The New Year

To me New Years Day is a day for reflection. I like to reflect on what I had planned to do this past year. I don't make a lot of plans or resolutions. Resolutions are usually just broken after a few weeks. I did have some plans that I carried out through the year.

Number 1: I planned to read my Bible through on a Bible reading schedule. My son in Scotland has a three year Bible reading plan that he puts in their church bulletin every month. I decided that this would be my plan for the next three years. I am happy to say I have kept up with my Bible reading through this plan. I ended the year still on schedule. I like this plan because you only read 5 days a week. You read Old Testament and New Testament every day. He has it scheduled so you read about 55 verses total from both Testaments each day of those 5 days. And there is 2 free weeks worked in for those who get behind to catch up. I did not have to use the catch up weeks this year. I stayed on schedule. This was a first for me. While I read and study my Bible about everyday especially when I am teaching a class, I would fall behind on my scheduled reading. I am already into the second year of this reading plan.

Number 2: We planned to go to Scotland to visit our family there. We did that the last of August and first half of September. We did several days of sightseeing with our family. The highlight of the trip for me was being able to attend the annual ladies' day on the East Kilbride Church of Christ. I had wanted to do this for a long time, but it just never worked out until this year. Really enjoyed it. Got to see some old friends that I would not have seen otherwise. The lady who spoke is an acquaintance for many years. She did just a good job presenting a lesson to the ladies. Met some people from America who are working in Scotland now. This is always a plus. You get to compare people you each know and usually can pinpoint someone who both know.

Number 3: We planned to get our front porch and walk redone. That happened at the end of the summer. Our porch steps were sinking into the ground and one step was really high. The porch was pulling away from the house. So the contractor bricked around the porch, poured a new concrete pad, make brick steps up the the porch. He also poured concrete steps down to the driveway. He put cedar banisters around the porch and down the steps to the driveway. We got a painter to come and stain the banisters and they really pop now. We also had to get a new roof. With our house being added on to even before us, the roof went into so many angles and valleys that a shingle roof was difficult to repair. We had had several leaks over the years and they had been patched until there was no patching to be done. So we decided to get the Amish people to put us a metal roof on. They did that just before we went to Scotland. We have been well satisfied with the roof and with their work. It is so nice to hear the rain falling on the roof now.

Plans for this year: I will continue reading my scheduled Bible reading plan.

I want to get a better schedule for the chores I have to do daily, weekly, monthly. I have fallen behind on that.

I want to get some sorting out, cleaning out of closets, drawers, etc. I did some of this last year, but not to the extend I wanted to. Most of our things we have kept, just put back, or whatever, I started sorted through. But after a while it got mundane and I lost interest and stopped. This year I need to do better there.

I plan to teach the ladies' class at church again starting  in March. The elders have not asked me yet, but that was the plan last August when another teacher took over the class. We'll see. By the time March gets here I may not want to teach again.

I plan to finish the quilt I am quilting. I plan to finish piecing the detailed quilt I am working on now. Pictures will be forthcoming of both of these projects.

Hopefully this year we will not have any major repairs to do to the house.

My plan last year was to read 50 books during the year. I surpassed that and read 53. I plan to continue reading books. Maybe I can read 60 in 2013.

These are my plans for 2013. Not much really, but still I plan to do a little each day.