Yearly Goal Update

Remember how one of my goals was to go on an international mission trip? I know you do because I'm sure you've been checking daily to see how things are progressing. Well, the wait (albeit short) is over. In July, I'm going to Guatemala! I don't know a whole lot about Guatemala except for what people have told me who have been there on the same mission trip from years past. So far I've gathered that the weather is perfect (mid 70s all year round), the food is great, and the people are amazing. Sounds like a plan to me. I'll be working in a malnutrition center everyday during that week. Basically, if parents can't feed their children they can drop them off at this malnutrition center. They can come visit once a week, and when the children are properly nourished they can go back with their families. I'll be going with an organization called Orphan's Heart. 

There are several mission trips that will be happening with our church this year, so when I felt God telling me this was the right time to go, I knew I had some choices. At first, I was going to go to Haiti and help teachers there with educational things. It sounds perfect for me, right? I mean, I teach. But I couldn't shake the feeling that that wasn't where I was supposed to go. I felt like I needed to work with orphans or children in need of care. When I heard about this trip to Guatemala, the nagging feeling immediately went away. THIS was my mission trip.

I'm not sure how things will work out financially (about $1700) or with the boys. I'm sure that it'll be hard to be away from them, in a different country, where I can't talk to them all the time or see their faces, and where Eric will have to take some time from work or enlist help in taking care of them, but God will work it out. He wants me there and He can take care of it. I'll leave you with some pictures of Guatemala:

Book Review: Fight Club

While we were planning our Christmas trip to the beach, I knew it was going to be rainy (of course-last time we went there was a hurricane, so you could say this was an improvement). I love a good rainy day because they're the perfect excuse to read all day without being considered a nerd or lazy. The problem with reading books comes when you don't know what book you want to read. I've tried the thing where you go to a bookstore and look for a book that "speaks to you." Let me tell you, it doesn't work for me. There are just too many options. It's like finding a needle in a needle stack. But I didn't have a book in mind, so I tried. While browsing, I saw this book - Fight Club.

If you've seen the movie, you've read the book. It's one of the most accurate book to movie translations I've seen. Of course there were a few minor differences, but overall, it was pretty spot on. Saying that, it's obscene and vulgar just like the movie. The overall concept is so, so interesting, but, in my opinion, the best part of the book was the afterword. It gives information about the book/movie that I found fascinating. For instance, did you know that the book was originally a short story? It's true! The whole story was originally just chapter 6 from the book. The rest of the book came from stories from his friends (he has some pretty gross friends it seems). He also says that people find him and ask him where fight clubs are currently being held. Overall, I'd say watch the movie (because, um, hello! Brad Pitt!) and find the afterword online. 

Goals and Such

Sooo I feel like I'm on repeat when I say I'm a bad blogger, but the fact that I didn't blog at all in 2015  somehow gives me the right to say it again. I'm not promising that I'm going to be awesome at it this year, but I'll definitely be better than last year. I mean, I'm already soon better with this first post. Since it's the first day of the new year I feel obligated to share my goals for 2016. I try not to make too many goals because I know myself and know that I have low will power. I've made one weekly goal, two monthly goals, and two yearly goals. Last year I had a goal to read the Bible all the way through. We, as part of our church, started a study called The Readers Guide to the Bible. Essentially it's a year-long study of the Bible chronologically. I'm not going to lie. Most of the year I did terrible. I felt like I was playing catch up for most of the year. I got bogged down in the Old Testament and had to binge read the New Testament. I'm happy (and honestly surprised) to say that I finished Revelations on December 30th. Doing the study helped me realize that making a goal to read the Bible everyday isn't realistic for me. I hope that this time I can go deeper into smaller sections of the Bible.
My weekly goal is to spend more days in the Word than out of it. It could be 7 and 0 or even 4 and 3 for those super busy/tiring/where-did-all-my-time-go weeks. My monthly goals are to 1) save from every paycheck we get and 2) go on more dates with Eric. At least once a month. That gets tricky because we don't live in the same place as our parents and that severely cuts down on cheap (i.e. free) babysitting options. Darn kids these days want to be paid for working. (And stay off my lawn!) my yearly goals are to 1) donate blood. I know, I know. I'm 30 years old and have never donated blood. It's terrible. I have no excuse except fear. But this is the year to conquer that fear. And 2) go on a mission trip. I've felt called to go on an international mission trip for over a year now, but haven't felt like the kids were old enough for me to leave them for a week or more. Our church does several every year, and I'd like to be a part of one. I'm not sure which one, but I know they go to Haiti and Guatemala every year. They've also gone to Scotland. That would be preferable because they at least speak English. I'm still praying about it, and I'll be sure to post a monthly goal update to let you know how things are going.