Last year my word, for 2025, was READY – as in, make myself ready for the Lord to use me in new ways.
Not all of the goals or ideas I shared in that post successfully happened, however, for example, having people over. While we were busy going places to meet with people we never got back to hosting in our home.
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A few things I did not plan did happen: I share about them below.
Passport.
My husband and sons already have their passports because they all have been on mission trips out of the USA. I decided to just go ahead and apply for mine at the end of the year in case I decide to go on a trip eventually. Why wait?
Move homes – we did not move.
In September we decided to put the house up for sale because it has been lacking the right space for me to work. The house is great but our needs have changed and so the house as it functions for us is less than ideal.
Well, the house sold very quick.
We had five showings in about a week’s time and three offers out of those. We took the best offer and moved forward. The very hard part was finding the right house for us.
We settled on something and about 13 days from closing the buyer for our home was unable to get a loan and while we briefly put the house on the market again, I was done. It was a stressful time and we were settling on the “new” house. We decided to stay put.
While we lost nearly $1000 on inspections and appraisal fees I don’t regret having tried it. I desperately felt I needed a space to work in. Interest rates have been high, the market was more in favor of the sellers, not the buyers as home costs are so inflated. We learned a good bit and the whole idea of selling and moving is now pretty much washed out of my system. I would rather stay put and make the best of it and we do know now how fast a house can sell.
As I have been unpacking and putting the house back in order I have been decorating it with a lot more intention in a vintage way and our youngest son who is a professional painter has desired to paint the interior. He has already finished his room and my husband’s and mine. I think he will tackle the hall, stairway and small foyer next.
We are also in the process of fixing up the basement into a place where the boys can hang out with friends if they want.
My books are in a shop.
You probably know I self-publish Bible based workbooks through Amazon and have been doing this since 2022.
I love that I have this opportunity. They handle the printing and the shipping and you can buy right from their website. I have not learned how to do ads through them. At least once I’ve paid a little through Meta (Facebook/Instagram) to advertise there, but I don’t feel like I really know what I’m doing exactly.
I was happy recently to be accepted by a small brick and mortar store in Amish country to put my books on consignment for sale. Hopefully they do well there.
Teach Bible Studies.
I did prepare and teach two Bible studies at a nursing home where one of our church members lives. She has been hosting these Bible studies for her resident neighbors for a year or so and some have received Jesus as their Savior. Various people from our church take turns teaching the Bible studies so it’s been a great opportunity for everyone.
So now I have some recent experience preparing a Bible study for and teaching it to a small group of adults and I plan to continue helping there now that I am not consumed with moving homes.
Discipleship.
I also began a new discipling relationship with a friend. She had already been discipled part way through the book we use at church that makes it handy to cover all the important Bible basics of Christianity to make sure everyone has a sure foundation.
We were able to finish around the end of the year. Now we just meet with one of the pastors and she can get commissioned to disciple other women, too!
Our church uses this book written by one of the missionaries we have long supported. I was blessed to be hired to edit the high school version of it back around 2011/2012. You can find out more about the adult and student books and all that the Journey offers at their website OrderJourney.com .
Gizmo – Gizzie.
We weren’t looking for a new cat but a new cat found us. Strays are common in our greater neighborhood – but thankfully there seems to be less of them.
One day one of the black kitties that would come around our home showed itself to be sweet and friendly – and looked very thin and hungry. I suspected it was young – maybe half a year old or so. Because it was crying so much I figured it was hungry. This is how they get me! I will feed the ones that cry for help. Thankfully it doesn’t happen very often…maybe every two years.
My son named it Gizmo and we fed Gizmo and I bought this rainproof shelter from Amazon for Gizmo; and, when the temps dropped badly we brought Gizmo inside and now we have four cats again…two of which are “black panthers”…Moosey and Gizmo.
I recently took Gizmo to get neutered because I was pretty sure it was a male but no, Gizmo is a girl – so we call her Gizzie now.
I was surprised, however I rarely if ever can tell male from female cats apart. Three of the now four cats we own have all been cats that either came to us (Moose and Gizmo) or as in Otter-bean’s case, was found abandoned as an infant.
My 2026 Word: Execute.
“Literally, to follow out or through. Hence, to perform; to do; to effect; to carry into complete effect; to complete; to finish. We execute a purpose, a plan, design or scheme; we execute a work undertaken, that is, we pursue it to the end. …”
- Merriam Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
Words can have more than one meaning and this word surely does. I assure you, this is the meaning I’m using. I thought of other words, prayed about what word to use. I feel like this is the best choice. I don’t just want to accomplish something or persevere until I do finish something. I’ve allowed myself to be held back for a long time due to not having the right setting to focus on my book projects. The best option seemed to move to a house that offered the extra space. Now that we tried that and it didn’t work out I am resolved to make due with what my options are.
The other day as I was waiting on a family member to finish at the doctor’s, I sat in the van reading a little more of a book I ALSO did not finish last year: Eat That Frog and praying about how I can move forward without the dedicated space I need and the answer hit me.
I am really free to go to quiet places anywhere I can find them and they don’t have to be home. It can be at a park or a coffee shop or somewhere else to do the study part. The more mechanical parts of the books can be done at home where they usually have been – at this window. Now I can move ahead with a plan to execute these projects.
New Traditions – Family & Friends.
One last item on my to do list is to start new family traditions and to get back to having friends over.
For almost all of our married life we have been going to the homes of other family members for holiday get togethers. Last year our family of four did a new thing by designating our Christmas spending on a trip to Florida in April because the oldest wanted to go to Universal Studios.
When Christmas actually arrived a few days ago it felt much lighter and enjoyable to me knowing we didn’t have to deal with getting gifts that carried expectation – expectation on my part as to what to buy.
That pressure of feeling like we have to buy worthwhile gifts for our boys who actually work jobs and can buy what they want during the year. I did get them a fun hoodie because I happened to see some at Walmart.
Furthermore, for 2026.
I’m planning to write at least one blog post a month through 2026, work on at least two or three book projects, and make a dent in reading the books I purchased last year. All of that means I had better come up with a daily or weekly plan to work on executing my goals.
Do you like to pick a word or a goal for each new year? I would enjoy reading about it.
Feel free to share in the comments below!
