks of advent and weeks of the Christmas story in Sunday School. I remember our annual Christmas baking. I remember delivering Christmas cookies to the neighbors every year. I remember getting dressed up for the Christmas Eve and going to the candlelight service. I remember going home and going straight to bed so "Santa" could come (even though I knew he wasn't real, it was still fun to pretend). I remember when we were old enough to stay up a little bit later on Christmas Eve and when we started doing a huge Christmas Eve dinner. I remember pounding on my parents door at 5:59 yelling "It's time to come out! It's almost 6:00!" I remember getting up at the crack of dawn to open our stockings and presents. I remember our family's traditional Christmas breakfast. I remember Gramma coming over to open presents with us in the morning. I remember the moments where I quietly drifted into an afternoon nap after tearing off all the wrapping paper. I remember getting ready to go to Grandpa and Grandma's for Christmas with the cousins and aunts and uncles. I remember Christmas dinner. I remember the year I got to move from the "kid table" to the "adult table." I remember the year when I felt joy in giving others Christmas presents rather than just being excited to receive them. I remember the year I realized how important my family was and how thankful I was to be spending this holiday with them. I remember the year I realized what Christmas was really about.

Each year, the meaning of Christmas becomes deeper and deeper to me. This year was by far the most special Christmas I have ever celebrated.

This Christmas was the first Christmas I have not had a "Christmas break." For the past 16 years, I have been designated time off from school and all other activities so I could spend Christmas with my family. Not this year. While I am working for Simpson and I was able to get a 3 week break, I am also working at a diner. Of course when I was hired, I eagerly agreed to let the manager schedule me on Thanksgiving and Christmas (because I wanted the job, but not realizing how hard it was for me to spend those holidays at work instead of with my family). As Christmas approached, I became more and more sad that I wouldn't be at home with my family to spend time with them. When I found out that my brother was coming from Alaska to spend Christmas with the family (which he didn't think he would be able to do), I was even more sad. But I was also determined to get some time to spend with him and the family!

Long story short, my schedule worked out where I was able to have a few days off, then work a shift, then have a few more days off, then work another shift. In 2 weeks, I only spent 2 nights at my own apartment 2 hours from my family's home. Some days I would drive back to Redding for my shift, work for 5 hours, and then drive 2 hours back to my parents. Was it crazy? Maybe a little. But it was SO worth it! I was scheduled on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which was a real bummer. I missed our annual Christmas Eve party and dinner at my house. Because I was working right in the middle of the day on Christmas, I thought I was also going to miss Christmas with my family.

I was wrong.

My family was so caring that they postponed Christmas for a day. On December 25th, they proceeded with their day just like it was any other day of the year. On December 26th, we celebrated Christmas just like it was the 25th: we got up early, we opened presents, we ate our Christmas breakfast, we took our annual post-Christmas-presents-naps, and we had our Christmas dinner. My brother was there. My family was there. My heart was there.

I remember the moment when I was sitting looking at my family thinking just how special they were and how thankful I was that we could all be at the table together for another wonderful Christmas. I was thankful that we all were able to celebrate the birth of our Savior together and were able to gather around the table in love.

I am beyond blessed by the people I get to call my family. I am incredibly thankful that they are mine. I am also incredibly thankful that we can share life together, forever!