Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I love the feeling of a brand new start and I love making changes for the New Year. I actually started my "new year" plans the week after Christmas. That really feels like the beginning of the year for me. I started planning my new habits and routines using this post and personal retreat guide. It really helped me get my priorities straight.

So here are a few of the things I'm doing this year:

-Reading my Bible. I knew I didn't want to start a 365 reading plan this year. I felt like with the baby coming that my plan would get thrown off track during the summer as I try to adjust to being a new mom. So instead, I'm doing some specific plans throughout the year. For the month of January, I am doing the New Thru 30 plan (found here). I also used YouVersion to create some other plans for months throughout the year. I am loving it so far!

-Consistent Bible Study. Right now I'm reading through Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods. I have been reading this for a few weeks now and I have only made it through a handful of pages. It is intense reading! The content, however, is really feeding my soul and providing some great insights and principles to apply to my personal study time. I also created a list of books and bible studies that I want to go through this year. I am a huge fan of Inductive Bible Study. There are also several lists available of suggested order for studying specific books of the Bible. I am starting with the book of John.

-Prayer time. I need to be more consistent with my prayer time. No doubt about it. I have found several great resources reading Rick Warren's book, the POA's prayer site, Praying Through the Tabernacle (also available through POA), and the girltalk blog.

-Personal Goals. I have several small personal goals that include specific things with serving our church, creating relationships with people around me and loving my family. Nate and I have a goal to spend time at least once a month with our families in some sort of fashion.

-Housekeeping. I am taking the CleanMama challenge this year. I use her printables and love the fact that she follows the same principles as my beloved FlyLady.

-Financial. We are continuing with Dave Ramsey's financial plan. Love us some DR! I would like to be more consistent with record keeping this year and actually utilizing our cash envelope system more than what we do.

-Health. I am continuing to menu plan for 300 calorie meals and meal replacements to equal 6 balanced meals a day. Thankfully this works for pregnancy and post-partum! I am working up to my 30 minutes a day on exercise and have great pregnancy routines and I'm finding great things for post-partum exercise. I would like to start a running program this fall, but we will see how that goes! I also need to be more consistent with my water intake on a daily basis. Thankfully, I have craved water with pregnancy. Let's hope that continues!

-For Fun. Two things I want to do "for fun" include keeping up with this blog and my 365 blog. I really want to document our life this year and all the changes coming our way. I am hoping this eventually leads to improving my photography skills with my Rebel. Right now I'm stuck with my iPhone camera and editing software until I get a new memory card for the Rebel.

So these are my goals this year. I'm anxious to see how this all works out! Be looking for my 19 week pregnancy post later today or tomorrow.

Happy New Year from our family to yours!