Start the clock

Will you? Won't you? Some years I do, some years I don't.
Resolve that is.
This year I wouldn't say I am making a resolution. I think the beginning of the year is just a good time to look around, take note, see what you like about your life and see what things you would like to see change. While many people will make resolutions around what they want to "do", I typically make resolutions about what I want not to do. I like our life to be simple. And the more things pile up in life, the less I enjoy the actual day to day living. For the last 2 years in a row, come January 1, I have made a list of things that would help make our life more enjoyable, less stressed and overall run smoother. Prioritizing what is most important has proven to be a difficult task at times, but so worth while.
Anyway, for 2012, I actually have three things in mind that we want to "do". The first is a personal goal. And, since I am so nervous about this goal I am putting it on a 2 month trial period, before I share it. I am not entirely sure that with Ricky's work schedules that this will be possible, but I am going to try. So I will hopefully have more to share on that in a couple months.
The second is a family goal. Five months ago we put ourselves on a tight budget, with little wiggle room. We continue to tithe at church, however, outside of that our giving has become limited. Typically we try to find ways to be charitable throughout the year, outside of church. In 2012, I want to be sure we don't use our "budget" as an excuse not to give. So, I am looking to find ways to give of our time, talents and when we can, financially. In the past I would say we have mainly given financially, but am looking forward to the challenge of giving in other ways. In the last few months we have had several situations arise where we found we could help in ways I would have never thought of as "charitable", but they were! And they led us to have alot more personal interaction with people than if we had only given financially. It is going to take a more purposeful approach, but I am looking forward to seeing what God leads us to.
The third is a bit of another roll over from last year. As we continue learning to be good stewards of what God has blessed us with we are really changing the way we live. (Don't get me wrong, we have never had mounds of credit card debt or anything like that, but we certainly made our fair share of mistakes).  While we still have a long way to go towards what the Dave calls "Financial Peace", we have come a long way. It has not been without sacrifices both in money and time, but it has been great for our family. In the last 5 months we have really begun to see that we are making serious progress. We are looking forward to becoming more financially free, and being able to live life with less pressure, financially speaking. That being said, we are learning in this process that alot of our previous goals in life really are not of much importance to us anymore. So it will be interesting to see where this carries us. For now we look forward to March because that is when we get to turn our little snowball into a medium sized snowball :)
Ok, that is it in a nutshell. Will you have any resolutions in 2012 or goals?