With God, all things are possible! That is my theme this year! By His strength, I desire to make purposeful small steps in the direction of growing in my ability to cook healthy and nourishing meals, to be a better steward of the earth, and most importantly to grow in godliness and Christ-likeness. If it is not first centered on glorifying Christ, than all else is vain! Thank you to Kimi’s motivation in heading up the Nourishing New Year’s Resolutions Carnival, I sat down to purposefully plan out some new healthy goals for the new year. I am including all my new year goals here as a means of accountability and to share ideas and resources with others. If any of you lovely ladies have any resources to share to help me accomplish these goals, please do! My goal is to accomplish one goal per category per month, with a bit of a break for the baby’s arrival. 
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31
Nutritional Goals
- Learn how to make sourdough – for sourdough bread, English muffins -want to find a way to make sourdough that doesn’t taste real sour for all it’s wonderful health benefits.
- Start taking cod liver oil as a daily supplement -trying to find a good tasty variety
- Learn how to make green smoothies – boosting our green veggie intake! This idea intrigues me!
- Start soaking nuts – we are not big fans of nuts, but I would like to begin soaking almonds to grind up to throw in our smoothies, breakfast cereals and other products and peanuts to make my own peanut butter. The problem – my oven only goes down to 170 degrees…is it possible?
- Learn how to make three nourishing snacks that we enjoy - ideas include: hummus, crackers & luna or granola bars
- Find one new soaked cereal breakfast recipe that we all like
- Continue container garden (tomatoes & green peppers) – using my compost this year should bring some improvements!
Green/Natural Household Goals
- Begin composting – I just recently purchased a worm composting bin from Azure Standard that will fit under my kitchen sink. Composting has many benefits in my opinion: decreasing garbage (thus cutting down on our waste, cost of disposal and better for the environment), and recycling food to make further nourishing food in our container garden.
- Buy a chlorine shower filter
- Focus more on buying local or used, asking the question with every purchase – can I find this used or locally produced?
- Switch to a non-disposable razer for myself - I can’t seem to find one I like for my sensitive skin!
- Switch to stone or glass bakeware entirely -have a few random non-stick pieces (that have reached the end of their life) that I would love to replace in good time
- Replace the remaining plastic kitchen storage with pyrex glass storage as they reach the end of their life
- Switch from paraben to beeswax candles
Family / Ministry Goals
- Consistent twice a month dates with my hubby – 2nd & 4th Thursday of the month
- Potty train Karis
- Begin tracking daily expenses and purchases to help stay on budget
- Begin using the Bible on CD for Karis to listen to at bedtime - never too early to plant those seeds!
- Invite a neighbor over once a month
- Continue to reach out to International Students through ISI
- Become more intentional in evangelism - seeking to purposefully start including unbelieving friends in our lives and in a small group Bible study we are starting with families in our area
- Visit my grandma once a month
Personal Goals
- Become a better writer this year
- Learn 1-2 new vocab words weekly
-Use thesaurus for writing - Memorize Colossians – 2 verses a week
- Read through the Bible again
- Read 20 books (see my new 2009 list here)
- Listen to one Christian podcast daily while completing various household tasks – really enjoying Revive our Hearts podcast lately with Nancy Leigh Demoss. It is just 25 minutes and easily accomplishable at some point during the day. Another favorite is Mars Hill Church sermon podcast by Marc Driscoll.
I look forward to sharing my progress throughout the year!
You are …. Wow.
Hey, saw this today and thought you might enjoy watching it. How to make the best green smoothie. http://www.rawfamily.com/videos/greensmoothies2.html
Hello! I recently found your blog through The Nourishing Gourmet. You have some great goals here, and I look forward to reading through more of your posts.
I wanted to say that my oven only goes down to 170 degrees, but I have been able to dehydrate my nuts just fine…even up to 24 hours or so. They taste delicious!
Dear Lindsay,
You have wonderful goals for 2009- and a wonderful theme! I loved reading Karis’ birth story. Both of my girls were lovingly born at home. We potty trained big sis 2 months before the baby came ~22 months. I can’t say what works really- just get some training undies and lots of rags to wipe up spots for about a week:) I love The Pampered Chef’s stoneware. I also like “Piral” stoneware- it’s made in Italy- all of their pots can go from stovetop to oven-and they have lids. It is one of my favorite pots in the house.Soapstone is also a lovely option… I’m a thesaurus geek myself- that’s an inpiring goal. Being around 3 children all day doesn’t mean I can’t use BIG words:)I hope to find more time to read.. Bible first- then other books. My dad has recomended Beowulf…
Wow. You’re goals are awesome. You are so disciplined. I have no doubt you’ll accomplish many, if not all, of these goals. You are an inspiration to me. I’m afraid my goals for the year would look quite silly compared to yours.
