Updated Bucket List

I went back on my previous bucket list and updated my desires before I "kick the bucket,"  God willing.  The ones crossed out are complete.  I hope you enjoy reading.

1. Marry my best friend
2. Have a child
3. Buy a house
4. Jump in puddles with Lucas
5. Attend a Christian Conference
6. Get a pedicure
7. Go to a 49ers game
8. Play an ultimate prank on Ed
9. Dance in the rain
10. Start a non-profit organization
11. Do karaoke
12. Fly on an airplane
13. Adopt a dog
14. Lead someone to Christ
15. Go to Dollywood
16. Write a book
17. Adopt a child
18. Rekindle a lost friendship
19. Be debt free
20. Write a thank you to a teacher
21. Construct a family tree
22. Write a letter to everyone I love
23. Go to a professional race
24. Go camping with mom
25. Go on a mission trip to Haiti
26. See Aerosmith in concert
27. Weight 150 pounds
28. Do a wine tasting
29. Donate over $500 at once
30. Drive a racecar
31. Swim in the ocean
32. Donate my hair
33. Host a costume party
34. Have a tarot card reading
35. Swim with dolphins
36. Pay mom back for everything
37. Get Lasik eye surgery
38. Plant a tree
39. Visit Sanju in Nepal
40. Go on a zip-line
41. Meet Dolly Parton
42. Celebrate my 50^th wedding anniversary
43. Go to Disneyland
44. Visit a chocolate factory
45. Swim in a pool of ramen noodles
46. Visit the Holy Land
47. Celebrate 4^th of July in DC
48. Ride in a hot air balloon
49. Watch the northern lights in Alaska
50. Forgive my dad
51. Make a scrapbook of my life
52. Plan a family reunion
53. Make homemade ice cream
54. Start a collection
55. Graffiti something
56. Take a road trip with a group of girlfriends
57. Go snowboarding
58. March in a parade for a cause
59. Go skinny dipping
60. Have a pen pal
61. Volunteer in a VA clinic
62. Give 3 gallons of blood
63. See my grandkids graduate from college
64. Build a sand castle
65. Go to Oktoberfest in Munich
66. Receive my Master’s Degree
67. Have a complete address book
68. Send out Christmas cards to my whole address book
69. Ride an elephant
70. Be in the audience of SNL
71. Play on a Slip N Slide
72. Ride a horse
73. Fast for 30 hours
74. Watch the whole X-Men trilogy in a weekend
75. See a Broadway musical
76. Get a mom/daughter tattoo
77. Take dance lessons
78. Go to the top of the Empire State Building
79. Eat a hotdog from a street cart
80. Give mom a dozen roses
81. Send a message in a bottle
82. Visit a crayon factory
83. Sit on a jury
84. Take a mud bath
85. Ride in a gondola
86. Sleep under the stars
87. Test drive a car I can’t afford
88. Have a huge food fight
89. Spend the whole day in bed
90. See bagpipers in Scotland
91. Visit a museum
92. Ride the biggest roller coaster at the theme park
93. Have a dress-up tea party
94. Sit on a rooftop and watch clouds form shapes
95. Visit a prison
96. Organize “Angel Tree for Elderly”
97. Pray continually, love people too much, smile always, and love Jesus passionately!

2013 Goals

Travis and I got together this past week to write down our 2013 goals, both as a family and each individually.  It was a wonderful conversation with him and I'm excited to publish our goals.  Thank you for serving as my accountability throughout the year... When I blog about something, it seems like it's more likely to happen.  Not sure why.  Maybe it's because others now know and I don't want to let them down.  Maybe it's because when we write things down, it's harder to forget.  No matter the reason, I am excited to share our goals with you! 

Family Goals:

1)      Pay off Envoy, pay off medical bill, and save $1000 for emergency

2)      Buy a racecar and watch Travis race this season

3)      Finish fixing up bathroom and organize upstairs

4)      Buy a dining room table

5)      Visit Bonnie in Nashville

6)      Visit with an adoption specialist to start the process

7)      Make at least $2000 from Vinylicious

8)      Sign Lucas up for swimming lessons

9)      Travel to Indiana as a family

10)   Move Vinylicious items to upstairs office

Alicia's Goals:

1)      Pray more.  Study the Word more.  Grow closer to God.

2)      Listen to God and obey His instructions for my life.

