2016 the Year to Strengthen – My Family, My Home, My Body

I like the idea of having a word for the year.  I spent a week or so contemplating on what I wanted my word to be for 2016 and I chose Strengthen.

IMG_7161STRENGTHEN MY FAMILY

Devon is 18 and will be heading off into the world on his own adventures in the next year.  (Away to College or a Mission we hope.)  I want to make sure that he is set off with a strong foundation.

I feel like we have already set that up, but we can always add more strength to it and certainly our whole family needs more strength as we struggle with the challenges the world lays before us.

As a couple it is interesting to be venturing into this realm of parenting an “adult” child.  (We feel like until he is financially independent he isn’t really an adult.)  He is on the cusp of independence; we want to send him and all our boys flying off into the world confidently.

To strengthen our family, I want us to be better at family scripture study and family prayer.

I want to be better at listening with love and honoring each other as the unique people we are.  This will benefit all 5 of us, strengthening all of our foundations.

A Strong Foundation to Fly From and Return To is my mantra for strengthening my family.

STRENGTHEN MY HOME

Decluttering is my main goal here.  A few weeks ago I had a dream I was preparing for a trip and it was hard to find what I needed to pack.  As I prayed about the dream, God impressed upon me that if I got rid of half of what we own our lives would be much simpler and things would be easier to find, because only the important things would remain.

Getting Rid of Half seemed impossible.  But later that day as I was getting ready and opened my medicine cabinet, I saw how cluttered it was.  “Get rid of Half” rang in my mind.  I could do that, get rid of half of what was in there.  So I took it all out and got rid of half of it (or a good chunk of it).  I have been doing that every other day or so in different areas of my house.  I figure by the end of the year we will have a lot less in our home.  The things that remain we will love.

Get Rid of Half is my mantra for strengthening my home.

STRENGTHEN MY BODY

I want to have a regular exercise routine and also start cooking healthier. (Let’s be honest, I want to actually cook, instead of just heat up things.)

Proper Care and Feeding is my mantra for strengthening my body.

The great thing about the cooking is it will not only strengthen my body, but my home and family too!  🙂