I do know how to make green smoothies though! Mine are nothing fancy, and I actually haven’t made one in quite a while. I’ll have to get back on top of that. I was doing really well with it at one point.
I like your goal of inviting a neighbor over once a month. This is one particular area that God has really been tugging at my heart, and he’s been using you to do it!
I HATE that we don’t know our neighbors much at all, but I’m so intimidated by the idea of having them over for dinner or something. Why? I’ve been praying for the courage to make the leap!
I’ve got a great Hummus recipe. I’ve also got a killer 100% whole grain pita recipe to go with it =), and a no-knead sourdough bread recipe (which includes recipe for a wild sourdough starter). Email (if you’d like any of them) is [email protected]. As to the cod liver oil, I take mine in capsules. . . .
I was just introduced to your blog by a friend of mine. Love your goals for the year. I’ll be interested in how you vermicompost project works out. I love that concept.
We drink the green smoothies daily, but rather a beginner version, as we add a fair amount of fruit. Mybe you’d like to try our recipe. http://shipfullofpirates.com/2008/10/03/frugal-meets-convenient/
I’d like to echo an earlier comment–the Schick Intuition razor is great. They have sensitive skin and milk & honey refill blades that aren’t irritating at all. Also, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried waxing (it’s not as scary as it seems) but Nads is made from all natural ingredients and allows you to go longer between hair removal, so it can be a time saver.
I recently learned that almonds, even organic, sold in the U.S. are now pasteurized. http://www.almondboard.com/Programs/content.cfm?ItemNumber=890
Here’s some info on the effectiveness of chlorine shower filters:
http://www.pwgazette.com/shower.htm
Here’s an interesting idea for starting your garden early:
http://wintersown.org/wseo1/How_to_Winter_Sow.html
I agree, you can’t start too early with scripture. I have found scripture memory songs very helpful with my eldest (now 6 yrs.). Children are wired for memorization, and love music. Steve Green recorded several, “Hide ‘Em In Your Heart” CDs. When my daughter was two and three, she really enjoyed the first CD (acted/sung by animal characters) of a 3-CD set for ages 2-7, “Wonder Kids Sing 100 Bible Verses Every Kid Can Sing ‘n Learn.” We also have their “100 Bible Songs & One Hundred Bible Stories” 3-CD set for ages 2-4. The stories are short and set up the songs. Except for the animal characters, the remaining songs are sung by children. Twin Sisters makes several nice CDs of hymns. For a more contemporary, adult style, we have several of the “Seeds Family Worship” scripture song CDs. When I was a child, we had a record collection of dramatized bible stories. I believe they were the “Your Story Hour” series of 30 min. stories. I have since purchased several of these and they are pretty good, although with any dramatization, some creative license is taken. Some stories have to be skipped, depending upon the age of the listener. We started some at age five. Most of these we obtained through CBD.com where you can listen to audio samples. We also have the Rhyme Bible Storybook which is good for age two plus.
Hope these are helpful. I regularly visit your blog and recommend it to others as I find it so useful!
Chick – Pea Hummus
• 1 can chick peas, (19 0z/540 ml) RINSED and DRAINED
• 1\3 cup Olive oil
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 red pepper*
• 2 cloves garlic*
*Roast garlic and pepper together in oven at 350-400 approx 20-25 min until soft.
In food processor, combine chick peas, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and red pepper. Mix until very smooth. We use food processor or hand blender. Makes about 2 cups. Freezes well.
Enjoy.
Lindsay….wow I am inspired….my goals are consisting of :take a walk daily. But I know I am setting the bar to low….I am sure I can accomplish more. We just aquired some redworms from friends who did not want them. We are super excited especially because it will help with our chicken food bill.
Here is a green smoothie to try
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Groovy-Green-Smoothie/Detail.aspx
..it is my recipe. The kiddos love it and even my hubby will drink it.
Happy new year and thank you for your Godly example.
You may also want to get some extra clothes for Karis. I know this will break your rule of living simply. There will be accidents during this phase. I do laundry everyday, you have to when you have a family of 6.
Hi Lindsey,
I loved reading your goals.I started my Sourdough Starter using a starter I bought from King Arthur Flour on line. It isn’t real sour tasting and so easy to make.
As far as Potty Training my babies are 31 and 32 but they were so easy to potty train. Both of them hated being wet so they were potty trained at about 12-13 month.They really did it themselves.
Many Blessings this year.
