I won't set that goal again in 2010!

It's almost the end of January and my New Year's resolutions are not going very strong. In fact, I haven't even started on them!

I have been thinking a lot about how this is the last year of this decade. I was thinking back to my life in January of the year 2000. I was living in California and still married to my ex-husband with three kids and one cat and one dog. (Cora was 5, Alyssa was 4 and Cody had just turned 2). Needless to say, my life has changed signifigantly in the last decade. I don't know what will happen in the next decade but I do know what I'd like to accomplish.

Many of the goals I have now I also had back at the start of January 2000 and unfortunately I still have not accomplished them yet! I would like to use this last year of the decade to accomplish those decade-old goals and then plan NEW goals for the next decade. Hopefully it won't take me a decade to accomplish the new ones!

In The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Aslan (a fictional lion that represents Jesus Christ) , tells Lucy that we can't know what would've happened but he says, “But anyone can find out what will happen”. Well, I'm not going to dwell on pointless "what if's" about un-accomplished goals from years ago but rather focus on what will happen if I do them now.

My first four goals:

1. I've chewed my fingernails since I was a little girl. My older daughters now bite their nails because I did it while they were growing up. I want to grow my nails. I don't want my little girls to bite theirs and I want to be an inspiration to my older girls to kick the habit, too.

2. I want to lose weight. I have kept 10 pounds from every kid I've given birth to. I have about 50 extra pounds on me. I want to lose at least half of that by the end of the year but I am going to eventually lose all of it!

3. I want to keep my journal. I want to keep a journal for myself, because I have a poor memory. I think a journal can be a great tool for venting about life, preserving what we cherish, learning about yourself, and reflecting. You can see change and growth and record blessings from the Lord. I also want to keep a journal for my children and grandchildren. I think it would be wonderful to read my Grandma's journal, but she did not write one. She wrote lots of stories and poetry and when I read those I try to understand her at a younger age. I knew her in her later years because my Mom was born when my Grandma was 39, and I was born when Grandma was 65. When I really got to know and love her she was already into her 70's. Actually, I would love to read a journal from any of my grandparents or great-grandparents. So, I plan to write my journal as if I am writing it to some adult version of my future grandchild or great-grandchild that I have yet to know and love.

4. I want to read my scriptures everyday. I find time for everything else, I think I can find time for this!

Maybe you have old goals you want to accomplish before we all get to the new decade. Maybe we can work on this together and encourage and cheer on each other. If you want to add your goals then just leave a comment on this blog.