Welcome back to another episode of me having no idea what to write about but doing it anyway. I suppose it is time to share with you my word of the year. After all, it’s already pretty much the middle of January and it’s time to start living it out. In case you’re new here, the last few years, instead of making resolutions and plans to change or transform my life into something I am not, I have chosen a #wordoftheyear. It’s a way of making broad, all encompassing goals based on more of a “theme” than a strict hard and fast rule. And so, I have chosen to try again this year.

I thought a little about it over the holidays and wondered what we could plan for this year. Physically, the garden was on the top of the list. We cleared our garden spot and tried last year, but after a two week vacation… weeds took over and our garden plot was reduced to a far gone experiment that utterly failed in my brain, and was not to be resurrected for the rest of the season. We got a few pumpkins, but as any homesteader will tell you, pumpkins can grow in the manure heap with little help. Plant pumpkins in the garden of life. Trust me.

Along with the garden thoughts, I feel my personal growth has settled a bit over the last year and a half of being here in our new community. We’ve settled at a new church, the youngest has begun to make some real friends at school, and we are feeling a bit more connected to our surroundings. We can tell you where some of the cool places are to eat and officially can maneuver a few of the “back roads”. We know our space and some of the needs required to flourish here (or at least survive). I’ve had a few employment opportunities and learned some stuff. Our house chores are still on going but we have “moved in”.

We were blessed with our new grand baby and have entered in to that new stage. (EEK!) Friends are starting to travel more and work less and we are beginning to peek at what retirement might look like — okay maybe not retirement, but slowing down and easing into a slower place, less focused on work and more on building legacy and mentorship of the next generation. A few more aches and pains come along with that role. And learning to listen to your limitations has been… challenging.

And so, as I reflect and muse about how we have moved forward in the past year, I look toward 2025 with flourishing in mind. Therefore, my word for 2025 is “GROWTH”. Perhaps a bit common as far as #wordsoftheyears go, but it’s how I feel God will work in us this year. We have settled. We’ve been planted… and now it’s time to grow where we’ve been planted. I’ve been Brave and tried to Refresh and Renew. We failed at making Magic, so it’s time to sit still, be slow, reach for the sun and GROW.

You all know what a promoter of forever learning I am…and so Growth seems to be a logical place to start. Seeds have been sown here. It’s time to see some green pop up around those little seeds. I’m not sure we are at the fruit stage yet, but growth is a reasonable goal, don’t you think? Our new grandson will make 100 firsts this year. He will grow. My chick birds have matured into adults and my passion for the pets hasn’t stopped growing… I still want to learn and discover (think baby goats and that new garden!) I want to plan a gallery wall for the house and landscape the pond. The family is maturing and we are moving to empty nest status most of the summers. The hubby and I are moving back to “just us” and learning to juggle that all over again. (I must say the reduced grocery bill is a nice perk, though, with no teenagers to feed all summer!)

Spiritually, growing in Christ is an ongoing goal. At least it should be. I continue to reflect on God’s handy work in nature… I seem to be seeing more sunrises than sunsets these days, so my perspective is changing from party city to country rooster calls (I can’t believe it! I refuse to be a “morning person” I refuse to be a morning person, I refuse to be a morning person….) Perhaps God will grant me new mercies every morning, and I will heed them as growth. Seeds that were planted will grow. I look forward to how God will work in 2025 under the umbrella of my word of the year.

Are you ready to join me on the next adventure? Are you planning on following along in the ups and downs and crazy thoughts in my brain that get posted here on a (relatively) weekly basis? Let’s grow together, friends…Let’s grow together…