We are so excited about 2017. Last year was a year of growth in our family. Our last child moved through the infant stage and we are looking forward to what life is like with a toddler, preschooler and kindergartner. Rafa surpassed a year in his new role, beat the average Amazon tenure of 14 months, and is looking forward to upcoming challenges. We moved to a house we will be in for awhile, settled down, and building our life within a fantastic community. We will reach SEVEN years of marriage and are growing strong together and in ministry. God is so very good.

Since Rafael and I came together in the corporate world, it only makes sense that our new year’s planning would have a corporate feel. Instead of resolutions, which seem frail and fickle, we have a roadmap. Mine is linear, wordy and ordered, of course; Rafa’s is a diagram, leading to relationships and overall destinations. But even though one of us loves a plan and the other loves a picture, we are ending up at the same place. We have a map in the center of our roadmaps to mark progress, plans and victories. Rafa will take his results to his accountability group each week.

I have updated my home binder to reflect my plans and assist me in achieving them. My home management binder is a tool I created very early in our marriage (with the help of an awesome accountability partner! Hi if you’re reading this!!). There are 12 sections in my binder. They have changed as we have moved five times in our seven years of marriage, added three kids, etc., but the overall direction is the same.

The front of my binder has a question to myself. You know the saying, “show me a man’s checkbook and I’ll tell you his values?” Well I think that applies to how we steward one of our greatest gifts, time, as well. I challenged myself – if someone were looking at my schedule and how I spent each hour of the day, would their analysis reflect the values I hold? Approximately six years ago, I wrote:
What am I about?
God
Being a wife
Health
What did I do today to achieve in these areas?

I might word it differently now (achieve? Maybe “make progress”) and I would definitely have things to add (but since being a wife started it all, I will extent that sentiment into mothering as well). I leave it because the question remains the same. Does the way I am spending time reflect these priorities?

My home management binder has daily/weekly/monthly chore schedules, events, pantry lists, a place for those pesky manuals you don’t know what else to do with… But the greatest thing is the weekly meal planner and recipes. I have written about meal planning before, but it’s always great to update it with new favorites and reflect changing tastes. My binder is updated for 2017 and I look forward to NOT spending time figuring out meals, recipes and shopping lists!

So bring it on, 2017. The Sorianos are ready for you!