Family Goals for 2012

Do you or your family do resolutions each year? I like to call them "goals" more than resolutions, and setting them has been helpful for me in leading my family.

Our family had some goals for 2011. Let's see how we did:

1. Get a new job (even Sender wanted this for me last year), since I did not have one as of the start of last year. God provided one by the middle of the January.
2. Get to Allendale by April. Check. It was a long 13 weeks of weekly commuting.
3. Sell or rent house by June. Again, God provided some great friends to rent our house.
4. Climb a mountain (Hannah's idea, ever since We Took a Hike). We didn't do this, but the kids did go to the beach three times.
5. Have a 9-day vacation. I realized this a few years ago that I need at least 8 days to be able to unwind. We sort of had this, as we had time at the end of the year to get out of town and relax and have minimal responsibilities. We were in Allendale for 36 hours in the last 15 days of December, with trips to Greenville, south Florida, and Savannah.

Here are some family goals that we have in 2012:

1. Start giving the kids an allowance. I mentioned this earlier this week, as I gathered feedback from readers and other friends.
2. Do more Bible memory with the kids. They do some of this with their schooling, but I need to be more involved, and do it for my own sake as well.
3. A 2-night get-away with Joanna. We've done this every year of our marriage, and need to keep it going. It's a great time to dream, discuss, and plan.
4. Another 9-day family vacation. Now that I'm aligned with the school calendar with my jobs, this gets trickier. But we need to try to do this. (Hannah still has "climbing a mountain" and "Disney" on her list, but we'll see.)
5. Visiting some family that we haven't seen in a while, in-state and out-of-state.
6. Figure out our family's ministry in Allendale. This was the Best Part of My Job in 2011, and we'll miss it. We're looking at doing camps during spring break and summer.
7. Go somewhere. Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what this means. It's more of a feeling than a goal. But whether it's me going on a mission trip, or taking the family to a new place, I think some sort of adventure is needed. (If you know how much of a homebody I've always been, you'll know that this is pretty odd.)

One advice that a friend gave me recently: for this adventure that we are on in Allendale, be sure to make it fun for our family. Yes, there is work and sacrifice, but I want my kids to remember this as one of the best times of their lives.

What about you? Do you have personal or family goals for 2012?

Edit:  Here are our Family Goals for 2013.

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