a harvest of blessing

Well, today marks the anniversary of my entrance into this world twenty-seven years ago so I figured what better way to celebrate than to share with you the things I hope to accomplish this year.

My twenty-seven things:

1. travel to Africa again or a new country – God and some friends have been putting some crazy dreams on my heart and in my head
2. do 27 of my Pinterest pins – I’m thinking this will be pretty easy
3. take a blog rest every seven weeks
4. send some happy mail each month - if you want some happy mail delivered to you, just send me your address!!
5. keep dreaming
6. buy fair trade more often
7. buy ten house plants and keep five alive – this might not seem like an accomplishment to some but it sure would be for me!!
8. make blessing bags to keep in the van and giveaway when needed
9. make some lunches to take downtown and give away - I’m thinking I should include some banana muffins
10. tutor some elementary students
11. make forts with Raeca
12. teach Rae preschool
13. sew a quilt
14. start or get involved in a social enterprise
15. go on a weekend getaway with Jared
16. sew an article of clothing for myself – one that I actually like
17. create a reading corner in Raeca’s room
18. do a month of crossfit
19. “run” 10K – at one time, without dying
20. go on a picnic with my little family
21. photograph each of my grandparents, and Jared’s grandpa too - my grandmas are both very camera shy, this is going to be a hard one
22. continuing writing monthly letters to Raeca - it’s my goal to get them made into a photo book once she turns five
23. meet an online friend - there have been so many women of action that I’ve met online and I know if I get to meet one of them, chances are it will be in a foreign land
24. take risks
25. get back into my morning prayer routine
26. pray for the entire world - via Operation World
27. teach an art class

Here is one of my Pinterest DIY’s from this weekend. Jared helped by cutting most of it out. I hope to take some better photos of it yet to share:

with love,
Chantel

So my birthday is coming up next week . . . it has really felt like I’ve been 27 for the last year, so at least I don’t need to adjust this year!

My 26th year definitely didn’t go at all like I had planned. But we all know that our plans aren’t necessarily God’s plans. Here is what I had on my list for my 26th year:

1. get our referral - well, that sure changed, didn’t it?
2. read 10 books – according to my Goodreads I’ve read something like 24 and I know I forgot to put some of them in there.
3. travel somewhere new - we went to Salmon Arm, BC, I’d be there before but we also checked out the Bible School my brother was attending, and I had never been there before.
4. start a missional living community or maybe just start living missional myself - I’d say this is a work in progress
5. start or join an orphan ministry - Once Was Lost
6. learn to wrap pretty gifts- well, I learned how but didn’t really always do it
7. help someone begin the adoption process - I’ve answered many questions over the course of the year
8. photograph my everyday life - thank you iPhone and Instagram for this one
9. dare to dream - definitely dreaming some big dreams
   
10. bake a cake from scratch - didn’t even try
11. watch a play - nope
12. learn a new art form - learnt how to screen print
    
13. become a mentor
14. find a mentor – yes, I’ve got a few! Though I would almost call them inspirers instead
15. develop the rolls of film I have sitting in my desk drawer – I just trashed them instead
16. go thrifting with a friend - with my Mom!
17. have a picnic - yes
18. get our fence built - huge thanks to my father-in-law and my brother
19. say “no” more – yes!
20. help my grandma organize her photos - no, but I offered and she doesn’t want them organized any more so I’m counting that as done
21. create 2010, 2011 and 2012 photo books - yes, I went with Blurb, love the how they turned out!
22. potty train Raeca - done
23. go on a date with Jared (one that doesn’t involve grocery shopping) - yup!
24. complete some of the DIY projects on my list - a few
25. give a presentation on our trip to Uganda - done!
26. learn some French (it is the official language of the DRC) - had a few words down, but now I don’t really need to know it, but if you ever find yourself in a French country and need some butter or a pen, give me a call, I know those words.

Wow, 21/26 completed?! That’s more than I expected! Now it’s time to start on my list for 27!!! (I love making lists . . .) Any suggestions for items to add? You can bet that returning to Africa will be on there!

For those of you that have annual lists for yourself, how are they going? My friend Alison has an awesome list with all these crazy adventures -and she’s been able to do most of them!

with love,
Chantel