The 26 to-do's before 27

Last weekend, I had a birthday.  This birthday I did a lot of thinking. It's like this year, I officially felt like I was getting older, not necessarily growing up, but getting older.  I reflected a lot these past few weeks, reflected and visioned.  I thought about this last year, things that happened, things that didn't happen.  It was a good year and made me look forward to this next year, but it also made me think about some things that I hope to accomplish before I turn 27, so I have compiled a list of my 26 things to do, before I turn 27.

1.Make a quilt. I have always wanted to do this, but the thought of making a quilt intimidates me, but its a goal for me to make a quilt for our baby, and since I'll have some time,  may as well start now.

2.Pierce my nose. I have almost done this several times, but I always chicken out.

3.Get plugged into a good bible study. This is something I know I need to do, and my friends and I always talk about wanting/needing to do this, this year I hope to make it happen.

4.Run the Tinkerbell Half Marathon.  First goal, run. Period. I hate running, but I want to run this marathon.

5.Visit friends in Portland.  Justin and I have been talking for months that we need to do this, we deeply miss our friends in the Pacific Northwest, and its time we visit our favorite city.

6.Make Noonday a big deal in Fairfield.  I'm encouraged with how well Noonday has been received in our tiny city, my prayer is that I'll be out in the grocery store or running errands and people would recognize Noonday.

7.Visit another country.  It's no secret that I *hope* we will visit Ethiopia this next year, but I would love to travel somewhere Ive never been, outside of my comfort zone.

8. Go white water rafting.  This ALMOST happened last month, but we couldn't make the dates work.

9. More intentional time with my husband.  When we spent out weekend at the Lords Land it was so nice to just be together, we're working hard at being intentional with our time.  Not just sitting down and watching TV together (all though at times that's nice) but we'll take walks, sit outside, or just sit and talk. It's nice.

10. Make jam.  When we were taking care of my grandma she went through what I called a "jam phase" where she made jam all.the.time. Now, I think I'm ready for my jam phase.

11.  Get back into the piano.  I've played the piano for a long time, took lessons for several years, and even played in college. I still play, in my house, usually when I'm nervous or upset ha ha.  But there's a few songs I've been wanting to teach myself, I hope to do that this year.

12. Sew more.  A few summers ago I was really into sewing, then I stopped. It's time.

13. Build deeper relationships.  As I sit and watch social media explode, I find that we have, at times, used it as our only form of communication with the world. I'm completely guilty of this, and yet at the same time am so thankful for what we're able to do these days. I was reminded tonight, of when WIFI first came out.  I was working at a coffee shop and someone asked me if we had WIFI..I thought it was a kind of tea, so I showed him the teas...how far we've come. ha ha

14. Get outside more! We've been doing a good job about this lately, getting out and just exploring, I want to continue to do this more.

15. Created for Care.  This is a retreat for adoptive moms, foster moms any woman who has a heart for orphans and orphan care. I really want to go there this year. I've heard amazing things.

16. Organize! Organize! Organize! I've been doing good at getting organized...kind of psycho organized.  I want to continue this...but not so much in as a psycho Martha Stewart wanna be (which was where I was headed..)

17. Memorize Scripture.  I met with a friend a few days ago because I was feeling overwhelmed. She suggested I write scripture and put it all over my house, as reminders. I used to do that in college, and kind of stopped, I've since started doing it again, and wouldn't you know it? I'm not so overwhelmed anymore :) This is a must continue. 

18.Enjoy game nights. I hate playing games, board games. I've never liked them. I don't like puzzles, never have, even when I was younger.  My husband on the other hand, loves both.  I'm going to make an effort to enjoy games more. 

19.  Learn how to take pictures, we saved and saved for a camera we've been wanting for a year. Pulled our birthday money AND...it sits, waiting to be used. I need to learn how to use it. Especially before baby gets here, that's one of the reasons we bought it. 

20.  Get another tattoo.  I know what I'm getting...I just need to do it, but since our tattoo artist lives in Portland, we may need to combine this with our Portland trip 

21.  Stay in a yurt. That's all. And a tree house. 

22.  Cut out our processed food. We've slowly began to do this. It definitely is something to be done over time, but I started reading In Defense of Food, and we realized that for us and our family, we will do our best to eat a clean/whole whatever you want to call it, diet. I've been doing lots of research, and I know eating this way will take commitment, mostly on my part, because I prepare the majority of the meals, but once I get the hang of it, I think it will really benefit us

23.  Ride my bike more, I got a bell, so that should help ;) 

24.  Make homemade Christmas gifts, my family's probably reading this and groaning, but I promise they'll be good!!!

25.  Be thankful, I've got a lot. I need to remember that.

26.  Love more, a genuine love. 

We shall see how much gets accomplished this year!