Hugs,
Elizabeth
Hi Lindsey, have you ever tried a quinoa breakfast porridge? I love adding cinnamon, toasted nuts, and some of my frozen berries. Even my 1 1/2 year old loves this.
Wow, what a list. Good for you. Have you tried Carlson’s Cod Liver Oil it comes in a lemon flavor. You can’t taste fishy at all, trust me I have a huge aversion to fish smell/taste. It tastes like lemon oil.
Lindsay,
I came upon your blog by way of a friend of mine just a few days ago and I am so thankful I did – I have been so encouraged and positively challenged by your writing on all issues, but particularly biblical womanhood and natural living. My heart has been blessed many times and I truly am so excited to have found this blog – you write about nearly ALL of the subjects I am passionate about!
As I read your current as well as some of your past entries, I am so grateful to the Lord that He has enabled you to communicate in this way to bless so many.
I will be praying for you and your family as you prepare for a new member and pursue your 2009 goals!
Your sister in Christ,
Jessica
Dang girl!
I’ve learned since having twins (and you may find this to be true when #2 comes along) that I need to make short term goals for myself, and toss the long term goals out the window.
Right now my goals for the next 6 months are:
Get my kids off the bottle and onto the sippy cup
Teach my kids to successfully use utensils
Convince my kids that eating off of plates is a good thing
And POSSIBLY start potty training. That will probably wait till the end of the 6th month, we’ll see.
My only personal goal is to write in my blog every day. It keeps me sane.
Anyways, good luck with all your goals! You’re very ambitious!
Willow, thanks so much for posting that link. I’ve bookmarked it and I will definitely be trying that recipe.
we have a great black bean hummus recipe…if your interested, I’d be happy to share. I’ll also put in a plug for podcasts from Riverview Church (rivchurch.com).
Here is a link for the BEST granola bars that I have been making – they are great and very similar to the chewiness that storebought bars seems to have. Great snacks for packing in lunches and for me and the kids!
http://www.naturallyknockedup.com/2008/09/granola-bars.html
And for pottytraining my personal experience and from what I’ve seen from others is that when they are ready it should only take a week or so but if you start too early…well, be prepared to be “training” for a very long time.
We never did pull ups either though. Just diapers to panties. 
What compost bin did you get from azure and how much did it cost? Just curious. Great goals.
I purchased the Redworm Composting System that they just started selling. I noticed it in the last sales catalog, and it sounded simple and easy, including everything you needed to get started. It is $40 for the kit.
This is a great list of goals!!!
I also have sensitive skin, I use the shick intuition razor. Not sure if it would work for you, but it is great in my opinion.
Also, I love (!!!) to listen to Christian podcasts as well. My favorite is HomeWord with Jim Burns.
Good luck on accomplishing your goals!
-Ashley
Oh, here’s another link I found today.
I promise I won’t bug you with everything I find that relates to your list, but I thought you might be interested. She also has a recipe for a pregnancy tea that she makes all of her mamas drink. http://thebabycatcher.blogspot.com/2008/03/ode-to-green-drink.html
I potty-trained all my children before 18 months, it IS doable! I refused to buy those “pull ups”. They have “training” underwear, real underwear just extra padding.
The best way I potty trained my children was to unclothe them, and let them loose for 2 days. Usually at the end of day 1 they were using a child-size potty. Push fluids in them, and every 20 mins or so take them to the potty.
Wow, Lindsay – what a great list you have! Have you read Shopping for Time by Carolyn Mahaney? That was a blessing to me as I set my goals last year.
I look forward to learning from you about sourdough as that’s one of my desires for this coming year, too. I saw Laura’s doing a series on making the starter! I’m also interested to hear from you about soaking nuts. We do enjoy a lot of nuts, and I know I should be soaking but it seems like so much work, especially since my oven also only goes to 170 and I don’t want to get a dehydrator. It’s frustrating to keep things simple!
Pottytraining… I’ve pottytrained 3 kids and my only advice (which I’m sure you’ve heard a lot) is to wait til they’re ready. All of mine were trained to various degrees right around 36 months (with the boys still needing diapers at night, one well past 4 years old.) We started too early with one son and all we accomplished was training ourselves to take him regularly, which wasn’t really the idea. When my daughter was almost 2, I wanted her pottytrained before her baby brother arrived, but she wasn’t quite ready, so I just waited almost a year, and it was a quick, simple process. Also, when you’re ready, maybe one of your sisters could come stay with you for a week or so to help either w/ the baby or with running Karis to the potty and cleaning up messes. One of my sisters did that for me and it was a huge help!
Sorry for the long post. Blessings on you as you seek to redeem the time in the year ahead.
