In with the new!

So, we're two weeks into the brand new year and I've just started to finally make some tangible changes to our lives. We're starting to get our hands dirty, getting down to work and it feels good!

We're tackling a few categories, budgeting, organization, and I'm taking aim at my own personal challenge, weight loss.

For our budget, the first step we've taken, is making on. Well, actually we had one, so we tweaked it to suit our current situation, and now we're going to follow it. We're going to use the evelope system that Dave Ramsey teaches to make sure we adhere to this budget and are always aware of how much we've spent and where it went. We started today, so far so good, but we have a few birthday presents to buy, a few extra little bill payments to make, so we'll have to be very careful to not be extravagant or careless with our money, so it can last us until the next pay.

The goal of getting organized is also off to a slow start, but we're getting there. Coincidentally our organization challenge for January also deals with making a budget and a schedule, so we're doing that. We're scheduling, we're writing things down, we're using our very fancy and big new calendar to keep everyone informed of what's coming up, and I've even started using a little self made schedule for my day, to help me fit in all the little things I need/want to get done in the hours I have to do them.

I'm most excited about the weight loss goal however, because its my own personal mountain to climb, and its a big one, one I've tried to climb time and time again but have failed to succeed. So, this time around, I'm excited, I feel renewed and hopeful and can envision my successs, my triumph when I finally to make it to the top of this previuosly insurmountable mountain of a goal. But, I always feel this way when I start. Always. I always start out with good intentions. I even have a plan all laid out and ready to go. I always have a goal, a plan, and some sort of spark in me to make it all happen, but guess what always happens? That spark goes out. I lose my drive. I get tripped up, I get discouraged, and I quit, only to repeat this cycle in the near future.

So, why do I continue to get excited? Why do I continue to think I can succeed? Hope I suppose. People do succeed at weight loss. People with more weight to lose then I have, they succeed at weight loss. Shows like The Biggest Loser show us it can be done, they show us that weight loss, improved health and improved self confidence can be achieved through very hard work and diligence. And as a Christian, I know that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Phillipians 4:13). Perhaps what is different this time around, from all the past efforts, is that until now I have relied upon my own abilities and understandings, I've been putting my faith in ME, rather than in Him, and hence, my failure .

Scripture also says:

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!



So, I've failed before, time and time again, I've come up short. But, that was then, and this is now, and I'm new again in Christ. Out with old and in with the new, AND, I can do all things now through Christ who gives me strength. I've got a goal, a plan, a spark, AND Christ to drive me and encourage me. Is it any wonder I feel hopeful that success is attainable this time around?

I've got goal deadlines too, special days coming up that I'd like to have little successes by. The first goal date is our family trip to Florida in about 6 weeks! The second goal is my sister's wedding in July, and the third goal date is my 6th wedding anniversary in August. The final goal date is my 30th birthday in September.

By goal one, I'd like to lose 15 pounds

By goal two I'd like to lose 50 pounds

By goal three I'd like to lose 65 pounds

By goal four I'd like to lose 70 pounds.

Big goals I know, maybe lofty, maybe ambitious, maybe unrealistic, but I'm reaching high and hoping to not be daunted by life, and not to be derailed should God have other plans that don't look just like mine.

It feels good to get started on my goals, to take them from points on a to do list and make them realities. It makes me feel like I'm making progress and that my life, our lives, are slowly being transformed into something more vibrant and joyful!

Have you made any progress in your new years ambitions? What have you done? What would you like to do that you haven't been able to get started just yet?

Katie