23 Plans for 2023

 

I like planning. There is something about writing them down and seeing them in black and white. 

I woke up this morning around 4 am coughing for about an hour. My thoughts bouncing back and forth with ideas for writing blog posts. So I got up to get a drink of water and crawled back into bed. Could not get back to sleep so considered just getting up. The house was quiet with all the family guests gone. But 5 in the morning? That's the time farmers get up to start morning chores and we are retired. And I had not gotten to sleep until after midnight. 

My Sweetie slept on after I exited the bedroom and I went to my desk and took up a pen and wrote for the next hour. It was so satisfying considering I had laid down my pen nearly a month ago. After a while, I started to write down a to-do list. That is not the same as a goals list. To-do is to remember to do some banking, water the plants, change the bedsheets. That kind of thing. But this is a Planning Party. 

Here we go:

1. Revisit 23 ufos in 2023. I have 33 on the list on my sidebar. More on this later.
2. Build a Son Room onto the house. It has been a dream of mine for like most of my life. The contractor is supposed to be here this week to make plans.
3. Take part in To-Do Tuesday because I have to be writing to-do lists. 
   
4. Stitch for at least 15 Minutes a Day. 
5. Blog weekly. I have so many ideas. 
6. Meet with my writing accountability partner. This time remember to pray for each other as we share our writing goals each week.
7. Take part in monthly Virtual Writing Retreats with Christian Book Academy.
8. Write some simple words (profound eludes me most times I try). Maybe the most profound words really are the simple ones. I have 3 unfinished manuscripts. 
9. Launch the How to Stay Married for 50 Years blog. It is set up and ready to go but I still have to finish editing the posts. Cannot do that with a house full of guests and while I am on an airplane. Maybe for April? But then what do I do about comments while out of the country? 
10. Lead my Women's Small Group well. We will be doing a workbook called Hearing God this winter. 
11. Keep a Gratitude Journal. This will be the homework for my women.
12. Participate in an online 34 Day Rhema and Movement Challenge from Rhythms of Colour in January. 
13. Take Ava to Garmisch Germany for a Christian Women's ReAlign Retreat in March. How exciting that it is during her spring break. Still have to book the plane tickets. 
14. Go to Scrub Stitching in Baradine Australia with my Sweetie in April. Still have to book plane tickets.
15. Visit the Royal Easter Show in Sydney as guests of the Guernsey Cattle Society of Australia. My Sweetie agreed to go to the quilt retreat after he had been invited to judge the cattle. I plan to find some quilts to look at.
16. Cataract surgery in May. Have to wait until after our flights. Then cannot fly for 2-3 months after. 
17. Women's Retreat in June on the shores of Lake Erie. I am the group leader and organizer. I have ideas and plans. It is going to be amazing. I anticipate using ideas from the Retreat in March.
18. Vermont Quilt Festival in June. That will be a road trip with sisters, meeting friends, workshops, and shopping.
19. Take 3 for our 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration. The date is set for July 1-4, 2023 long weekend. The venue is here at the Farm. We are planning a tent, a bouncy castle, a live band, an open house for neighbours and friends, a BBQ for family, games and adventures. 
20. Launch Bertha's Flowerpots SAL possibly in July after the houseguests are gone.
21. Take Devan to visit family in Poland in August when it is safe to fly again after my eye surgery.
22. Shipshewana Quilt Retreat in November.
23. Ministry trip to India for Christmas.

I am looking forward to 2023 as a year of amazing adventures with God and family and friends. A year of celebration and travel and quilting.  

Blessings,

Chris