45 By 30...The Beginnings

In a week I turn 25. And I know that seems young, but with each passing year I realize that I have the tendency to become complacent. I want to do big things with my life; I want to be used in big ways. And so I made a list. It's a bucket list of sorts to hold me accountable to dreams and hopes. In five years, I hope to do more with my life. So here's to it!

"The moment you leave who you were is the moment you begin the epic search to find out who you really are."

Mark Twain once said, "twenty years from now I will be more disappointed by the things I didn’t do, than the things I did do."

1.     Be at my ideal weight

2.     Plant a tree - Check! Brady and I planted a dogwood tree for my grandmother Spring Break 2017

3.     Train for and run a marathon

4.     Finish grad school - Check! Graduated Dec. 2015!

5.     Journal every week

6.     Speak to groups (girls retreats, schools, etc.)

7.     Write blog/book

8.     Make the photography hobby a paid gig

9.     Speak at OBU

10.  Write 5 Bible studies for teen girls - (Joseph, John, ___, ___, ___)

11.  Buy a car - Check! Bought a Jeep Cherokee April 2015.

12.  Take a trip to Chicago while Kelly (and Nate) is still there

13.  Get married

14.  Take a trip to Africa

15.  Take a trip with Dad to Ghana & Nigeria

16.  Become a fan – soccer/football

17.  Share the Gospel in meaningful conversations with 30 people

18.  Visit the Beans in Miami

19.  Meet my neighbors

20.  Become a morning person

21.  Study teenage culture/development

22.  Study leadership skills

23.  Relearn Spanish - check! thanks duolingo!

24.  Make someone else’s day

25.  Read the news regularly

26.  Become a partner with a ministry overseas and in Dallas

27.  Learn to make pizza from an Italian

28.  Put a photo in a contest

29.  Ride an animal larger than a horse

30.  Shower in a waterfall

31.  Have dinners with a family of a different culture

32.  Make a family cookbook

33.  Write a letter to someone important - check. DC Trip 2016.

34.  Participate in National Novel Writers Month (Nov.)

35.  Write a letter to the five people who most impacted your life

36.  Begin to learn another language (Italian, Farsi, Greek, Arabic?)

37.  Have the parents over for dinner

38.  Become proficient at yoga

39.  Read 100 new books – keep list (BBC top 100, Bonhoeffer’s biography, all of C.S. Lewis’ books)

40.  Read the entire Bible a few times

41.  Start a children’s book

42.  Send a postcard on every trip I go on.

43.  Publish an e-book

44.  Learn to fast

45.  Save $3,000/year. & give money away.