3)      Express my love to Travis often, through touch and deeds. 

4)      Cherish my time with Lucas.  Take lots of pictures of him, in order to be able to remember how precious time is.  Snuggle with him often.  Let him be an adventurous boy. 

5)      Keep progressing… never stop moving forward! 

6)      Finish Lucas’ first year and second year scrapbook

7)      Keep my emotions in check.  Remember “if this is the worst thing that happens today, it’s still a pretty good day!” 

8)      Be a great friend to Danielle.  Spend time with her at least a couple times a month.

9)      Organize and deep clean our house, especially upstairs

10)   Read one book a month

11)   Keep encouraging others through my smile!  Enjoy life and laugh often! 

Travis' Goals:

1)      Finish the racecar by car show

2)      Win rookie of year at Avon Racetrack

3)      Get a raise at work

4)      Organize the garage

5)      Finish Rich’s Mustang by April

6)      Talk to Schaley’s about the Auto Body shop

7)      Vinyl 3 racecars

8)      Buy and install garage door and get a door ramp

9)      Teach Lucas to drive something

10)    Plan Lucas a Daddy-and-me day

11)    Plan a romantic evening for our anniversary

Lucas' Goals:

1)      Start potty training

2)      Start financial peace junior and chores

3)      Say family members’ names

4)      Learn colors

5)      Count to 5

6)      Know all of his body parts

7)      Clean up toys each night

8)      Go to dentist

9)      Start working on ABC’s

10)    Go to the races often with Mommy

2012 Goals Review

Back in January, I posted my 2012 goals.  With it being the new year, I want to take some time to reflect back on how I did. 

1. Meet with God. Pray more. Study more.
• Towards the end of the year, I started a ladies small group and this encouraged me to be in the Word daily.  We held each other accountable to our SOAP Bible Study method through Good Morning Girls.  I will continue this into 2013 and am proud of the strides I made with prayer and studying!
2. Do Dave Ramsey's baby steps.
• We paid off over $20,000 in 2012!!  We are still on baby step 2 but have laid out our plan for accomplishing lots in 2013, also!
3. Make 'dating' Travis and priority.
• I pretty much failed miserably at this, but we have such a strong marriage and I am not concerned that we do not go on dates as much as we once did.  Sometimes just being home and working on our vinyl or discussing our days is just as nice as going out! 
4. Snuggle often with Lucas.
• I definitely accomplished this goal!  I love rocking him to sleep, reading him bedtime stories, and having him sit on my lap as we watch his favorite shows.  He's growing up way too fast, and I'm making sure that I capture the moments while I can! 
5. Take more pictures of Lucas and I.
• I'm almost finished with his 1st year scrapbook and have already started on his 2nd year one.  I'm making sure to take lots of pictures along the way, in order to capture the moments of his life!  I feel like I did a good job with this goal. 
6. Be a great friend to Danielle.
• Hmmm... I wish I had more time to devote to Danielle!  She is so encouraging and I enjoy our long chats and honesty and trust that we have.  She's my accountability person and I hope that she feels the same towards me that I do for her.  Life would absolutely be tough without her friendship and I am so blessed to have her in my life!  I feel like I could always improve in this area, by devoting more time to her!
7. Make changes, not excuses.
• Accomplished!  :-)  I have learned to admit when I've failed, instead of making excuses.  I'm proud of this accomplishment. 
8. Have fun. Smile lots. <3
• Haha!  We did lots of smiling and having fun this year, and I'm so looking forward to more in 2013! 

2012 Book List

 I have been doing fairly well with reading over the past couple of weeks!  I have devoted some time to reading almost every night before bed, right after I do my Bible Study for the day!  Yay!  I'm trying to get better about getting into God's Word and learning from others through their writing. 

• Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey
• The 5 Love Languages of Children
• Nonprofit Leadership in a For-Profit World: Essential Insights From 15 Christian Executives... Need to finish a couple chapters
• Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst... Finishing the last two chapters tonight after I finish this blog post, hopefully! 

