2024 in Review + 2025 Goals
Another year in the books. Here are the highlights and lowlights of 2024 . . .
1. Thanks to a couple of books I read, I was very convicted about my kids' screen time. You wouldn't know it based on the past two weeks of Christmas Break, but for most of 2024 we made serious strides to cut back on their incessant media usage. We'll be going back to the regular rules once school starts next week: no screen time on week days, lots on the weekend. But I might even rein in the weekend screen time as well in 2025. They're going to hate me so much. Lol.
2. In lieu of screen time, Lucy read or slept almost constantly. Lena and Levi spent lots of time playing outside with the neighbor kids while the weather was nice. They got really into football (both watching and playing), and went through phases of playing with Perler beads and drawing with Art for Kids Hub on YouTube (yes, technically screen time, but for a purpose). Lena got really into Adventures in Odyssey, and Levi binged on audiobooks and podcasts. His favorite podcasts are Snoop and Sniffy, Average Boy, and Brains On. I'll share the list of books he read/listened to at the end.
3. In January, we took an epic vacation to Florida with almost all of my family. We even squeezed in a couple days with Justin's parents. It was one of the best vacations I've ever taken and I'm so grateful that we made it happen.
4. Levi played his first season of basketball with Upward.
5. I gained two more nephews. Well one nephew (Whit in November) and one great-nephew (Brodie in March).
6. The kids became obsessed with Dude Perfect. So much so that one of their big Christmas presents this year was tickets to the DP Tour coming to Grand Rapids at the end of July!
7. Lena discovered a love for running through Girls on the Run. She killed it in the 5K at the end of the program, and loved having Justin as her running buddy.
8. Lucy went to her first formal "dance."
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9. Lena had some major issues with anxiety in the last week of the school year. So much so that I finally gave in and put her on meds. She started with 10 mg of Prozac which helped her through that last week of school and all summer. But the anxiety came roaring back at the start of the new school year, so we doubled her dose. She's been on 20 mg since then, and is almost a new kid. It's insane to see the difference in her confidence. I'm still hopeful that she won't have to be on it all her life, but am so grateful for the way it has improved her life these past few months.
10. We tried something new for our annual summer bucket list, by coming up with a different activity for each letter of the alphabet. It ended up being quite expensive. Lol. But we accomplished it!
11. We covered B, C, D, and M with our annual Cousin Fun Days at Boulder Ridge Animal Park, the Children's Museum, Deer Tracks Junction, and Millennium Park.
12. I went to the Gospel Coalition for Women Conference in Indianapolis with a group of friends. We did not encounter any pantsless drunk men this year, so it was declared a success.
13. Lena went back to gymnastics, and leveled up after the very first class. Haha.
14. Lucy inherited my bad genes and got glasses.
15. We survived our 4th year of Soccer Camp!
16. Stella used up the second of her nine lives by getting lost for almost two days, and ultimately making it back into the house by coming down our chimney.
17. I started my new job at the school as a Development Assistant. I've had a blast running social media for the school, and I'm learning so much about fundraising.
18. Lena got the stomach flu while we were camping and threw up every hour all night.
19. Levi caught his biggest fish ever.
20. I started a church library from scratch with a couple friends from church. It has been a serious undertaking, but so far has been a success.
21. Lena and Levi got to go to an MSU football game with Justin thanks to the generosity of Justin's assistant coach.
22. Justin survived his 4th year of coaching soccer. His team did very well again this year, but he graduated 11 seniors, so it's going to be practically a new team next year!
23. I read through the entire Bible in a year, thanks to The Bible Recap and the accountability of a group of friends. I wasn't very excited about starting it in the new year, but came to really enjoy it. For those who don't know, the Bible Recap is a chronological Bible reading plan. After each day's reading, you listen to/watch a 7 minute "recap" hosted by Tara Leigh Cobble. I was nervous that I wouldn't like her, but I think we have very similar theological views, and I actually really liked her recaps. They were super helpful - even for someone like me who has been raised with the Bible and read it multiple times.
24. I counted the Bible as one of the books in my reading challenge, but still failed spectacularly at meeting my reading goal in 2024. For some crazy reason, I set my goal at 100 books . . . and only read 42. 🤦 (I didn't include the Bible in the graphic below because I felt weird rating it. Lol.)
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| See the whole list here. |
I only had two 5-star reviews out of all 42 books: The Anxious Generation and Bomb. Nothing was less than 3 stars though. It was just a mediocre year of reading.
And Now Onto Goals for Next Year . . .
1. I learned from my misplaced zeal of last year and have decided to set a more reasonable reading goal of 50 books for 2025. However, 35 of those have to be nonfiction to fulfill my "40 Nonfiction Books Before My 40th Birthday" mandate. I've already read 5 nonfiction since turning 39. Only 35 to go!
2. In that vein, and to keep me accountable, I think I'm going to devote one of my Saturday 7 points to "what I'm learning" each week - whether that's from a book I'm reading or from the Bible. I've been very convicted this year about my prayer life, so I think I'm going to focus on that in 2025. I bought myself this book because I especially want to be intentional about praying for my kids.
Someone once told me that they pray for me every day, and I thought, "I don't even pray for my own kids every day." 😬 I'd like to remedy that.
