40 while 40

For my 40^th birthday last year, I came up with a list of 40 things I wanted to do before I turned 41. I was surprised by how hard it actually is to come up with a realistic list like that – not a dream list where money was no object, but a list that I could actually accomplish. Now that I’m 41 (yikes!), I wanted to recap how that went. So here goes:

1. Read Scripture daily, before coffee: DONE. I know I didn’t do this 365 times, but I definitely did it most of the time! It’s now a habit.

2. Have 2 monthly dates with Greg: DONE. We totally did this!

3. Lose 40 pounds: I lost 25, just by stopping eating when I was full. This year my physical health is a lot more of my focus, and I’ll probably write more about this later.

4. Relaunch massage as a ministry: DONE. Yep! Honey Leigh Massage is now Manna Massage. You can read about that here.

5.  Write in prayer journals for the kids: I still want to purchase actual physical journals to eventually to give to each kid, but I have been writing a lot of my prayers for them in my personal journals.

  6. Make sourdough from scratch: DONE. I successfully made rye-only sourdough that was awesome. This year I will make it the more traditional way.

  7. Get a Dutch oven (for the sourdough): DONE. It’s blue and cute and lives in my oven, which is a bummer when I forget that before I preheat it.

  8. Call someone I love every week: Totally didn’t do this. I have gotten really lazy about only communicating via text or email or in person (which is my favorite way, actually).

9. Read 4 books: DONE. I actually read 11 of them! Some were just to pass the time or, quite honestly, escape from it. Some were to change my life. 

Fave 4 (in no particular order): 

MyLovely Wife in the Psych Ward (Mark Lukach) – an intense true story of a woman’s collapse into mental illness, as told by her husband who suffered alongside her. 

Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl – N.D. Wilson is officially one of my favorite authors now. He paints beautiful pictures with his words about seeing God in everyday life.

Lord Change Me (James MacDonald) – this was a difficult but amazing book to help me take practical steps into my new life once I surrendered to Jesus. 



God Has a Name (John Mark Comer) – The author of 
this one is someone I know personally, and can attest to 
his legitimacy as a man of God. This book was an 
absolute game changer for my intimate relationship with 
the Lord, spending 288 pages digging into Exodus 34:6-8. 
Don’t read this book unless you want to fall deeply in love 
with God.

10. Memorize Romans 12: *sigh* I have read this chapter over and over and over and over, but can so far only quote the first two verses. I will continue to work on it.

11. Monthly date with Jasper, Teiley & Quinleigh: (I just combined these 3 items into one so I could add to this list.) I got frequent one-on-one time with all of my kids, but this next year, I want to be more intentional about putting these dates on the calendar for us to look forward to.  

12. Go back to counseling: DONE. This was a rough one, but I’m so incredibly grateful I did it. And I’m grateful to Canyon Hills Community Church for offering free Biblical counseling to their members, and so grateful to Stephanie, my counselor, who spoke hard truth with tough love and pointed me back in the right direction.

13. Start kickboxing: DONE. I love punching and kicking things. I just really do. I joined a gym (9 Round is awesome), but after a couple months had to quit (less money, mo’ problems) and now do it in my living room. But I want to do it more often.

14. Give 40 massages: Shoot. Fell a little short with 34 massages. Anyone wanna help me do better this year? 

15. Organize/back up all digital pics: PRETTY MUCH DONE. I got thousands and thousands of pics organized by year. Working backwards from present day, I still need to organize most of them by month and delete duplicates, but I have a system down now, so I’m gonna call this one good!

16. Paint the entry & downstairs hallway: HALF DONE. Painted the hallway and it looks great! Started the entry and ran out of paint and spending the money on another 5 gallon just hasn’t been a priority.

17. Pay off credit card: It’s still on the list.

  18. Buy new shoes: DONE. Bought one pair for myself that I love, and received several more as gifts! Yay!

  19. Recover bench in bedroom: Still on the hunt for the perfect fabric at the perfect price.

  20. Start Biblical Counselor training: ON HOLD. I looked into this but the timing of the dates didn’t work for me last year. And after being in counseling myself, I realized I am still a ways off from being ready to help others in this way.

  

21. Train to be a Life Group leader: This is in the works.

22. Buy new bedding: DONE. Found a gorgeous teal velvet coverlet and pillow shams that make my eyes happy. Always looking for good sheets that look great and feel great at a great deal.

23. Start a Blessings jar: DONE. Did this. Loved it. Started a new tradition of reading our blessings on New Year’s Eve. This one stays!

24. Study Spanish: Ongoing. The duolingo app is super fun and satisfying.

25. Paint the pink door blue: GAH. I have no good reason why this didn’t get done yet.

26. Create cushions for built-in: *facepalm* I can’t make up my mind about fabric to save my life.

27. Build a walking desk: DONE. And I hated it, so it’s gone now.

28. Hem massage curtains: DONE. A dear friend hemmed one for me and then we decided not to do anymore cuz a) it took forever and b) I don’t want to hem them in the case I need a different length in the future.

29. Go on a family missions trip: BUCKET LIST. Due to situations out of our control, this one didn’t happen. Yet.

30. Get life insurance: DONE! We’re such grown-ups.

31. Create a will: Well, not *that* grown up. This one 
seems extra tricky when there’s kids and an ex involved.

32. Do lunges daily: Again, no good reason why this 
didn’t happen. Most of the time I legit forgot. I’d like to 
change that this year.
 

33. Write something, anything daily: DONE. Maybe this is cheating, but I’m counting literally anything I wrote. This year, however, I want to make this a lot more intentional. More letters for the Letter Project (below), and joining Compel writers training, and making actual time to write, pretending I’m a professional.

34. Participate in The Letter Project: DONE. And still going. I love this organization.

35. Get new jeans! DONE. 3 pairs! 2 that I still wear often.

  36. Visit my Grams twice: We saw her at Thanksgiving. Tried in the summer but jury duty made that harder.

   37. Make 40 “3’s” (basketball): DONE. I actually lost count after 40! This was a super fun bonding event to do with Jasper every so often.

   38. Spend a weekend on the water: DONE. But I’m never done doing this. With Greg on our anniversary. With my Mama for a girls’ weekend. Thanksgiving at my Gramma’s house. The water (the ocean especially) is my happy place and being there makes me feel closer to God.

39. *just added* Watch all the Marvel movies, in order.

40. *just added* Give myself grace. I’m in the bad habit of being unkind to myself. Going to be intentional about breaking this habit and replacing it with the right one.

With #40 in mind, I'm going to post this even though I didn't complete every item, and even though this actual blog post is a hot mess, display-wise. Something else to work on this upcoming year!

Xoxo.