Here are some books that are on my "to-read" list and I aim to read them in the next few months:

• Becoming More Than A Good Bible Study Girl by Lysa TerKeurst
• What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa Terkeurst
• The Adoption Decision by Christianson
• Boundaries by Dr. Henry
• A Woman’s Secret to a Balanced Life by Lysa TerKeurst
• Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow
• Am I Messing Up My Kids by Lysa Terkeurst
• Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman
• More Than a Hobby by David Green (Hobby Lobby Founder)
• Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall
• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• Let. It. Go. By Karen Ehman
• Point Man by Steve Farrar

Anyways, I just hadn't posted an update about how my reading is coming in awhile and wanted to share with you my new book list!  I'm excited to grow and learn through these books! 

My Technology Hiatus

For the past two weeks, I have been actively trying to stay away from time wasters in order to accomplish goals and focus on specific tasks.  Since starting Financial Peace University in January, Travis and I have been able to pay off over $18,000 and save almost $1000 in an emergency fund!  We are 'gazelle intense' as Dave Ramsey would say, meaning we are completely focused on becoming debt free in order to live like no one else later in our lives.  So, over the past couple of weeks, I have been actively crunching numbers and preparing for paying off our next smallest debt. 

I have also been enjoying my time away from too much technology by putting my nose in some books.  I finally finished Dave Ramsey's Entreleadership book.  Next week, our organization will be adding our first two team members besides myself.  This is an exciting step for our nonprofit organization, as we will be able to accomplish such great things with these two ladies on board!  By adding these ladies and thinking about how I am responsible for shaping our organizational culture and motivation, I have been focusing a great deal of attention on learning how to be the best leader I can be. I developed a two-day orientation program for us where we will set both personal and organizational goals, talk about what it means to be an entreleader, and will even complete the DISC personality analysis in order to better understand each other.  I will continue to read and to pray about becoming the best Christian leader that I can be, but I feel as ready as I have ever been.  Please pray for me and my team. 

I also had a smack in the face by God over these past few weeks.  Along with my best friend, I have been walking with Good Morning Girls.com through their Proverbs 31 Book Club.  I have been in prayer and devotional each morning like never before in my life.  After each lesson, I am encouraged to be a better wife, mother, friend, and person.  In my prayer time, I have been having passionate conversations with God about what direction He wants me to go. You see, in my nonprofit field we do not make the most significant salary and Travis and I have absolutely no benefits other than what we qualify for through Medicaid.  I have been thinking for months that I would be leaving my current position in order to pursue something with better pay and benefits.  Well, through my prayer time and a call from a grant foundation about accepting our $30,000 grant proposal, God really smacked me in the face and I am sure of where He is calling me.  He wants me to stay put and trust Him.  This is hard for me, as the budget says otherwise.  However, I know that I must remain faithful to Him and He will bless our family.  Please pray for my strength. 

Anyways, that is what I have been doing during this technology hiatus. Thank you for remaining faithful followers of my blog and I will make a better effort to direct some attention to my blog in the coming weeks.  God bless,
Alicia

2012 Goals

1. Meet with God. Pray more. Study more.
2. Do Dave Ramsey's baby steps.
3. Make 'dating' Travis and priority.
4. Snuggle often with Lucas.
5. Take more pictures of Lucas and I.
6. Be a great friend to Danielle.
7. Make changes, not excuses.
8. Have fun. Smile lots. <3

Our Accomplished Sunday

Travis woke up this morning and excitedly said that we needed to accomplish four things today.. Weird!  :)  I happily went along with it and asked what our goals for the day were.

1) Take down the Christmas tree and decorations
2) Wash the bottles
3) Wash the dishes
4) Watch a movie

After our very productive VBS meeting today after Sunday School, we decided to go to town to get some storage totes for our Christmas stuff.  When we got home, we took down the tree and organized the Christmas stuff.  Woohoo!  Goal 1 done!  :)  We then watched our Sky VBS Decorating DVD that we got at our meeting.  Goal 4 done!  I don't think that's quite the kind of movie he meant, but oh well!  We talked about the church decorating, make a supply list, and then I washed the bottles and dishes.  Goals 2 & 3 done!  Yay!  That's all folks!  And Trav even got our I-pod dock out of the box and programmed Klove into it.. what a fabulous hubby! I would say our weekend was a success!  Great start to a busy week! 

Weekend Goals

Tomorrow is Friday!  It's unbelievable how quickly this week has gone!  This weekend is a pretty relaxed weekend, so to encourage myself to stay motivated and not sit on the couch all weekend, I'm going to set weekend goals.  

