2016 Goals

Last night was fun.  We let the kids stay up and see the Atlanta Peach Drop.  This was a first for them.  Rather than sending them to bed only for them to get woken up at midnight when the fireworks went off, we let them experience it first hand.  Needless to say, they were still up at 8 AM the next morning.

So here are my goals for this New Year...

1.  Travel.  I know that some business travel will be inevitable, however, I will set a goal to limit it as much as possible.  But I still have the dream to see more of the world - starting with Tortola in February.  Kristie and I will get a belated anniversary getaway for a few days.  Snorkeling, swimming - I can't wait.

2.  Read thirty-five books and track them at Malachi-Books.

3.  Complete our domestic adoption.  We still need to complete our home-study.  Currently, it's completely out of our hands - waiting on our agency.

4.  Pay off our house.  Currently at 23.2% Loan-to-Value.  We are going to see that drop to Zero, and own our home outright by January, 2017!

5.  Begin steps to writing our adoption experience.  I have dreamed for a long time of writing a book. Also, I've been wanting to get our Latvian adoption experience out there.

2015 Goal Results

It's been a while since I have written here, so I wanted to write an entry as 2015 closes out.  A year ago, I listed my five goals for 2015.  Here are the results...


Goal #1.  Increase my family's personal net worth by 15%.  Accomplish this through mortgage reduction, retirement assets and personal savings.

Result:  16.0%!

Goal #2.  Reduce our only debt (mortgage) to 25%  loan-to-value ratio (currently at 37.6% at the end of 2014).

Result:    Reduced to 23.2%!

Goal #3.  Focus on GOD by spending time daily in the Bible.

Result:  Used my mornings most days for my daily quiet time.  Needless to say, some times it didn't work out that way.

Goal #4.  Prayerfully consider and take steps towards fostering or adopting a child.  I think it's time we get back on the horse...

Result:  We took a significant step towards a domestic adoption.  We applied to First Families, took Ga-required IMPACT training, got fingerprinted, all medicals done including TB tests and drug screens, pets vaccinated, two terrible rounds of paperwork, and finally got approved for our home-study to start...!

Goal #5.  Read twenty books and track them at malachi-books.blogspot.com.

Result:   I completed thirty-two books and tracked them on the blog.

Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015...!

Last night we said goodbye to 2014 and said hello to 2015.  The kids were all in bed by 9, and Kristie and I stayed up to watch Kirk Cameron's "Monumental".  I stayed up to watch the last few minutes of the Orange Bowl and the Fox New's coverage of the New Year's festivities.  Lots of loud fireworks within earshot frightened Pepper to where he hid under our covers for a while...

So as we dive full-speed into 2015, I thought I would take some time to list out my goals for 2015 (in no particular order)...

1.  Increase my family's personal net worth by 15%.  Accomplish this through mortgage reduction, retirement assets and personal savings.

2.  Reduce our only debt (mortgage) to 25%  loan-to-value ratio (currently at 37.6% at the end of 2014).

3.  Focus on GOD by spending time daily in the Bible.

4.  Prayerfully consider and take steps towards fostering or adopting a child.  I think it's time we get back on the horse...

5.  Read twenty books and track them at malachi-books.blogspot.com.

All Thanks Be To GOD...

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."   ~ 1 Cor. 15:57-58

Overwhelmed.

Incredible song and message by Big Daddy Weave...

New Books

I've been wanting to blog about books that I have read for a long time.  It seems that as time goes by, I have a harder time remembering the details of the books that I read, let alone the actual titles!  Hopefully with this blog, I can encourage others to read books.

Please follow me (and the kids) as we blog about our reading experiences...

malachi-books.blogspot.com/

My Family

I am thankful this evening for my family.  God has blessed me beyond measure.  

Tonight is the last night of my girls' mission trip to the wonderful country of Jamaica.  I've been with Seth at home now for seven days while the girls have been away.  We've had fun together for this past week.  

Tomorrow the girls come home, and I get to hear first-hand about all of their experiences while in Jamaica.