New Year Musings

What do you do at the start of a new year? Do you make resolutions? Do you make goals? Do you chuck it all as a waste of time? It's always an interesting time of year for me - my birthday and the end of the year coincide, so I have the chance to think back on a year and ahead toward one as well.

Just a few weeks ago, I turned 34. I don't know how on God's green earth I got old enough to be 34. I feel 24, if that. My mom said she feels 34, so that proves it. I'm not old enough to be 34. Yet, obviously, I am. I've been married 5 years now. And I have two kids. And a mortgage. So I've got a few of the things that help you feel mid-30, but they don't seem to be working. I think that's a good thing, though. I feel like (rightfully so and Lord willing) there's so much of life still ahead of me. For example, we don't even know what our family will look like yet. A girl and a boy, yes - but who else? (Don't worry, I'm not making any kind of announcement here, just musing.) What will they be like? And how will they love each other?

As I look back on 34, I feel happy. It was a year of loss in our larger family, with two siblings moving away and another sibling losing a baby late in pregnancy, but it was also a year of joy for me and Ian, with the addition of our Jonah man, as well as Ian's new job. Chances are, if you're reading this you also read our Christmas letter, so I won't go back through the whole year, but I am thankful and joyful for my 34th year.

And I'm looking forward to 2014, and my 35th year of life. I don't know what 2014 will hold. I'm not really one for making resolutions and I don't know why that is exactly - fear of failure? I don't think so. General contentedness with my life? I think that's more likely it. Sure, I've got baby weight to lose (at least, that's what I call it - truthfully, it's just weight), but I have a pretty low-key attitude about that. And yes, we've got some financial goals we're working on - this Honda Accord isn't going to seat the family we're dreaming about - but we're plugging away and that too will happen, all it good time. We've also made a few travel plans and dreamed up an entrepreneurial project. But I'm not putting too much stock in those either. Rather, I'll just take each day as it comes, hoping I meet it with courage and joy. So no resolutions for me, just a great anticipation of what's ahead.

I think 2014 is going to be great - what say you?