New Year, New Us!

Well, on the new Sandals FIT 2.0 shirt it actually says, "New Year, New You Us. Which I particularly like because it's a lot easier to make positive changes when you have help!

Wow, 2014. And January is almost done already! Thought I'd share a little bit about my FIT goals for 2014. This seems to be the best place to document that. At my church, Sandals Church, in Riverside, CA we are going through a series called, FIT- again.

I really love it because it encourages us to start the year off with good habits and positive changes, and when an entire church is focused on doing this, it's always more successful. As I've written in the past about this, its not just about making new years resolutions because those have already failed by this time in the new year. It's about changing our behaviors, getting rid of poor disciplines/patterns and encouraging one another to truly make better choices and changes as a Christian: Physical, mental, emotional and Spiritual. With that in mind, it's my favorite few months in small group especially because we all work out together one time a week. Though I wish we did this the entire year, I am thankful that we get a few months of it!

Any way, a few of my goals for the year:

Physical: I signed up to run the LA marathon with Team World Vision on March 9th. As the day rapidly approaches I am feeling pretty good and praying my training will continue to go well. I am running to raise funds for clean water in Uganda. Clean water for life for one person costs $50. My goal is to raise $1310, and help provide clean water for 26 people. That is one person per mile! If you click here, you can make a tax deductible donation.

I also plan on participating in the So Cal Ragnar Relay again. I had a blast last year, and would like to run on a 12 man team.

I am not sure which other races I will be competing in, but for those of you that know me, I'm sure I'll find plenty.

Spiritual: I've joined an online bible study through the Proverbs 31 Ministries called, "Made to Crave." It is based on a book by Lysa Turkerst called, "Made to Crave."

We finished through chapter 3 this week. Its a good read, and good study. I'm enjoying it very much. I have several books lined up to keep me busy mentally and emotionally.

Emotionally: Like last year, I am committed to praying and journaling. It helps me process my thoughts and use my words a little more wisely. It also allows me for some quiet time with God.

Financial: I am so excited to announce that on March 1st we will be DEBT FREE!!!! Which will finally allow us to do well, just about whatever we want with the money we were using to pay off debt... roughly $3000 a month. Of course we will still be following the Dave Ramsey Baby Step plan... but we will finally NOT be on baby step 2 soon! On to LARGE emergency fund and investing!

Well, that about does it for now. Happy 2014 everyone. I so love the even years better than the odd... I know I'm weird.