Resolutions & Goals: Part I

Happy Lent, Everyone!

I find that I tend to get more accomplished when I write things down, so I'm a natural list person, be it my short-term, daily to-do list or my long-term New Year's resolutions. This series of posts will be a collaboration of my New Year's Resolutions, my weekly goals (in the spirit of the oh-so-inspiring Alicia over at Alicia's Homemaking), and my Lenten goals.

I keep running lists in the 'Notes' app on my iPhone including my main to-do list, trip packing list, books to buy/check out, songs to purchase, menus, grocery/shopping lists, gifts to give, etc. and find that without these at my fingertips 24/7 I would be lost!

Is anyone else out there using this time to refocus, refresh, or make (or break!) a few habits? What things are you hoping to accomplish this week/month/year? Stay tuned to see what's on my list each week, and post your goals in the comments!


Weekly Goals (the out-of-the-ordinary items I'd like to accomplish this week)

• Exercise at least 3x
• Keep up-to-date on daily Lenten Bible readings (via YouVersion)
• Make a batch of No-Bake Oatmeal Chocolate Bars
  
• Complete March menu plan
• Clean out medicine cabinet
• Finish knitting balaclava for Jean, blanket for our friends Janice & Kevin's peanut, and at least 2 dishcloths
  
• Organize spice drawer
• Organize utensil drawer
• Find 3 Acts of Service that I can do for Jean to make his week a little easier
  

Lenten Changes (things I'm refocusing during the Lenten season)

• Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion) on time
  
• No snacking! 3 modest meals a deal with nothing solid in between
• Actively speak Jean's 'Love Languages' (Physical Touch & Acts of Service) more often and more effectively
  

2012 Resolutions & Goals (the 'big-ticket' items I/we would like to accomplish this year)

• Buy a home
• Move to my parents' town (hopefully we can kill two birds with one stone for #1 & 2!)
• Conceive our first child
• Scrapbook our wedding
• Scrapbook our honeymoon
  
• Learn to crochet
• Learn to knit socks

Stay tuned!

{It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!}

Is everyone having a wonderful holiday season?

Christmas at The Finstad Homestead means a lot of shopping, crafting, secrets, cooking/baking, and some local travel with a few Starbucks runs thrown in - all fun!

This year, as is tradition, we enjoyed a delicious seafood and pasta dinner and a 'Secret Santa' gift exchange on Christmas Eve with the Pesci side of Jean's family. It was wonderful to gather with family both near and far (over Skype!), share a meal, play with the young cousins, and start the Christmas celebrations the night before.



Another tradition we enjoy each Christmas is giving to those less fortunate than ourselves. While we make a true effort to give throughout the year through a variety of programs, what we enjoyed most this year was putting together a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. All it took was a trip to the dollar sections of Target and Michaels, but I hope that the 5 to 9-year old girl that receives our box enjoys all of the fun (and some practical) items we put in the box. We sure enjoyed filling it!

One of our most treasured traditions is attending the candlelight church service on Christmas Eve. This is something that I have done since high school, and Jean and I have continued this tradition. Both last year and this one we attended Christmas Eve services at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church where we regularly attend Sunday services. This tradition definitely puts us in the right frame of mind for the next day!



Speaking of Christmas Day...what fun! Before we headed to bed the night before, we made sure to turn on the flame feature on our electric heater so Santa would know where to find us, and he did! The next morning, we started off the day by having our own mini-Christmas gift giving, just the two of us. Jean and my parents had gone in together to purchase me a treadmill for my gift back in October (when it was on sale), so I didn't expect a single solitary thing this year, but I was thrilled to find a package from Santa on top of our electric fireplace!


Sneaky Jean had told Santa about the Steve Madden coat that I had had my eye on at Nordstrom Rack just two days earlier. Jean also enjoyed his gifts, including Redskins pajama bottoms (it's a tradition to buy/receive new jammy bottoms for Christmas!) and a Harry Potter Gryffindor scarf, handmade by yours truly!

After finishing our own Christmas morning celebrations, we finished packing up the car to head out to Front Royal to celebrate with Mom and Dad, via our local Starbucks, of course (and yes, we went into Starbucks in our Redskins and gift-wrapped present PJ's!). When we arrived, we were greeted with a warm house, a table full of yummy snacks and baked goods, and a giant present mountain under the tree. The four of us headed upstairs to mom and dad's cozy new loft to open our gifts, including hand knit items for mom and dad, lots and lots of knee socks and sweater tights for me, and a brand new gas grill for Jean!


The rest of the afternoon was spent in the loft with the pups, on the recliner couch, watching the many DVD's we had brought with us, including two VeggieTales Christmas movies, 'Keeping the Promise', and 'The Nativity Story'. We were able to tear ourselves away from the giant HDTV and fireplace once the yummy dinner smells started coming from the kitchen, though! The next day mom and I hit the after-Christmas sale at Target and stocked up on gift wrap for next year. Jean and I also drove around a checked out a few houses and neighborhoods that we have our eye on. As soon as we're in the new year, we'll be getting the home buying ball rolling!


Christmas wasn't over yet, though! John and Laine and our nieces returned home from her family's on the 26th, so we all headed to Herndon to celebrate with them on the morning of the 27th. We enjoyed yummy sandwiches made from Christmas dinner leftovers and even MORE gift-giving! Jean and I were THRILLED to unwrap a new Keurig coffee maker!


We were a little worried that our middle niece, Mary, wouldn't be too keen on the whole Christmas chaos after her not-so-successful visit to Santa this year, but I think she understand now that he's not so scary after all :)

All-in-all it was a wonderful holiday, and now we're looking forward to the new year and all of the exciting changes it promises to bring us!

{Priorities}

11 days left until Christmas. 11 days. Christmas. 11. Are you ready?

Needless to say, we're not exactly 'ready' here at the Finstad homestead. Between an end--of-year honeymoon for us, work for Jean, and trying to get out the next issue of the NSA newsletter for me, Christmas seems to have slipped further and further down the priority list this year. Or has it? Looking back on the last week and a half since we've been home, it seems that perhaps we've got our priorities exactly where they need to be...

We've set up - and decorated - our tree...

Including a few special ornament additions ...

...to commemorate a few special occasions

In the last few months, we've also become involved in a local church. Neither of us were raised Methodist, and to be honest, we originally only chose this church because it was walking distance to our house :) However, we've come to really enjoy the Sunday morning services!

Earlier this week we attended the church's annual Christmas dinner and concert, and had a great time! The delicious Mexican meal was provided by the Hispanic congregation of a sister church, and the music was provided by the amazing church choir and brass (plus a few carols sung by us attendees!), and the yummy dessert cookies provided by all of us who came to enjoy the dinner. We also participated in the church's 'Angel Tree' program this year, picking an ornament off of the tree and buying the gift specified for the needy family listed. We've met lots of friendly people, and are really enjoying our new church home!

{Lead Me...}

One of the shortest but most precious memories from our wedding was dancing together to the song 'Lead Me' by Sanctus Real. We listen to a lot of Contemporary Christian music both in the house and in the car, and this quickly became one of our favorites. Each time I hear this on the radio, I can't help but remember Jean singing along to me while we danced (thank God for memory burn!)

I invite you to take the few minutes to play the video below, listen to this beautiful song, and read along with the lyrics.

Father, give me the strength

To be everything I'm called to be...