5 Years From Now

Five years ago, David and I had been dating for just three months.  Since then, we've survived a two year long distance relationship, gotten married, had a daughter, made several moves and many friends, and he got his PhD (he hadn't even started the program 5 years ago!).  We've grown in our faith in God and our relationship with each other. 

Had you told me then that in five years I would be married with a toddler, living with my parents, and preparing to move to North Carolina for a second time, I would have been shocked.  Not about the married part (I knew almost immediately that I wanted to marry David though I wasn't sure I'd get so lucky), but the rest of it = not MY plan. 

Looking five years in the future, I have my own plans where we'll be, but I know that life gets in the way and that God's plans for us are rarely the same as our own. 

I five years, I hope to:

Own a house.  Oh, the American dream!  A home of our own.  A backyard for our kids. Definitely our biggest financial goal.

Be settled. I'll be honest, I don't know where we'll be location-wise in five years. Of course, I would love to be back in Colorado, but we may still be in North Carolina or somewhere else entirely.  Wherever we are, I do hope that it is our permanent home.  People move so frequently now (I say this as we are preparing for our fourth July out-of-state move in a row) and I have several friends that have wanderlust, but that's just not me.  I just want to have our little house and stay in it forever. 

Be a family of four or five (or six?).  We really want to grow our family.  Since we've met, we've been throwing around the number five, so I don't imagine that we'll be done having children in five years.  What does it mean to be done anyway?  Even if we someday think we're done, God may have other plans and we will welcome any child He sends our way.  In five years, I'll be 31 and still have many more childbearing years ahead of me. I assume we'll have at least one more child before then.  (Just for fun, I'm also going to predict that our next child is a girl.  I just have this feeling.)

Homeschool.  In five years, Lucia will be SIX!  Crazy.  I keep thinking that we have so much time before Lucia needs to be in school and that we have plenty of time to decide what her education will look like, but that's really not true.  At this point, we plan to homeschool and I look forward to spending the days teaching my babies.

Be more organized. I think this kind of goes along with owning a house.  Not that I can't be organized before then, but much of our organization issues in the past have had to do with constantly moving and living in places that were too small for our belongings.  When we finally have a house, I hope to buy furniture that actually fits the space and arrange our belongings so they all have a "place".

Still be learning. There are so many things I want to learn to do. Knit (well, more than just a scarf). Sew. Be a better cook. A better wife. A better mother. Develop a more fulfilling prayer life.  I hope in five years, even amongst a larger family and probably even more chaotic life that I still find the time to spend improving myself.

Be married. I say this a bit tongue-in-cheek because divorce in not on our radar (now or ever).  But I do hope to keep our marriage as the front most priority in our lives (just behind God but before our children).  I believe that a strong marriage is essential for creating a strong home life for children, but it takes a lot of time and energy to maintain the marital relationship with the demands of parenting. I anticipate that it will become even harder to keep this focus as we add to our brood, but I'm dedicated to putting in the extra work.

Volunteer. I haven't had as many chances to get involved as a volunteer in organizations that were important to me over the last few years because we've been moving around.  I'm looking forward to volunteering again when we get settled into our new home.  I especially feel it on my heart to get involved in the Church and pro-life organizations.

Belong. I have a friend that has standing dinner plans with friends every Friday night.  I want that.  David and I have been going to a Catholic young couple's group and had we stuck around, I'm sure we would have made some close friends.  I want that.  I just want to be part of a community.  A real community, where the members swap babysitting and have weekly plans together.  Kids grow up together.  Meals are brought for new babies and grieving families.  Especially if we don't end up back near my family, we'll need this kind of community.

Write.  Maybe I'll still have this blog.  Or maybe I won't.  Hopefully I'll still be writing though.  Maybe writing freelance articles or even a book?  A girl can dream.

Linking up with From Mrs. to Mama's 52 Weeks of Blogging with Purpose.  I won't be joining every week (this is my first time joining and I think this is the third week), but I will be popping in from time to time.