Okay, so I haven’t found last year’s goals, so this may take some tweaking over the next couple of weeks, but I wanted to get something written out so I have a starting point by the first of the year.  The list looks somewhat short, because a lot is covered by my 101 Things in 1001 Days list, which I’m still working on.  (I do have an idea, for myself, of which “101 Things” items I want to concentrate on this year.)  For what it’s worth, here you go:

1. Complete 30+ items off of the 101 Things in 1001 Days list.
2. Make progress on 15+ more items from the 101 Things in 1001 Days list.
Set up the house:
3. …Kitchen
4. …Dining Room
5. …Master Bedroom
6. …Bathroom
7. …Girls’ Bedroom
8. …Playroom
9. …Laundry Room
10. …Living Room/Library
11. …Office/Craft (whatever area that turns out to be)
12. Decorate the kitchen.
13. Decorate 1 other room.
14. Plant a garden.
15. Finish the apron I started in December 2008.
16. Make 1 other apron (from the “apron plan” in 101 Things list).
17. Finish Bekah’s Christmas throw.
18. Create a new morning routine.
19. Create a new daily schedule (incorporating new morning routine).
20. Try a new vegetable or fruit.
21. Meet all of the “immediate” neighbors in the new neighborhood (next door and across the street).
22. Finish writing/formatting Advent ebook.
23. Work on teaching Ariel to sew.
24. Make micro-miniskirt (not for public attire!).
25. Learn CSS, sufficiently to edit my WordPress templates or perhaps create new ones.  (Not that I want new ones.  That’s just my measure of success. )
26. Find a church.
27. Find a ministry that either I can do from home (like card-writing) or that the girls and I can do together (like visiting a nursing home).

Filed under: Personal and Blog News by Rachel
[Comments (0)]  [link]  [TB]

It’s that time again – time to look over the past year, evaluate my life, and set new goals for the coming year.  Unfortunately, I can’t find my list of goals for last year!  (This is a side effect of moving, I think.  Also, for some reason, I don’t have a digital version in my computer.  I can find goals from 2004-2007 in my hard drive, but not last year’s.  Apparently I only had a single hard copy.)  So I don’t know yet how I did in 2008.  (I know I had goals, apart from the 101 in 1001 list, because I recall, for example, having set a goal to finish a certain number of items off of that list, and begin work on others.  I don’t remember the numbers, though.)

In the meantime, we are set to close on our house at 10:00 tomorrow morning, so 2009 will be a fresh start across the board!

Filed under: Personal and Blog News by Rachel
[Comments (0)]  [link]  [TB]

A conversation with some online friends last night got me to thinking about spiritual growth, and how it doesn’t always look like we expect it to.  We can sometimes be guilty of selling ourselves – and God – short, because we don’t see the kind of growth we’re looking for, so we assume we haven’t grown.  I’ve observed, however, that spiritual growth can take on several forms.

There is, of course, the obvious growth, where we can look back over the year and see the change. This is like seeing leaves on a tree, or big, juicy fruit, where before there was nothing but bare branches.

This same type of growth can be more subtle, too: obvious, external, but smaller in degree.  In this case, someone else may notice it more readily in us than we notice it in ourselves.  We almost certainly notice it more when looking back over a longer period of time than we do in the week-to-week or month-to-month.

There is also a restful sort of growth, like in a sabbath year for the land:

And the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the LORD.  Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD.  You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard…for it is a year of rest for the land.’”  (Lev. 25:1-5)

Okay, so maybe this can’t strictly be considered growth, but it’s a healthy non-growth; it isn’t a lack.  It’s a time of restoration, that growth might be more productive in the coming years than it would be without this time of rest and restoration of nutrients.  In the meantime, the trees/vines/plants still produced.

The last type of growth that came to mind for me, though, is the one I’ve given the most thought to, and been most encouraged by.  See, this is the kind of growth produced during those times of “just surviving,” and it’s the type of growth I have personally become most acquainted with in recent years.  We have had several years of a “just surviving,” desert time, from which we are just now beginning to emerge.  During this desert time, I often felt as though I was not growing at all.  I’m learning as “spring” is beginning to be restored for us, that that is just not true.

The last type of growth isn’t directly visible, because it’s underground – the growth of roots.  Now, I’m not saying that we can’t grow any roots in easier times!  But in these desert times, like trees, our roots have to plunge ever deeper in search of life-sustaining water.  The tree in drought may sometimes even appear to be dead, because every bit of energy it can muster is diverted to this quest for water.  The energy is thus exhausted, and there is nothing left for the production of fruit, or even leaves.

This growth, however, is significant!  It is what allows the tree to remain standing, remain living, until easier times.  It looks like nothing is happening; indeed, it may even look like its health is deteriorating, but below the surface the tree is growing ever stronger.  And, when more normal conditions are restored, the branches will begin to bud again, as green and fruitful as ever – and stronger than before the drought.

Filed under: Deep Thinking, Spiritual Journal, Theology & Spiritual Growth by Rachel
[Comments (0)]  [link]  [TB]

…that Christmas is over, I can work on catching up some of the stuff I let slide while scrambling to get gifts done by Christmas.  For instance, the ironing board can finally come down from the kitchen walkway!

Also, we can make preparations for moving into our new house.  We are hoping, at this point, to get to close on Monday or Tuesday.  I’ll spare you the details, but we’re not sure whether or not that will be doable.  (If not, we should close the following week.)  Once we’re moved in, I should begin to have some more interesting/helpful things to blog about, since we will no longer just be biding our time.

I got a couple of books for Christmas that I’m looking forward to reviewing, too, so stay tuned.

Filed under: Personal and Blog News by Rachel
[Comments (0)]  [link]  [TB]

I am finally finished with all of our Christmas preparations (with the exception of a few minutes of sewing for a celebration on New Year’s Eve, which I’ll take care of next week)!  I am going to go on the assumption that none of my immediate family will be reading this blog before tomorrow, and post some photos.

I made a number of aprons from Sew Liberated’s Emmeline pattern.  (Sorry for the lousy pictures.  I didn’t have a good place to photograph these.)  Here are the color combinations of a few of them:

Two look like this.  The first side is this mint green textured fabric; the other side is a solid dark purple, with the light purple trim.

Then there’s this one.  It’s mint green on one side, lavender on the other, with a print trim.

This one has the print on the other side.  (I thought I had a picture of the other side, but it is acting as though it’s not here.)

I cut the pattern down to make this one:

Then there’s this pieced throw I am making for my sister.  So far, only the top is finished; I’ll put a backing on it after the holidays.

These are for Ariel.  She got a hole in the knee of these jeans, and was so disappointed.  I hated to just cut them off, as the embroidery was so pretty.

Filed under: Crafts & Creativity, Holidays, Personal and Blog News by Rachel
[Comments (0)]  [link]  [TB]