Looking Back on 2013

December 30...the end of another year.  Almost!

I've never been much for journaling, and this is my first blog, so I've never actually looked back at the end of a year to review my goals.  I guess I saw people do it last year so that was why I wrote down all my goals on this blog a year ago.  Looking back at them...wow, if I couldn't look around me and see all that I accomplished INSTEAD, I'd probably feel kinda bad about how incomplete last year's goal list is!

I had planned to read at least 16 books (I read about 8), finish our honeymoon scrapbook (I think I made 2 pages), travel to Africa (what?!), read the entire Bible (I got through about a quarter), and exercise 5 days a week (I probably averaged 5 days a month, ugh)

BUT.

We bought a HOUSE, people.  And not just any house!  A house that was a "fixer-upper" (or disaster) in every sense of the word.  And then we moved into this house, still in various states of disrepair (who needs more than one working bathroom?), and then I got a new JOB.  Teaching preschool.  SPECIAL ED preschool.

So I am not going to beat myself up for not reading as much or not scrapbooking because I scrubbed walls, windows, and floors...I carried out rolls of carpeting and sheets of wet drywall...I painted every single wall of this 2200 square foot house...I ripped up 700 square feet of hardwood flooring and then prepped it to be installed in our home...I sanded said floor and re-polyurethaned it...I learned how to install drywall...I ripped out bushes and planted new ones...I pulled out ceilings...I refinished stairs...I painted every square foot of baseboard and window and door casing...I tiled three bathrooms and a laundry room...and then I packed and moved every single thing we own!  We had help moving, yes, but all those house construction projects...I largely did myself (and with my mom).  And I pretty much did them every single day of my summer vacation while Hubby Blue was at work.  So no, I really can't feel bad about not having time to read or scrapbook.  A trip to Africa costs money, all of which was lovingly poured into our home, and you want to talk about exercise?  I got all the exercise I could dream of laboring over this house.  And then I got a job that is physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting.  And sometimes requires 10 or 12 hours a day.

It blows my mind to think about where Hubby Blue and I were a year ago.  He was still on FTO and we were struggling with living where we lived.  Far from his job and far away from family and friends. I think by this point last year we knew we were going to move closer to his job, but I don't think we'd made up our minds to buy a house.  We seemed like we were going to be perennial renters and then THIS!  I knew I'd have to leave my job if we moved, but I don't know that I'd really thought that through.  I think we knew we could survive on just Hubby's income but I always figured I'd get a job pretty easily.  I didn't, and I needed God's providence to put me right where I ended up...in a preschool classroom where the teacher had resigned and walked out with about two hours' notice.  I never thought I'd want to teach preschool ever again after my first experience in preschool seven years ago, but it was the perfect fit for many reasons.

This blog suffered due to all the time I put into rehabbing our house.  I also feel like I went through a rather dark time after we moved in.  It's a little too raw to explain yet, but I felt like anything I would have written would have been too negative.  Being a cop's wife has been hard, and I've felt less than stellar about it a lot of times.  I spent a lot of time just waiting.  Waiting for "when this is going to get better or easier," waiting for this or that to happen, waiting for days we have off together.  I am still grasping this, but I'm starting to realize that I really need to be waiting upon the Lord...

I'm going to end today by saying that maybe I'll blog more in 2014...maybe I won't.  Maybe I'll be back with my goals for the new year...maybe I won't.  Maybe I'll start a new blog...maybe I won't.  Maybe I'll post about being a LEO wife...maybe I'll post about other things.  The way I see it...new year, new possibilities.  Am I right?