3. Another goal for 2025 is to get our finances under control. We're by no means destitute or floundering in debt, but we're reckless with our spending. We do have some credit card debt, but it's on a 0% interest card for the next 16 months. I'd really like to wipe most of that out this year. I'd also like to actually stick to a budget for once. I'm great at making budgets, but terrible at keeping them. I'm currently doing a free trial of YNAB. It's a little confusing, but I think I'm figuring it out. It's a paid service, and I kind of think if I'm paying for it, it'll force me to abide by it. Haha. I'm Dutch like that. Of course, 2025 is going to be a big year for us . . . Justin and I are both turning 40 and celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary! So I'd really like to do a big vacation of some sort. Better add that to the budget . . .
4. Finally, my word of the year is: desire. I know that's kind of weird, but there's a method to my madness . . . I had the very obvious realization recently that desire is the only lasting impetus to change. I desire to lose 30 pounds, but I desire Dr Pepper more. I desire to avoid Levi whining, "what can I doooooo" at me 16,000 times a day, but (on most days) I desire to prevent him turning into a lifelong couch potato even more. So I do the hard thing and make him turn off the TV. These thoughts were already ruminating when I came across a verse that I've obviously seen before, because it was already underlined in my Bible. But it's become even more meaningful to me as a parent.
Philippians 2:13 "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him."
This is my prayer for my kids in a nutshell: that God will work in them, that he will give them a desire to please him and the power to do it. As long as they're living under our roof, Justin and I will do everything in our power to fill them with the Word of God and to show them the gospel. But the only way they'll make it their own and continue to live out their faith outside of our home is if they truly desire a relationship with God. That verse is kind of mind-boggling because it toys with the idea of sovereignty vs. free will. Is it truly their desire if God gives it to them? But I don't even care. I'm at least a two-part Calvinist, and I believe that God draws us to him. This has become a long explanation . . . All that's to say, in 2025 I'm going to pray that my kids (and I!) desire God in a way that leads them to seek him and have a relationship with him all of their lives.
If you made it to the end of this, you get a gold star! ⭐ And a list of the books Levi read/listened to this year. (Full disclosure: I do not diligently listen to every single book. I make no claim that these books are completely wholesome. I'll "bold" the ones that are written by Christian authors.) "Bedtime RA" denotes the books that Justin read to Levi at bedtime throughout the year. I know there are more, but Justin couldn't remember all the titles.
Levi's Listens 2024
Dogtown by Katherine Applegate (1/7)
Horace and Bunwinkle (finished 1/12)
Horace and Bunwinkle: the Case of the Rascally Racoon (finished 1/14)
Horace and Bunwinkle: the Case of the Fishy Faire (finished 1/15)
Boxcar Children: the Great Bicycle Race Mystery (finished 2/2)
Buster by Caleb Zane Huett (finished 2/12)
The Beloved Dearly by Doug Cooney (finished 2/18)
Socks by Beverly Cleary (finished 2/19)
The Hunt for Fang by Amanda Cleary Eastep (finished 2/24)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (4/1)
Lions to the Rescue by Amanda Cleary Eastep (4/11)
Mystery in Crooked Creek Woods by Amanda Cleary Eastep (4/12)
Secondhand Dogs by Carolyn Crimi (4/18)
Bad Dad by David Walliams (June)
Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventure #12: Escape to California (July)
Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventure #10: Showdown at the Alamo (July)
Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventure #1: The Mt. Rushmore Calamity (July)
Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventure #8: The Australian Boomerang Bonanza (7/29)
Flat Stanley: US Capital Commotion (7/29)
Flat Stanley: The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery (7/29)
Flat Stanley: The Flying Chinese Wonders (7/29)
Flat Stanley: On a Mission for Her Majesty (7/29)
Flat Stanley: The Japanese Ninja Surprise (8/5)
Flat Stanley: The Midnight Ride of Flat Revere (September)
Third Grade Angels by Jerry Spinelli (9/9)
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary (9/10)
Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary (Sep.)
Henry and Beezus by Beverly Cleary (Sep.)
Henry and Ribsy by Beverly Cleary (Sep.)
Henry and the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary (Sep.)
Henry and the Clubhouse by Beverly Cleary (Sep.)
Ribsy by Beverly Cleary (Sep.)
Homesick Herbie by Shelley Swanson Sateren (bedtime RA)
Fearless Freddie by Shelley Swanson Sateren (bedtime RA)
Growling Gracie by Shelley Swanson Sateren (bedtime RA)
Mudball Molly by Shelly Swanson Sateren (bedtime RA)
Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey by Tyler Van Halteren (bedtime RA)
Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey Part II by Tyler Van Halteren (bedtime RA)
The Adventures of a South Pole Pig by Chris Kurtz (bedtime RA)
Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid by Megan McDonald (bedtime RA)
Stink: Solar System Superhero by Megan McDonald (bedtime RA)
Stink and the Ultimate Thumb Wrestling Smackdown by M. McDonald (bedtime RA)
Stink: Hamlet and Cheese by Megan McDonald (bedtime RA)
Stink and the Great Guinea Pig Express (bedtime RA)
Tom Sawyer (read himself) - October
Found Boys by S.D. Smith (finished 10/22)
Rascal by Sterling North (November)
Mooses with Bazookas by S.D. Smith (Dec.)
Masters of Disaster (Gary Paulsen) (Dec.)
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