My Goals // 2016 Review

Hey y’all!  Welcome to day 2 of Sour Cream and Chip’s first New Year Blog Week!  In this post, I’d like to take some time to review my 2016 goals and talk about the things I did and did not complete on my 2016 list, as well as share some of my extra accomplishments from 2016!

OK, so I made over 40 goals for my 2016 Resolutions.  I didn’t complete all of them, sadly (one year I will and I will celebrate big! :) but I did complete some of them!

Read Through the Psalms – I did this and loved it! It’s such a beautiful book! <3 And it’s so relevant to us today!

Go On a Mission Trip – I did this in the summer!  What a time we had!

Start a Blog Series – I started “My thoughts” and “My goals” :)

Interview someone for a Blog Post – Visit my interview page for the links to my 2-part interview with Isabella Morganthal!

Improve on Flute – I believe I did!  I stopped lessons this year, and for my last recital I played a long, difficult piece (at least for me) which was a big accomplishment!

Crochet a Baby Hat

Complete another Crochet Project

Write 3 Hymn Arrangements – I did this!  My favorite was “Sing We Now of Christmas,” which took me all last fall/winter to write and perfect.

Be Able to Sing Alto (fairly well) – This is a hard one to say I completed, because I’m still learning and will always be!  But I now sing alto in my church choir, and I can sight-read the alto line to more hymns than I could last year!

Exercise – I played volleyball this fall for the first time, and I got plenty of exercise out of that!

Do a Composer Study – I began reading a book about composers.

Learn a Difficult Classical Piece (piano) – I learned a Bach Invention, which was a challenge!

Start a club/group/study/magazine – I began a Bible study with a friend this summer.

Pin 100 Card Ideas on Pinterest

Make 25+ New Cards

Complete 3 Pinterest Projects – I made 3 accessories.

Make a Baby/Bridal Shower Gift

Make 2 New Recipes – Two of the notable recipes I made were peanut butter cups and brownie batter dip :)

Believe it or not, this is the first year I’ve actually accomplished a New Year goal!  I think that this was because of several different key things, but the main one being reality.  I think that a lot of people go crazy with their resolutions.  They make goals that seriously aren’t realistic!  This year, I made goals that were really realistic and down-to-earth.

But as always, I have to remember that God’s thoughts and ways aren’t mine!  He planned things for this past year that I wouldn’t have.  He helped me achieve things I didn’t even think to include on my goal list at the beginning of 2016!  Here are some of those extra accomplishments:

Started singing in our church choir.

Arranged a medley for 2 instruments – this was such a fun challenge, especially considering it was my first time ever writing a medley, and I only had 2 weeks to do it!

Began accompanying church congregational singing – this was a surprise for me!  It was a scary, nerve-wracking experience (and it still is to an extent!) but I’m sure I’ll be very thankful for it later.

Won/advanced in a piano “competition” – it’s really hard to label it as a “competition,” since it was mostly just for evaluation, but there were advancements as well.  I was one of 6 to get to the state conference (which was the farthest advancement).  May GOD get the glory!

Got 1^st place on my quiz team (2015-16 season)

Began playing 2 new instruments.

Began playing volleyball.

Played the piano in a wedding for the first time.

Memorized 1st Peter. 

Those were the main things I accomplished throughout the year, by God’s grace and with His help!

Before closing, though, I would like to clarify something.  I did NOT just share all of those accomplishments with you out of pride.  I did NOT tell you all that to make you jealous, or to admire me.  I do NOT want any glory, because it wasn’t me!  I want you to go away marveling at what an amazing God we have, that is so gracious as to give us surprises, accomplishments, and spice up our life with things we never would have dreamed would happen!  And besides, I could never do any of that on my own.  It was all God!  Look at what HE has done this past year, not me!!

Did you complete any of your resolutions this past year?

What are some extra accomplishments God has given you in 2016?

I’m excited to hear your answers to these questions in the comments below!  What did God do in YOUR life this past year?