2010!!!

Wow! It's 2010 already? It's funny how each year seems to go by faster than the last.
I feel like I've been waiting for this year since I was in second grade! Why? Because this is the year I graduate from high school. :D I can't wait to see what all God has in store for me in the years to come!
For my first blog post of the New Year, I thought I'd show you a few of my New Year's Resolutions. It seems no one in my family wanted to make any this year, but I love making them and seeing if I carry them out.
I'd tell you about last year, but seeing as I'm still in Paris, France, I don't exactly have access to the journal I was using at the time. So I can only tell you about this year.
Here are a few of my resolutions for the year 2010!:
1.Get closer to God.
-I know, I make this resolution every year- but every year it's true! And every year I can safely say that I followed through with it. I'm not at the same place in my growth as a Christian that I was last year at this time. Thank goodness! I don't want to be a stagnant Christian who's all too comfortable sticking with the things that are familiar to me. Through all the ups and downs, all the times I feel like I've got a static-free connection with God and the times I have trouble hearing him, I know that those have been used to make me into the woman I am today and pray that He will continue to mold me into the righteous woman He created me to be.
2. Learn to sew relatively well. Should be able to make a dress.
-I asked for a sewing machine for Christmas LAST year and still can barely use it. It sits on the desk in my room and taunts me half the time. Kerri got a sewing machine during the summer and has already made a cute little dress for my assistant youth pastor's wife's baby! (Yes, I know that's a mouthful!) She tends to understand the instructions better than I do and can usually orally tell me how to do it and I'll get it. Weird how things work with us that way. I think the main reason I have so much trouble with it though is because I don't really try with it that hard, so that's what I plan on doing this year- trying hard and getting somewhere with my sewing skills.
3. Sell at least 15 items on Etsy.
-I joined Etsy like forever ago. Actually it was in May, but it feels like forever ago. I still haven't had anyone buy my stuff. *tear* This is the part where you feel sorry for me and buy it all! Lol! Just kidding! Well, the Living Water Shoppe has been on hiatus for the past three months while I've been in France, but it'll be back in business on January 5th most likely. I have a couple more items to add on and a brain full of new projects that I can start once I get back to getting some money from nursery work and such. Anyway, this 15 item goal will hopefully spur me on to better and greater products in the future.
4. Read at least 30 books.
-I keep a notebook where I record each book that I read, the day I finished it, the number of pages it had, and if I own it or not. When I looked back at it yesterday, I found out that I had read 29 books in 2009! How awesome is that? So my goal for this year is to at least read 30 books, but hopefully I'll get to more than that!
5. Gain more self-control/ patience.
-I tend to get mad easily, particularly with my family, and I want to change that. Patience, in particular, is a hard lesson to learn, I know. But I'd rather learn such an important lesson now than at a later date when it'll likely be even harder for me. Both of these character traits- self control and patience- tend to go hand in hand and are particularly important when people look at us as Christians to be examples of what the gospel teaches. I don't want to wait until I've managed to hurt everyone I love in some way or another before I learn this. I want to learn now.

Those are just five of my lovely New Year's Resolutions. So here's my question: What are yours? How are you seeking to better serve the Lord this year? What are you seeking to accomplish with your time? How are you seeking to better yourself as this new year represents another new start?
Have a blessed day!