New Year's--Cain Style

Jess: This should be the last in a long series of blogs about holidays. Those things just creep up on you and keep coming, don't they? And now we're in that awkward/awful stretch where there's really nothing to look forward to until spring break--and that's only for the lucky few of us who are in school. 


The point is, the Christmas/New Year's time is an interesting mess for us because we're--well--crazy. We decided many moons ago (like, three years), that we would get married on January first. Originally, we were going to get married on January 23 (get it? 1/23?), but then we realized that we would have slightly over a week between wedding and classes starting for Wes. Although this was feasible, we didn't really want to have a honeymoon that consisted of driving cross-country. Not exactly the relaxing vacation we were thinking of. So we decided to bump the wedding earlier, and it worked out great. Now we have Christmas, New Year's/anniversary, and Wes' birthday all within two weeks of each other. 


So with all of that madness PLUS the fact that we had family here until the first, I didn't even write New Year's resolutions this year. I always write resolutions, and then I put them into a Word document that I look at periodically throughout the year. I try to do one or two goals in a bunch of categories, so I don't end up with something like "lose weight," "eat better," "read more." That's never going to happen, and I'll probably never looks at that again anyway. 


Last year, Wes and I wrote up a list of the things we learned over our first year of marriage. I think this year I'll talk a little about what my goals for this coming year are--including in our marriage. That's not to say we didn't learn anything in 2011. Goodness knows I learn something about Wes almost every day. And most of it scares me. (Just kidding, Wes). 


So here's a short list of my "resolutions" or "goals" or "things I want to do" for the upcoming year:


1. Really start focusing on my health. Rather than thinking about eating well and working out for awhile and then just giving up, I want to achieve consistency. 
2. Learn how to give myself some Sabbath time. I know that I'm good at accomplishing things. I'm also good at doing completely pointless, time-wasting things. I want to be intentional about taking some time to rest and talk with God. 
3. Save up some money for some really fun stuff. We spent a good chunk of 2011 saving up money for a car, and then paying back what we had borrowed from our savings for the rest of the down payment. I know we can save money when we put our minds to it--I want to save money for a fun trip, or something like that. 
4. Be more generous with my time and money. Last year, I made a resolution to do some sort of service project every month. I didn't do so well on that, and I feel like that makes me a hypocrite. Part of being a Christian is being Christ-like, and Christ helped people with all that he had. 
5. Make the most of the time Wes and I have together. We spend a lot of time in class and at work, away from each other, and that's been tough on us this last semester. Part of what made it worse was not taking the time to have a fun date night or just hang out and talk when we did have some time together. I want to work on doing a better job of that. 


I never try to make too many goals, but I like to do enough that I have some things to think about as the New Year begins and throughout the year. I'm pretty excited about what 2012 will bring for us. We're pretty settled in our marriage, we're pretty settled in New Jersey, and we're pretty settled in school--and there's a very good chance that change will come and we'll have to adapt. Gasp!


Wes: So here are my goals/resolutions for the year:


1. Make it to my 24th birthday.
2. Finish seminary.
3. Continue to work leading a healthier life. I've been working out much more than I have in the past, and I've felt better than I have in a long time, but I have a long ways to go before I am where I want to be. I realize that I am very overweight--I won't use the WiiFit because I'm tired of it yelling at me--and I don't want to maintain the lifestyle I am living now. 
4. Read 40 books for funsies.
5. Read all of my books for my classes.
6. Manage my time better. I need a Sabbath time.
7. Take Jess out on more dates. 
8. Build something cool with my hands. 


What are your resolutions/goals for the new year?


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You stay classy, World Wide Web!




-wes and jess