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Last updated on April 10th, 2022 at 03:59 pm
I feel a certain freshness about 2021. With the year we just came off of, 2021 feels like the year to do really new things. Life at the moment is feeling a bit bland. So I’ve dug into some of my “list” of things to do in 2021 to give life a bit of flavor.
Yes, some of these things can be counted as goals. But by writing them down, I’ve made them more official …like I’ll actually do them instead of just dreaming about it.
I invite you to get excited about 2021 too —that’s why I wanted to share what’s making me excited this year.
Here’s what I’m excited to do in 2021.
01 Bible study/reading through the entire Bible.
A couple of Christmases ago, my husband and I received a Great Adventure Bible from Ascension Press. It takes you through the historical periods of Salvation history to give context to what you’re reading. Last year, we talked about starting one of the official Great Adventure Bible courses. Then the Bible In A Year podcast happened.
We’ve loved Fr. Mike Schmitz since he was the guest speaker at our parish’s revival many years ago. When we got the news he would be hosting the Bible In A Year podcast, we knew it was gonna be good.
Every day in 2021, Fr Mike reads several passages from the Bible and gives a short reflection at the end. As I’m writing this, we’re on Day 15 and I’m understanding the stories in Genesis like I’ve never understood them before.
I love doing a guided Bible study that only takes 20-25 minutes each day. It takes a short amount of time, but it sticks with me throughout the day. The best part is my husband and I can talk about it together.
At the beginning of 2021, the Bible In A Year podcast is the #1 podcast on Apple in America. It seems we’re not alone in wanting to deepen our faith this year.
02 Homeschooling
Everybody’s homeschooling. But we wanted to homeschool before it was cool. Still, everyone keeps asking me, “What school are you going to send your daughter to?”
The school of home —that’s the school.
Since listening to the Make Joy Normal podcast and learning from Bonnie Landry, I’ve been so encouraged to homeschool without a curriculum. Already, allowing our interests and imaginations to lead us in education has been rewarding. As of now, I’m completely disinterested in having anything to do with our state’s educational/financial/political mess, so if we do choose a curriculum for next year, I’ll probably choose one from an online Catholic school.
Before this year, I never thought I could be a homeschooling mom. I’m surprised at how much I’m enjoying it. It’s been a lesson in patience but it’s also creating a closer relationship with my daughter. There’s a coziness to sitting together and doing dictation, reading new books and old favorites, memorizing poetry, and watching her make sense of math.
I’m already convinced this is the best way to educate.
03 Taming our rose garden
Our home came complete with a rose garden that must have been planted by the first homeowners. In the spring, we’re blessed with more than a hundred blooms.
Having no prior experience with roses, they’re quite out of control.
This week, Juliana and I decided to dig in on our “taming the rose garden” project. We watched three YouTube videos on how to prune roses, then went for it. I pray that I did it right! (We do have a statue of Our Lady in our rose garden, so I’m asking for her intercession 🙏.)
I was super aggressive on many of the bushes because they’re so wild! To be fair, they were aggressive back. One thorn cut through my garden gloves and drew blood on my hand and another tore up my sleeve. They’re fighting back!
I pruned about half the roses before our green can was filled up. It was hard work, but immensely satisfying …this coming from a girl who doesn’t like gardening and has a black thumb. Maybe it comes from my joy in creating order.
Everybody pray I pruned them right!
04 Developing a photo storage system
I’m a sucker for developing efficient systems, so coming up with a better way to download and save all our photos is a joy in itself.
Our computer storage is nearly full. Most of the space is taken up by pictures. We bought this external hard drive to move all our photos to, which I haven’t done yet.
Once I’ve developed a process, I’ll share what did and what I learned. Developing systems is a process that takes time, but I revel in working out the kinks and finding the best way possible.
Everybody has a weird thing they love to do. Developing systems happen to be mine.
05 Extra mortgage payments
I hesitate to include this but I know there are a lot of people working through a debt-free journey. We’ve done Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps, and we’re focusing on steps 4 and 6.
Budgeting isn’t fun, but it is fun to see the hard work of saving pay off. After refinancing last year, we’re able to put more toward our principal each month. Dreams of not having a mortgage become a little more realistic each month!
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