accountability in resolutions

mmm Resolutions: It's the time of self-reflection, goals, ambitions, some people with excitement and joy about a new year and others looking forward with anxiety and stress. I'm a mixture. I think about this past year, the lessons I learned, the people that have come into my life, the relationships that have grown, the new house, friends that have left, two jobs that have been an absolute joy and learning experience, and a call to a country that I've never been to, but pray for the individuals there every day. I've learned that living and being in community is not easy, it's messy and broken, but the call is to not settle for mediocrity, but to be messy in it, to learn, to love, to not be willing to abandon each other when times get tough, and that healing is a process, a broken messy and beautiful process. I'm thankful that I can look at my mess and see it as chaos and in shambles, but God looks at my life, and says what a mess that I have the power to make beautiful. Without going into great detail, 2009 was a year to praise and be thankful, to love, and to be shaken. To be moved for more and to commit to friends and people in my life that I care and love for. So moving into 2010...here we go.

1. Read 12 fiction books and 6 non-fiction books (be a better steward of the time that I have each day)
If you have any suggestions, please let me know! Here is a running list I have so far:
The Museum of Innocence-Orhan Pamuk
The Good News About Injustice-Gary A. Haugen
Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons-Frederich Buechner
The Border Trilogy-Cormac McCarthy
The Weight of Glory-C.S. Lewis
Til We Have Faces-C.S. Lewis
A Severe Mercy-Sheldon Vanauken
The Brothers Karamazov-Fyodor Dostoevsky
Einstein's Dreams-Alan Lightman

2. Try a tri (triathlon!!)

3. Take a ballroom dancing class

4. Go to Cambodia over the summer

5. Cook a new dish weekly and share it with a friend of choice! (3 dishes so far, thank you Ina Gardner)

6. Finish nursing school applications, hopefully start nursing school in the fall and be on my way to becoming a nurse!

7. Continue to learn to love without limits. Thank you Jesus for showing me the way.