Done with 2014, onto 2015

Bloglovin LinkI hope everyone had a great Christmas! As we're getting closer to the end of 2014, it's easy for my mind to drift to what might be next year. This year was GREAT for David and me. We're working at terrific jobs that we're finally able to understand what we're doing and what our goals are. We have wonderful students, co-teachers, and grade level peeps. Our bosses have to be the best in the world, but seriously. We have friends teaching at the school that plan to stay for some time. We also started our adoption process and got that ball rolling. There is just so much to be thankful for.

This coming year holds so many hopes and dreams for our little Carr family. So I would like to spend some time sharing here what some of those are, both to satisfy curiosity and for a measure of accountability. We, of course, have the cliche goals like, lose weight, drink more water, exercise - and honestly some of these are remarkably similar to last year's resolutions. Last year, I met several of my goals! I've started exercising more, and I gotta give a shout out to Jillian Michaels and her kick-butt programs, I love/hate her! I've drank more water than any year prior, ate healthier choices and lost about 10-15 pounds of weight! (it's hard to know exactly because we didn't get a scale until summer time).

There were some goals that just weren't as realistic as I thought at the time or that we worked hard to achieve, but just didn't happen - things like, travel more of China, pay off 3 school loans (we did 2!), and some others that are so ridiculous I'm a little embarrassed to them post here!

So for this year, when I consider what is coming up I will have some things that are for my personal betterment, but most of my resolutions will be about us becoming a little bigger of a family. So here they are:

1. Get a home study completed before summer starts.
2. Put on at least one super-successful fundraiser for our adoption.
3. Accumulate toys and books that would be appropriate no matter what the age of our kids.
4. Read 3-4 parenting books.
5. Read 3-4 adoption oriented books.
6. Apply for as many grants as humanly possible.
7. Keep all adoption paperwork extremely organized.
8. Start debt snowball and ATTACK! (thanks Dave Ramsay for the saving know-how!)
9. Read 2-3 books about being a better teacher.
10. Get fit - not necessarily lose weight, but be healthier.
11. Do devotions more diligently (maybe She Reads Truth - any other suggestions let me know!)
12. Blog every week (if you have any ideas for topics PLEASE let me know!)
13. Take pictures at least once a week - and keep learning more about the beautiful camera I got for Christmas!
14. Love on kids at Haven of Hope twice a week (at least) Find out more about this great program that helps special needs orphans by clicking here. 
15. Paint the house.
16. Travel somewhere fun (but cheap, maybe Bali?).
17. Cook more at home, and healthier foods.
18. Keep learning Chinese, and pick up some basic Bulgarian.
19. Complain less, encourage more.
20. Bring our kids home - now I know that this may not happen this year, but let's face it, how many of our goals do we actually achieve in our own little time-frame? I see no reason not to be optimistic. God showed us that this is His calling for us right now, so until he says otherwise, we're running full speed towards that goal.

I hope you enjoyed reading my list of goals and can help keep me accountable to achieve (and maybe even help achieve some!). I hope many of your goals are met this year and that this New Year brings more joy to your life. Happy New Year!