1. Complete my laundry room organization- get tags made, take pictures, blog about the process!
2. Scrap with Danielle on Saturday afternoon
3. Wash bunches of laundry!  
4. Go to the VBS meeting and have fun planning for Sky VBS 2012
5. Spend time with Travis and Lucas :) 
   

30 Bags in 30 Days- May 2012

We set our family goals for the next year and in May, we have decided to do the "30 bags in 30 days challenge."  Our goal is to fill up a bag each day to de-clutter, clean, or organize our home.  We have made the list customized to our family.  Here it is:

 

1. Pantry
2. Utensil drawer in kitchen
3. Toys
4. Lucas’ dresser
5. Lucas’ closet
6. My closet 
7. Travis’ closet
8. Daisy’s fence
9. Fridge
10. Upstairs
11. Under kitchen sink
12. Bathroom closet
13. My car
14. Travis’ truck
15. Family Binder
16. Nightstands
17. Top of dressers
18. Desk
19. Garage
20. Upstairs
21. Pantry
22. Mail Pile
23. Yard
24. Bookshelf
25. CD’s/DVD’s/Video Games
26. Laundry Room
27. My dresser
28. Purse
29. Travis’ dresser
30. Clothes Hampers

Bucket List

Here is my list of things I would like to do before I 'kick the bucket.'

1. Marry my best friend
2. Have a child
3. Receive my Master’s Degree
4. Buy a house
5. Construct a family tree
6. Write a letter to everyone I love
7. Go camping with mom
8. Go on a mission trip to Haiti
9. Lead someone to Christ
10. See Aerosmith in concert
11. Weight 150 pounds
12. Do a wine tasting
13. Attend the Olympics
14. Donate over $500 at once
15. Donate my hair
16. Adopt a child
17. Attend a Christian Conference
18. Stay in a 5 star hotel
19. See bagpipers in Scotland
20. Host a costume party
21. Have a tarot card reading
22. Swim with dolphins
23. Drive a racecar
24. Go to Dollywood
25. Pay mom back for everything
26. Go to a NASCAR race
27. Get a pedicure
28. Get Lasik eye surgery
29. Visit a crayon factory
30. Plant a tree
31. Visit Sanju in Nepal
32. Fly on an airplane
33. Swim in the ocean
34. Go on a zip-line
35. Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary
36. Go to Disneyland
37. Visit a chocolate factory
38. Swim in a pool of ramen noodles
39. Start a non-profit organization
40. Visit the Holy Land
41. Celebrate 4th of July in DC
42. Ride in a hot air balloon
43. Watch the northern lights in Alaska
44. Forgive my dad
45. Visit Mardi Gras in New Orleans
46. Make a scrapbook of my life
47. Plan a family reunion
48. Make homemade ice cream
49. Start a collection
50. Adopt a dog
51. Graffiti something
52. Take a road trip with a group of girlfriends
53. Go snowboarding
54. March in a parade for a cause
55. Visit an old castle
56. Go skinny dipping
57. Have a pen pal
58. Volunteer in a VA clinic
59. Go to a 49ers game
60. Give 3 gallons of blood
61. See my grandkids graduate from college
62. Rekindle a lost friendship
63. Write a thank you to a teacher
64. Build a sand castle
65. Go to Oktoberfest in Munich
66. Send out Christmas cards to my whole address book
67. Be debt free
68. Ride an elephant
69. Be in the audience of SNL
70. Play on a Slip N Slide
71. Ride a horse
72. Fast for 30 hours
73. Watch the whole X-Men trilogy in a weekend
74. See a Broadway musical
75. Get a mom/daughter tattoo
76. Take dance lessons
77. Dance in the rain
78. Go to the top of the Empire State Building
79. Eat a hotdog from a street cart
80. Give mom a dozen roses
81. Send a message in a bottle
82. Sit on a jury
83. Do karaoke
84. Take a mud bath
85. Ride in a gondola
86. Sleep under the stars
87. Test drive a car I can’t afford
88. Play an ultimate prank on Ed
89. Have a huge food fight
90. Spend the whole day in bed
91. Visit a museum
92. Ride the biggest roller coaster at the theme park
93. Have a dress-up tea party
94. Sit on a rooftop and watch clouds form shapes
95. Visit a prison
96. Organize “Angel Tree for Elderly”
97. Write to Dolly Parton
98. Cry when I’m sad, smile when I’m happy, yell when I’m angry, and tell people when I love them!