My favorite part of this year is now overdue - making resolutions and reviewing the year. This tradition may result in minuscule changes in habit and virtue, but perhaps instead of changing course, this practice is more helpful for righting the course of the ship of life that has drifted from true north, or whatever course it is on. This post is my mini-retreat, although I'm having trouble finding time to reflect and contemplate long enough to write it. This was supposed to be a year I documented better on this blog, but instead I wrote less than ever. I also read less than ever. And after reviewing resolutions from last year, I can only report moderate success, as usual.
But there were a few successes: 1. I've kept up with my little examen journal. 2. I read quite a bit with the four-year-old, although not many chapter books yet. 3. We've had some good vacations with the kids to make some memories together. 4. I've kept up with calendar keeping 5. And a gift subscription to Magnificat from my mom has helped me keep my resolution to read Scripture more. Magnificat has been a great aid to faith life for so many people - may it continue to find its way into many hands.
So again, I will revise some of the resolutions that didn't stick and consider what habits will help me stay on course for a life oriented toward eternity. Even as I write that, I question that I really have eternity in mind, as temporal reality is much more pressing. How can I be thinking of Heaven when the toilet is overflowing? And does God want me to homeschool the four-year-old next year or to keep trying to teach? I wish He would speak more clearly on this matter, or help me find a parttime kindergarten so I could do both. That's the next big decision I have to make - in addition to helping the daughter in her junior year discern what is in her future.
Those big decisions require more research. I have several research projects going on - so perhaps the first category to look at is what my academic/intellectual goals should be:
1. Research kindergartens and colleges. The teenager next in line to go to school doesn't want to go to the same school her brothers attend - the pressure to get in and do well is perhaps too great, and she thinks she wants to stay on the west coast or at least go somewhere without a long winter. More to come on the college search, but we are planning to make a couple visits to schools to help her figure out what is out there and what she is looking for - if I can commit to the cost of travel.
The kindergarten decision is one that involves figuring out how to balance what I want to do with what I think I ought to do. I'm hoping an option shows up that allows me to do both, so on my to-do list is to try to find either a parttime kindergarten or some other solution.
After teaching this past semester, I have also considered returning to school myself to finish my Ph.D. Teaching this course on nature writing required a lot of research and synthesis that could be the beginning of a project or paper. Maybe I should go back to school and homeschool while working on a second degree - probably not going to happen, but a little dream.
More immediate - and more achievable - is a smaller project: Plan a family trip to Rome. We have purchased tickets for the six people in our family at home to fly in February to see our second son who is studying in Rome for the year. We got a great price on tickets back in the fall, but I put off planning the trip. Now it's a month away, and I'm just starting to look into places to stay and to figure out an itinerary. We get to Rome on our son's 21st birthday and will stay in the city Wednesday - Friday. Then we'll go to Assisi and Florence before returning to Rome Monday morning and stay for 2 more nights before flying back. In addition to finding accommodations, I need to figure out whether to rent a car for the weekend travel or buy train tickets for 7 people. And in addition to planning the trip, I want to have some family education about what we are going to see. If I had thought ahead, I would have tried to find some Rick Steves videos to watch over Christmas break, but instead we watched too many bad Christmas specials because the girls like sappy romances. More to come on that trip, too.
2. Planning this trip and introducing the kids to Rome is a part of the category for Family Goals, too. My husband convinced me to buy plane tickets for everyone by saying this is their religious education for the year. I have really mourned the lack of religious education for our teenagers. The two middle kids were confirmed this spring, and since then they have been reluctant to go to youth group - mostly because it is like confirmation class. This fall the previous youth leader quit to stay home with her kids, and the transition to a new youth minister took some time, so the fall schedule was irregular. I've talked with the teens about getting more involved in leadership this year, but we'll see what happens.
We also have not kept up with family service projects. I'm still going to the nursing home with the youngest once a month, and at Christmastime we sponsored a family and took the kids to the church in Barrio Logan to deliver the gifts, but I'd like to renew my resolve to find a family project once a month.
3. The challenge of making resolutions is finding time for them. This past year I sacrificed time I used to spend exercising in order to spend more time planning and grading. I've done better about becoming a morning person, but have to decide whether to exercise or work in the morning before the kids get up. Aging has also minimized my dedication to fitness goals. I'm realizing that being middle-aged involves having somewhat constant knee and foot pain. Swimming and stretching and some strength training, even just sit-ups and push-ups, always make me feel better, so those are the three things I'd like to find more time for this year -- in addition to the yearly recommitment to drink more water, get more sleep, and eat less sugar.
Finally, the fourth piece of my yearly review - spiritual growth. We did make it confession more often this year - another small success. So we'll try to continue that commitment. But nightly rosary has become a weekly thing - I need to keep recommitting to trying to make family prayer time a priority. One thing our church has started doing this fall is adoration one Friday night a month. We've attended a couple times - I let the kids leave after 15 or 20 minutes, but I am grateful for even that little time, so that is another practice I want to keep up with. My book club continues to be a source of great consolation and good reads for spiritual growth, although this month's pick, Anne Lamott's newest book about hope Almost Everything, recycles what she has written before. I have thought about trying out spiritual direction - I want someone else to tell me what to do - but both priests I've asked were booked up -- because they are good directors most likely.
This is enough to think about, and I am out of time. I can think of a lot of things I'd like to do or do better and things I'd like quit doing - the challenge of keeping on course are the many distractions.
A happy distraction was our recent trip to Utah - photos to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment