My word for 2022 was “Gratitude”. It’s amazing to see how that word was orchestrated throughout 2022 for me. As I shared in a Facebook post yesterday my heart is overflowing with gratitude when I look back at it all.  As I was contemplating and seeking the Lord about this year’s one word I settled on DREAMS. Just to clarify, I’m talking about visions, goals, and passions, not the dreams you have in your sleep.

I have some dreams that God gave me a long time ago and I believe that some will be coming to fruition in 2023. I also want to encourage others to dream again and to trust that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above anything we could ask or dream up.

It’s not in the prosperity sense, like I want a yacht, let me believe and receive. It’s more about hopes and dreams that are from God and His plans for your life.

I want this to be a focus for my kids too. I want to be an example of chasing after the dreams God has placed in our hearts.

I also like the idea of intentionally aligning our plans with the dreams and goals of our family.

J actually encouraged me in this area last summer. I was working towards becoming a substitute teacher, but half of the schools that I would be teaching at were conflicting with our schedule. I was wrestling with the idea of putting the kids on a school bus. To be clear this isn’t about the bus. If your kids ride a bus that’s great. I know plenty of families that use the bus system or grew up riding the bus. For our family we’ve avoided it at the past 9 years (other than some situations where it was Kindergarteners only). So as I kids were being enrolled for school I was really in turmoil about the whole thing. I even had them signed up to ride the bus, but I wasn’t at peace about it! Around that time J and I were on a walk when I explained the dilemma and how I wanted to make the right decision. He said “Well, when you think of your goals as a mom for your family does putting our kids on the bus align with those goals?” I said no (but my mind still didn’t see an alternative) and then he said “Well don’t put them on the bus then.” So we didn’t and guess what? I have learned that the schools I most like subbing at are the ones that work with our schedule. There are enough jobs to cover with just those schools and sometimes it works for J to help with the carpool lines when needed. I know we made the right choice.

The question was simple “Does this align with our family goals?” Throughout 2023 as we divide up our schedule, our finances, and whatever other decisions come up I want to have our family dreams (which could also be hopes and plans) in the forefront.