Great is Thy Faithfulness
(and my 2018 Less Waste goals)

I didn’t intend for my goal list this year to turn into a personal post. However, when I sat down with a pen and a piece of paper to write them out as I had done the year prior, it looked different. The thing about figuring out what goals you want to accomplish is that when you force yourself to sit down and create them, at some point in the process you have to stop and look back at where you’ve been and what you’ve done to know where you need to start. When I did that this year, I was overcome by what the last four months of 2017 had held for me and it changed my vision for 2018.

The last 1/3 of the year for me saw:
* our car stolen (and thankfully recovered)
*learning I was pregnant and struggling with it emotionally and mentally
* a miscarriage scare (though all is well)
* six weeks of debilitating nausea followed by a month of wretched sinus issues that was pretty miserable
* finding out I have skin cancer on my face (thanks, FL childhood!) which will be removed by plastic surgery at the end of this month
* our first trip to the ER with our 18 month old who required stitches in her chin
* the stomach bug methodically taking out each member of our family
* a dear lifelong family friend dying unexpectedly
* and a development in the church we have been attending that left us feeling like our legs had been knocked out from under us and doubting God’s almighty power

So what that looked like for me was letting go of a lot of things. Cleaning the house was mostly left to poor Andrew. I did as much cooking as I could but we ate more take-out than I ever want to do again. The girls watched entirely too much tv and things just overall slipped through the cracks.When events like this are going on in our lives, we very rarely stop and take stock of it all because we are just trying to make it through each day as it comes. Not only was I just trying to make it through the day but I was beating myself up when I was unable to perform at my typical standards. But when I sat down to make my goal list to post up here, I started taking notes of what our family had experienced in just a few short months and it changed the direction of my list. Where last year I had a long list of less waste activities and skills to accomplish, this year I have just a few and everything else that gets done is just a bonus!

Less Waste goals for 2018
1) Get the girls outside more
2) Make my own pasta (did not get accomplished in 2017)
3) Can at least one more thing (veggie/fruit/salsa/jam) than last year
4) Find joy in motherhood
5) Do more for others
6) Be slow to anger

Some of those might not look Less Waste specific but living with less waste is a lifestyle and is impacted by all aspects of our family’s life. So for us, those last three items will in fact impact the way we live less waste.

As I was in church this morning, the last two lines of the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness found their way into my soul and will be my mantra this year.”Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!”I’m really excited for 2018. So far, it has been a bazillion times better than the end of 2017. Here’s to a new year with a fresh start!

Would love to hear some of your less waste goals for this upcoming year! Please share any you have so we might be inspired by them.