Thank you for sharing your goals for 2009. It is inspiring to read about others who share similar ideals and goals as my family. May God bless you as you grow in His grace and knowledge.
For the Cod Liver Oil our family uses Garden of Life Olde World Icelandic Cod Liver Oil. It has a lemony flavor. You can give it to infants as young as 4mos. See Sally Fallons book Nourishing traditions or the Weston A. Price website. I have a good granola bar recipe. I will find it and post tonight. Great goals! You are wise for your age!
Wow I love the idea of putting the compost scraps under the sink. I have a huge compost pile out in the backyard, and I usually throw my scraps into a bowl sitting on the counter (covered with a cloth).
Honestly though I don’t like having a garbage bowl around (as much as Rachael Ray swears by it).
You’ve inspired me to get a little bucket for my kitchen scraps, just big enough for under the sink. I can take it out once or twice a week.
PS – I listen to Mark Driscoll a lot, multiple times a week; in fact, I’m listening to the Q&A from one sermon right now as I’m writing! It’s been such a blessing as a stay-at-home mom with just a 4 month old right now… fills in those gaps toward the end of the week when I’m running out of things to do at home. I highly recommend him to other people reading here!
I really enjoy reading your blog. One idea about nuts…when I make french toast I often top it with a little butter, real maple syrup and sprinkle with ground nuts. It’s a great, well rounded breakfast. Also, I have been reading on Cod liver oil. I have given it to my girls since they turned one but have now stopped until I can do some more research. Thought you may be interested in this http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/12/23/important-cod-liver-oil-update.aspx
Take care and many blessings on your new year, Niina
Good goals! I have some similar ones, including some of the same books on my reading list for this year. My husband just read Prodigal God and I’m starting it because he said it’s easily one of the top 5 books he’s ever read and has totally turned his view of the Gospel and that parable upside-down. May God bless you and I both through it as well as anyone else reading it!
Lindsay,
Laura from heavenly homemakers is currently posting here on her blog about making sourdough starter and then is going to run a blog on how to actually make the bread.
http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog/
Just thought I’d help with #1! Love reading your blog about your once a month shopping and cooking.
Rosie
Great goals and resolutions! I think we’ve been working on similar things in our homes!
I was taking cod liver oil prior to pregnancy, but couldn’t stomach it once I got pregnant. I’m bck to standard fish oil caplets instead, but I HAD found some lemon-flavored cod liver capsules I liked previously. The only problem was that you had to take six to equal one Tablespoon. A bit too much for me!
I have a green smoothie recipe using kale and mixed berries on my blog (I don’t have a juicer, so it may be a bit different than a lot you find online), along with several sourdough recipes (focaccia, whole wheat cinnamon swirl bread, a whole wheat sandwich bread, a few white flour sourdoughs . . . plus crackers) if you want some inspiration! Hope this helps you with your goals!
Happy New Years!
Best,
Sarah
Those are excellent goals. One of my goals was to learn to make sourdough bread as well. I have been following a seven day sourdough starter tutorial on the Heavenly Homemakers blog. It has turned out well so far. You might want to take a peek for yourself.
I would also like to tell you what an inspiration your blog has been to myself and my family. I grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness and left that religion when I became an adult. My family and I have always believed in Jesus but were never in regular church attendance and did not make him a part of our life each day. Thanks to you, your wonderful family, and this blog we have made dedicating our lives to Jesus our primary goal for the year as well as our life. So thank you very much!
Those look like great goals!
Have you heard of the blog http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog/? Over on this site Laura, has just been going through the steps to make a healthy sourdough starter. It uses all natural ingredients and is so simple to do. It just takes a few small steps each day for 10 days. I’d highly recommend her blog for lots of other all natural healthy recipes. She uses only natural ingredients and I’ve found it to be a very helpful resource as we strive to feed our family naturally. Hope that helps.
Blessings!
Wow, neat goals. I’m impressed that you have them that organized in your mind. I’m thankful I can follow along with you on your blog as you persue these things!
I’m sure you know that Heavenly Homemaker is showing step-by-step how to make sourdough starter and bread?
Wow! Awesome goals! And all while assisting God in a miracle!
I wish you the best and might just copy some of yours-hopefully will see some of your green smoothie recipes here so I can try them out.
Hi Lindsey,
I don’t think you realize I check your blog often as it is on my blog roll. Enjoy many of your posts even though as a single gal I have limited opportunities to try some of them myself. I was with a friend the other day as she put Henna in her hair. I thought of you as it seemed a very neat natural longer term conditioner. Of course the true henna is a dye but there seem to be a neat clear henna really cassia that you can use… Anyway keep writing!