I love this week in between Christmas and the New Year—for several reasons.

First, it’s my time to be reflective of the previous year. Second, I get a lot of joy and motivation from setting goals for the coming year.   And finally, it’s the week of the year that I indulge myself while vacationing in my own home … watching movies, eating popcorn and playing on my iPad.

So, as I sit here and reflect on last year, I must mention that my dad (my biological dad) passed away this year. That’s big. I don’t think I’ve come to grips with it fully, and yet I am ok with that for now. Another biggy happened one month after his passing, when my mom confessed she had breast cancer. That’s a tough one. I imagine my mom being around for a long time. I am not ready to send her on to be with Jesus, although I think she would be quite content with that option. But enough hard stuff! As I reflect, I take great satisfaction with goals accomplished—the one where I translated 1&2 Corinthians. That took the entire year, and brought a soul-satisfying tradition to many mornings in 2018. Another biggy … I got a new calling in ministry back in January when my pastor called and asked if I would consider coming on staff as the director of adult education. My first thought was, “really?!” But it didn’t take long for me to love the notion and one of my favorite times each week is showing up for staff meeting and enjoying great fellowship among the saints at First ARP Church.   It has been a year of glorious community for both Tom and me.

Now a word about 2019 goals.

I came up with this first goal a couple days ago as I was looking at our bookshelf in the den. There are books on the shelf that I need to return to friends and books that we bought in the past year that have never been opened. So! The goal is to read—or even skim—two books a week. That’s 104 books for 2019. Can I do it? I don’t know. But it’s my goal and I’ve started on 2 already – and can I just tell you now, that I am thoroughly enjoying both in many ways. So, my next goal will be to write/blog about the books that I read/skim each week. Perhaps re-watching the movie Julie & Julia last week gave me the inspiration for that goal.   My next ongoing goal of translating the New Testament (from Greek to English, yes I know it’s been done before but not by me) is to do the Gospel of Mark in 2019.   It is my hope to get through the whole of the New Testament by the time I am 70. And perhaps if I make that goal, I will retake Hebrew and try and tackle a few Old Testament books. Not! Ok, maybe.

On to the third reason why i love this week:  Play time.  Adios.