Sunday, March 23

101 in 1001 Final Update


On June 24th I created a list of 101 goals to accomplish in 1001 days. And while I accomplished a lot, I got no where near accomplishing them all! Friday marked 1,001 days, so in hopes of kickstarting the habit of blogging again, I figured I’d update this ol’ list before starting fresh with a new one!

Start Date: June 24th, 2011

Goal Completion Date: March 21th, 2014

Goals Completed: 60/101

Food

6.       Do the “Daniel Diet” for 14 days.  Perhaps soon with the Biggest Loser competition at work!

Fitness

14.   Do 50 real push-ups in one sitting. Short breathers permitted. Ha! No where close! More like 25 girly push-ups!

17.   Do the splits. See above comment. :)

18.   Complete a duathalon. Pregnant two out of the three possible summers didn’t help with accomplishing this one!

Personal

26.   Limit my closet to 20 pairs of shoes. Accomplished!

27.   Get a new Passport with current last name.

31.   Deposit a dollar outside.

Relational

33.   Host a dinner party.

34.   Invite friends—outside of Girls Group—into our home 6 times over the course of 3 months.  We were intentional about having family/friends over, but I don’t think this one was actually accomplished!

35.   Read 100 complete books to our child. Not a 100 different ones!

36.   Go on a double date.

37.   Plan a surprise party. Accomplished! After really dropping the ball for Chris’ birthday last year, I planned a surprise 29 and 2 months birthday party for him in September. His mom even made a cake with “Happy 29 1/6th Birthday, Chris!”

38.   Take a “flip coin” road trip with Chris.

39.   Stay at a bed-and-breakfast as a weekend getaway. We’ve got one in the works for our anniversary!

Awareness

45.   Read 43 books from BBC Top 100 books. [2/43] This was like pulling teeth to enjoy them at first. Now I barely make time to read! :S

46.   Sew an article of clothing and wear it in public. [Beyond a simple seam and hem.] Nope, sewing machine’s a bit dusty!

Blog

48.   Blog about each of my 101 accomplished goals, unless supposed to be anonymous or uber personal. Accomplished. ;)

50.   Answer 50 Questions that will Free Your Mind, perhaps blog about them. I started with questions 1-5.

Spiritual

51.   Read the Bible every day to our lil’ bean for 30 days. Accomplished! We ready the Bible every night for two months before bed, but haven’t been doing so well in March!

52.   Pray every night with Chris before bed for 30 days. :(

54.   Memorize the books of the Old Testament, in order. [27/39]

55.   Study a book of the Bible with Chris.

Outdoorsy Stuff

56.   Sleep under the stars.

58.   Go fishing.

59.   Play in the rain.

61.   Camp out in our backyard.

62.   Build a fire without a match/lighter.

63.   Build a snow_____ [fort, man, etc].

64.   Go skiing.

65.   Go sledding.

Just For Fun

68.   Complete a photo challenge. I tried to accomplish this one about 5 times, each time a failure!

70.   Submit a post to PostSecret.

72.   Learn to tie a tie.

73.   Create a font in my handwriting. I printed the paper work to do this one about 5 times, but never actually did!

75.   Go to Cedar Point. Accomplished! Chris and I went! We were only there a couple hours before it started to rain so we decided to leave without getting our hands stamped. As we left Olive Garden for lunch, we walked outside to an absolutely gorgeous day. We kind of kicked ourselves for not getting our hands stamped, but decided not to be upset about it and enjoyed a leisure ride home!

Giving Back

78.   Pick 5 people who have changed my life and write each of them a letter. I wrote one!

79.   Leave 25 Operation Beautiful notes.

80.   Write three “Dear Stranger” letters and leave them in random spots around Lima.

81.   Donate blood 3 times. I donated twice. Pregnancy took me out so much on this one!

82.   Plant a tree.

84.   Write our Compassion Gospel for Asia sponsor child once a month for a year. Ugh! This was much more difficult and more ambitious than I thought it would be!

85.   Send hand-written notes of encouragement to 10 friends/family members. I probably got close on this one, but didn’t really keep track.

87.   Leave a 100% tip.

89.   Put together 5 Christmas shoe boxes. I got the boxes this past Christmas but never put them together! Perhaps I should do it now, so I’m actually ready for next Christmas!

90.   Contact 5 managers about the good work a specific employee has done. Only once did I do this!

Finances

93.   Pay off 2 student loans. Accomplished! We’re doing well with this! Looking forward to throwing a party when they are alllllll paid off! For.real.

94.   Continue to have $0 debt outside of Mortgage and Student Loans. Accomplished! Yep! Yep!

96.   Save half of my “Rachel Money” every week for 2 months. I changed the way I budget and no longer have “Rachel Money”.

97.   Do not buy anything for myself for one whole month. Eek. Nope!

98.   Teach someone the basics of couponing. I’ve given pointers and tips but not actually sit down and teach anyone. I’ve kind of fallen of the couponing bandwagon now too.

99.   Make no withdrawals from savings accounts [excluding possible car purchases]. Accomplished!

100.   Save $5 for each completed task. I didn’t do this as I went! I should of!

101.   Donate $5 for each incomplete task. Accomplishing. I didn’t do this either as I went, but am going to donate now!


Looks like it’s time to make some more goals!! :)

Saturday, March 22

Dear Jacoby | 1 year

Coby J-

Happy birthday little man!




At least 4 times a week, your papa and I go from looking at you to looking at each other and back at you, commenting how big you are getting. You really are becoming a little man!


You are determined. When you set your little mind to something, you are going to achieve it. You can see it in your eyes and that little wrinkle in your brow. You're strong. Sometimes Ains will be standing on a kitchen chair and you'll slide her around the kitchen without as much as a grunt!


You are handsome. I love how your hair curls up like your papa's when you get a little sweaty. You've got a dimple so deep on your cheek and a toothy smile that causes everyone to smile right back at you. Not to mention those big ol' eyes! You're such a little charmer--it makes me a bit nervous for when girls catch your eyes especially with that slobbery kiss you give!


You began walking at 9.5 months--exactly a week before Christmas--and you haven't slowed down yet. I love how everything you do screams I'm a little boy! Exploring. Playing with rocks. Eating dirt. You enjoy it all!


Family and friends helped celebrate your first birthday with a "Little Man" themed birthday party complete with mustaches, manwhiches and little man [root] beer. You weren't as excited with your mustache smash cake as we expected. You literally destroy nearly all meals but after a few bites you were done with your cake and ready to play on the floor again.


The morning of your birthday party, you were dedicated at church. At the church we previously attended, the baby dedication was on a date that didn't work for us, so we hadn't had you dedicated yet. It made is nice though that we were able to have family and friends attend church to be a part of officially committing to raise you in a Godly manner. I know your papa and I will fail at times, but it is our intention to raise you to love and serve God regardless of what that may look like. More than that, all of your family attending church and the entire congregation at Lima First Assembly also commit to help raise you in such a way. I hope you grow to be all that God has designed you to be little man--and I'm excited to watch that develop in you!


 The past year has been a wonderful year. You bring joy and charm to our life and we celebrate our blessed we are to have you in our family. We love you so much and love how much you love us--including your big sis--in return!

Love,
Momma