Another year in the books and it feels good. Do you feel good when a year ends? It might be my Type A personality or how obsessed I am with accomplishment (make a list just to cross stuff off maybe?)… But as soon as Christmas Day is over and the family has been seen, the kids have new things to occupy their minds and I have a few seconds to breathe again, my mind dwells on the New Year.
And I think it’s a gift from God that we get a whole week to think, mull things over, plan, discuss, dream… all without a schedule to adhere to. It really might be my favorite week of the year.
This year has been wonderful for us. As I put on FaceBook the other day, it can be summed up like this:
2016 was a great year for me! My word for the year was “Order”. Knowing that order (in our business, homeschooling, health, home, etc) would only happen if we actually put it into action, we began by finishing off projects around he house that we wanted to get done. It took all year, but we did it! We finally took our epic 3 week, 4,500 mi roadtrip to CA in April, got a sweet puppy (my first dog!), got pregnant with our 4th child, started Classical Conversations, visited CO and AR, read lots of books (23 to be exact), and started a blog. I played lots of tennis, had regular dates and a couple of getaways with my love, saw Pentatonix again, and have watched our business grow exponentially! I’ve gotten to read several of my friend’s published books this year (so very exciting!) and hosted many friends in our home.
My word for 2017 is “Rebirth”. There are several implications for this in my heart. Stay tuned!🙂
Do you have a word for the year?
This fall has definitely proved to be busier and more full than the summer months, and my focus on keeping blog updates going has taken a backseat- something I don’t mind admitting and was actually quite intentional about.
My intentions for keeping this blog up-to-date aren’t clear yet to be honest. And the reason is the very platform the blogging is. I love being able to share my thoughts, ideas, pictures and journey with whomever is interested, but I loathe the hold social media and the internet has on people, including me. If I can help mitigate this problem in whatever way, including abstaining from blogging, I will.
Today though, I did want to share my top 5 books from last year. Here they are in no particular order:
- Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
- Manifesting Change by Mike Dooley
- 10 Mindful Minutes by Goldie Hawn
- The Life-Giving Home by Sally and Sarah Clarkson
- Happier At Home by Gretchen Rubin
I can tell by these and others that didn’t quite make the top 5 but were close, I had HOME on my heart this year. This was a natural overflow from the word “Order” that the Holy Spirit had placed in my heart. I didn’t particularly go looking for “home” related books as much as those were the ones that jumped out at me as I perused my ongoing list or the shelves at the library.
I could say so much about all of these selections… I would definitely prefer to chat about them over coffee together sometime. So hit me up. Let’s talk.
Here’s to the New Year!
*featured image from Brooke Sailer’s new bestselling book (I’m Failing At) This Thing Called Home
Love it. I can see how this word really did play out and you definitely stewarded it well.