It’s that time of year again where people look forward to the year ahead and make plans for things that they want to accomplish and/or change in the upcoming year. Once again, I am looking back over my year and trying to focus on the good things of the year. As with everyone, there have been some not so good times this past year. I could criticize myself for my failures this year. And, there have been many. Here are some fun examples:

But, there have also been many wonderful times this year. So, instead of focusing on my failures, I will focus on my successes.

While another year of listening to “The Bible in a Year” has come to an end, I will be continuing this daily activity. This past year, I added a couple of reference books to look up information about the readings. If you haven’t checked out Father Mike’s podcast, I would strongly recommend it. He has a great way of making biblical readings very relevant to today’s world.

At the beginning of the year, I sorted through my family recipes and put together a list of recipes that I thought my adult sons would enjoy having. Throughout the year, I made each of the recipes and took photos of the result. Then, using the Create My Cookbook website, I had professionally printed cookbooks made for each of my sons. These cookbooks turned out very nice and I hope the boys will enjoy them for many years to come.

I have made many crafts this year, and have taken photographs with the intent of writing a blog about each of them. I’ve probably got about 20 posts that I should have already written up, but have not yet done. I have, however, completed 26 blog postings this year. So, that works out to one every other week and I am happy with that.

My original intent with this blog was to provide a means for my mother, who lives out of state, to follow along with my crafting activities. Unfortunately her eyesight has deteriorated and she no longer reads my blog. Over the past year I have thought about giving up on blogging and just doing my crafts. But, then I will receive a really lovely email from someone, I do not know, who has read a post and was thankful for the details that I included. That makes me realize that perhaps someone is benefiting from what I write about. Hopefully this year I will get some more of my projects written up. If not, I will still enjoy making my crafts and trying new techniques.

I have continued to keep a journal of my daily accomplishments. I expanded upon this a bit this year by adding notes about things I have read and including ideas about crafts that I am thinking about. This has been a tremendous resource. I have all my ideas in one place. When I actually start to work on a new project, I can pull out my journal and review my notes. So, now I have my accomplishments as well as my ideas recorded. Looking back over the year, I realize that it’s been a productive year and I thank God for my family, my health and my happiness.

As we start 2023, I pray that each of you will have a happy and healthy year and that you will continue to find the glory in God’s creation and the joy in his marvelous love.