A New Year. A New Word!

Inspired by Miranda and Lara, I have decided that rather than making a long list of things I want to do or change in the next year that I will inevitably forget about by the time my birthday rolls around, I will have a word to guide me this year. Whilst pondering this concept, I thought over the last year and asked myself what my word would have been last year and it was pretty easy to come up with.

Increase!

2012 was a very busy one for the Stavros family! Here’s the breakdown:

January: We bought our home!

February: We became big kids when Josh became an official full-time employee of the Shakespeare Festival and got full benefits. We also adopted our wonderful dog Rosie

March: Found out I was pregnant

April: I was promoted to Supervisor at Sunrise

May: Chad returned from his mission and Haela graduated from High School

June/July: We began the never-ending project of home improvement

August: Cara and Steve welcomed Ella into their family

September: Kellie and Troy brought little Ephraim into the world

October: We started a family tradition of participating in the Butch Cassidy fun run, Josh ran another successful Shakespeare Competition, in which my girls participated again, and we prepared for our world to be completely turned upside down.

November: Our beautiful daughter, Jane, was born!

December: Jane got a cousin when Nora was born in Brazil to Jake and Ashley!

SO yeah. It was a big one. Every month brought an increase to our lives. An increase of responsibility, anticipation, family, joy…it was a really good year for us!

However, we are really looking forward to a slightly calmer year! We don’t want to stop growing, but we want to enjoy the wonderful changes that came to us last year. Josh thought of comparing it to a plant:

Last year we increased by planting a lot of seeds (and watched them sprout rather quickly!), but this year they need lots of attention and…

Cultivation!

So in 2013 we look forward to tending all of these increases and cultivating their beauty in our lives. Specifically, I want to cultivate my testimony of the Savior, actually plant a garden, cultivate my relationship with my daughter, husband, and the rest of my family, and get out of debt! (The debt one only sort of works with my word, but I’m DETERMINED to pay off at least one student loan by the end of next year!) I’d also like to NOT cultivate my hips as I work off my love weight (that’s what I’ve decided to call baby weight. My body weight was increased with love. Now that my Little Love is outside of me, it’s time to give all that weight back to her!).

In conclusion, here’s to 2013, and my year of cultivating the many wonderful blessings 2012 brought to our little family!

What's your word for 2013?