- What went well in 2018?
- What went not-so-well in 2018?
Here are my answers to the first question:
- We made some decent improvements to our house. We had someone cut down a giant tree in our front yard. It had been dying since we bought the house, and we finally had enough money to have it removed. We cut up about two, half trees that fell down at various times during the year. Those weren’t really improvements, more like upkeep that had to be done. We painted our deck, we painted our shutters, and we redid the mulch in the front around our bushes. I did a pretty good job mowing the lawn every single week too, until the mower the died like two cuts before the end of the season. We also rearranged our living room with a new TV that was given to us, and I hung three guitars on our bedroom wall earlier today.
- We continued to eat better, healthier but also just better. We made eggnog again, cranberry sauce again, pumpkin bread again, and eyeball eggs again, all of which were pretty much one-time occasions for the holidays. The rest of the year, we pretty much kept up meatless Mondays (and that expanded into multiple days each week for a number of weeks), we did a soup week not too long ago, we tried a bunch of fancy recipes, and we discovered Mississippi Pot Roast and Spinach and Artichoke Raviolis, both of which have become staples in our diet. On the fun front, we rocked burger week, trying like eight different burgers that week, and a couple pies during pizza week. We tried a bunch more local restaurants and did a good job avoiding the dying, sit-down chains like Applebee’s or O’Charley’s that we always regret.
- We joined a Life Group through a church called Springdale Community Church. Meagan started going there at the beginning of the year, and she wanted to check out one of their home fellowship’s after someone invited her out. We both went almost every week. It turned into a good way for Meagan and I to stay in fellowship together and hang out with people who are encouraging, will give a sense of accountability, and will celebrate life together. Beyond the actual meetings, we’ve been able to make new friends, and it’s pushed me to see the church from a different perspective, outside Calvary. I also led worship on the guitar for the group, which definitely got me doing something that made me nervous for the wrong reasons.
- We participated in Safe Harbor. Before Lachlan, we were involved with what was then called Safe Families, a program that matches families who need a place for their kids to stay short-term with families who are willing to take these kids into their home. We took a break when Meagan got pregnant with Lachlan. The program director stepped down (and ended up getting married – congratulations, Sarah!), and the program went through a restructuring process. I think that’s still happening. All that to say, we were finally able to watch a little girl named Mo’Nay this past month while her mom was in the hospital going into labor. Each time we do this, I get that feeling like, “Oh boy, what have we gotten ourselves into.” But we’ve kept up with it because, well, I guess to me it seems like one of the most practical ways to help these families and show that Jesus and his people love them.
- Lachlan forces me to be more intentional as a parent. I’m not great at this, but having to take care of him puts all these little actions into focus, like what I do, what we do as a family, is an example to our kids of how to live, good or bad. I’m not sure I’ve done an amazing job with it, but what has gone well this year is just being more aware of it. Meagan has done a good job getting Lachlan out and about during the week – story time at the library, the zoo, even Refit – and the rest of us out and about on the weekends. We went camping and hiking, attended some festivals, even got to travel on a scholarship, the only real travel of the year.
- I read and listened to more books this year than in the previous couple years. Most of this was because Meagan got me a subscription to Scribd for Father’s Day. I’ve been able to listen to books while I’m doing the dishes or whatever, and just by saving books to hear, I also run into books that don’t have audio versions on Scribd but that I’d still like to read. It’s like one thing leads to the other. I’ve actively substituted away from listening to as many podcasts, at least for the last half of the year. I still like the podcasts, but they’re easier to forget (and kind of teach me to forget, which is another post in itself).
- I wrote more of my book this year. It’s tough putting this in the “went well” category. It still seemed pretty painful. Overall, though, compared to past years where I did nothing on it, it’s a marked improvement.
- I was more intentional about trying to have deeper conversations with people about Jesus, and just deeper conversations in general. I had good conversations with Chris, Bryce, Steve, Ken, Eric, Meagan, and Gage to point out some of them. Hanging out with people who are also trying to do this and swapping stories has gone a long way in helping me keep it in mind. Also, I put them on the calendar. It’s so easy to go through a whole month and wonder if I had any meaningful conversations.
- I brought Meagan into this review. This was the first time she and I sat down and did this review together.
Here are my answers to the second question:
- I fell off the “getting up early every day of the week” wagon. I also started using an alarm clock again, after going without it for over a year.
- I worked a lot of hours at Sonitrol. It feels like more hours this year, especially this past quarter, than past years. I need to dial this back. It’s just not sustainable.
- I was less consistent with church commitments than I’d been in the past. I missed more bible studies than I had in previous years, mostly because of work but also because…
- There was a general tension around Meagan going to Springdale Community Church this year and me continuing to go to Calvary Chapel. I think overall Meagan has been able to grow in the Lord going there. She’s stepping out and doing things now that she wouldn’t have done in the past. In some ways, our marriage feels stronger as a result. But there’s still that tension, each Sunday when she goes one way and I go another, it’s like that dull pain that you don’t always notice but that can cause serious problems because it keeps you from being sharp.
- We didn’t travel much. We had the one trip to Washington D. C., but that was it. We didn’t do any other road trips, didn’t add any new states, and didn’t make it out of the country at all. We didn’t even make it out to Boonville to see my grandparents. I don’t think I’ll make it to all 50 states by the time I turn 30.
- Our financial situation didn’t really get worse, but it’s not soaring either. I’d like to do a better job this year saving for purchases and bills in advance. I’m trying out a new budgeting program called YNAB, so we’ll see how that affects things.
- There were a lot of things I wanted to do and intended to do but never got around to doing. Most of these were because I didn’t set a good plan for accomplishing them or I just got lazy. Two examples of this were VIPkids, which I’ve meant to try out for months now, and doing a weekly planning meeting with Meagan. I didn’t do a good job following through with things.
- I’m planning to die when I turn 30. I don’t actually hope to die then, but I’m planning everything so if I do, I’m good to go. That’s the plan anyway. This past year hasn’t seen many great steps in that direction (the book being the major exception).
Just looking at the bullets in the second list, we have decent start for what to work on this coming year. One big way to help with this, I think, will be to plan and prep better. Do more plotting and steering, less letting the waves take us where it’s easiest to go.
