How did my resolutions from 2013 go? So glad you asked!

My 2013 Resolutions:
1- Spend at least 30 min w/ God every day.
I did not necessarily spend every single day with 30 minutes or more of devotional times. But, the majority of my mornings were spent doing that very thing. In doing that, I returned to writing in my journal. My time with God became an important part of my day: and that by far was most important.
One way I decided to focus on Scripture reading was that I decided to finally read through the entire Bible. I have ready every book of the Bible, but never all the way through in one year.
I met that goal!

2- Lose Weight/Healthy Lifestyle
After a year of yo-yo-ing 5lbs here, 5lbs there: right before Thanksgiving, I had lost 18 lbs: I gained back 3 lbs over the Holidays. That isn't that bad, I suppose.
I started the new year with being barely a size 16 and weighing 206.
This morning, I weighed 191 and wear a size 14. 

15 lbs lost. The marbles are a
good motivational tool :)

Pretty good considering the year I have had.
The most exciting of all is that I think I have finally overcome the hugest part of my previous food addiction! I am looking forward to what I can accomplish this year now that I have a lifestyle of being active and enjoying healthy foods.
I even learned to love oranges this year!

 



3- Spending Life Style Improvement
We completed Financial Peace University. We have completed Step 1: Create an emergency fund of $1,000 in savings. Step 2 comes after step 3, silly enough. But, we are still held up at Step 3: Pay off Debt. We have paid off a total of $10,550 of our debt. In doing so, we have paid off a credit card, two school loans (small, but something!) and reduced steadily our debt.  Those are some things to celebrate!

4- Manuscript Publication Ready
My manuscript is not ready by any means.
I did, however, participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November: the goal of which is to write 50,000 words in a month. I wrote 26,303 words. Then the Holidays happened. I took the plunge though, I worked on it and realized I accept too many excuses from myself. They are not reasons, they are excuses.

That is how my resolutions went! I had an overall theme last year of making better daily choices to creat a new kind of lifestyle. Over all, my first year of making a resolution was a success, I think. I made progress on all my goals and completed one. All this is a good motivation for my New Year's Resolutions as I start 2014.  :)

Welcome to your 30th year, Mercy

    I made an interesting discovery on my birthday: all thanks to my husband and one of my best friends scheming to throw me a spectacular 30th birthday party.
    Clay plotted and tried his best to keep secret that he was throwing me a 90's themed party for my birthday. I admitted to him on my birthday, (this past Sunday, the 15th) that I suspected and my  suspicions of the theme were confirmed earlier that week. (BTW...if you create a Spotify playlist and your account is linked to Facebook it will not remain a secret for long) I told him "As long as it's better than my 90's actually were, then we're set." My 90's were second to worst time in my life. First probably being '07-Feb'09.  I digress... I was nervous as all get out. Every time I had heard about the 90's, someone was commenting how backwards my adolescence was. No one could believe how little I knew, how few movies I watched. So, in college, with the help of some friends, I aggressively tried to catch up on my "lost" experiences: only to feel I constantly came up short.
   The majority of my 90's was spent steeped in depression, guilt, shame, accompanied by the overwhelming self-centered egotistical self depreciation I think most adolescents encounter. I thought I was the most hideous, dorky, gross, unlovely person ever. Additionally, my home life was riddled with drama and trauma. My mother prohibited us from being part of "the world" outside of church events. She relaxed considerably when I was out of middle school: In the meantime we would sneak and watch TV when she was at work, or we were at friend's houses.
    On my birthday, I discovered that I was cooler, by the standards of the 90's than I thought. I was taken out to Goodwill to pick out an outfit and I have an "in" style and didn't even know it. Ha! I even broke out my butterfly clips I just could not stand to part with.
    I felt like a kid again, but not with all the emotional instability of puberty. It was good. It was nice to not be called names and discover similarities in others, and connect with friends. For the longest time, I've heard many people bemoan my shelteredness. So, I discovered a lot of 90's fun in the 2000's... a little behind, but pshhh... It's more fun to have friends introduce you to their life. For the first time in a long time, I didn't feel at a disadvantage: as if my upbringing made me inferior.
   I'm 30. And I feel like an adult. I finally cherish my upbringing. Hmmm.
   When is a time that you, pleasantly, discovered you were not as _________ (fill in the blank) as you thought?