Happiest New Year!
In taking stock of the things that worked and didn’t work last year, I came up with a few things I’m going to take with me into the new year and I thought I’d share them with you!
Facebook Share Group
Last January when I finished the book One Thousand Gifts, I was busting to share it with my friends and family.
I decided I’d try to start a book study with some of them and use a facebook private group as a gathering place for our group. We started slow, doing only a chapter a week, everyone commenting several times during the week on whatever stood out to them about the current chapter.
It was sometimes conversational, bouncing thoughts off of one another. Some weeks it took on the role of support if one of us would share a prayer need. We finished up One Thousand Gifts and after taking a few weeks off started a new book: A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm by W. Phillip Keller (I’ll never view the 23rd Psalm in the same way, this is an amazing book)
After finishing this book and taking time off at Christmas, we’re starting One Month to Live in January, even adding a few friends!
I love the connection our Share Group provides and getting insights from everyone, not to mention the prayer support! See there, facebook can be used for some good purposes!
(If you have problems starting a private FB group, just google: How to start a private facebook group for detailed instructions)
*****
Next, something else I loved doing…
Snapfish photo books
I’ve done these for the past 2 years and I love the results. They are thin books with good quality photos. Easy to store as opposed to the giant, bulky photo albums I’ve been collecting for 30 years!
The ideal way to do this is to upload your photos and create pages every month. This way when you get to the last week of December, you don’t have an overwhelming amount of photos to upload! This year I did upload almost every month but I didn’t start creating my photo book, so I have a big job ahead of me!
And the last thing that really worked in 2011 (and I did it again!) …
Snapfish calendars!
There’s also room for text on every month. This year I added some of our favorite quotes from Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts to each month.
***
Pinterest! For most of you that’s ’nuff said. But in case you haven’t tried Pinterest, check out my post HERE!
Before I heard about Pinterest I had a file on my computer “inspiration” where I kept photos and web URL’s …I would sometimes go through those photos, and I was inspired by that folder…but honeys that does not compare with the inspiration I get from Pinterest!
***
And lastly, my gratitude journal.
After reading Ann Voskamp’s, One Thousand Gifts, I started counting gifts (from God). I purposed to continue the discipline all year and try to retrain my negative brain to pay attention to the simplest of blessings. I wanted to get to 1000. But as I approached the thousand mark, I knew I’d keep going.
I keep a little journal separate from my prayer journal and I used to take the journal with me until I discovered the 1000 gifts app!
I’m on my second journal and passed 1000 weeks ago, I love it. Hunting for gifts is invigorating and keeps me focused on good things so I’m going to “practice” counting gifts throughout 2012!
So those are some things that worked for me in 2011! Have you got anything that worked for you in 2011 that you’ll be repeating in 2012?
Wishing you a divine day my friends…
i did beth moore’s siestas scripture memory challenge last year and have already chosen my first verse for 2012. here’s the format: 1 verse every 2 weeks, resulting in 24 well-memorized verses! i kept mine in cute little notebook of spiral bound index cards, and that allowed them to be easily transported and pulled out while on break at work, at a stoplight, or while waiting to get my hair done. i highly recommend the discipline because it’s a way to allow God to speak to you and internalize it, due to the number of reviews of it you’ll have over the course of a year. He spoke so specifically to me, and it was really quite an intimate exercise. go for it, even if you don’t think you’re a memorizer! finding someone to do it with, to encourage you and hold you accountable, really is a nice perk too.
I love this idea Jenn…I’m gonna give it some thought…hummm.
Oh, I have been wondering how to get all those thousands of pictures on my computer into books! I am going to look into the snapfish albums! Thank you for the suggestion!
You’re a wealth, Robin.
Thank you for turning me on to 1000 gifts. Really I have read it twice. Loaned it to a friend and now my mom has it. I have high lighted so many parts of the book, I have no idea how they are even reading it. Well, I can’t wait for it to make it’s way back home. I know that is something I will be thankful for:))))
The facebook group is a great idea. I’m sure you get so much more out of your reads. I’m with you on the One Thousand Gifts journal and Pinterest!! 🙂 I have ordered prints and calendars from Snapfish but have yet to order any books (well, I made one as a gift) but I plan to get around to it eventually. 😉 Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I am always slow to react and I have to start 1000 gifts. What better day than today.
Gift from God #1. I am thankful for those people, like Robin, that God has placed in my life to encourage and refresh my walk with Him.
There I am started…now by Jan 2013 I may check out Printerest, ha. Today is already Divine. Thanks!
I love the idea of creating a book each year! I have done the calenders for gifts several times and they are always a hit. But, the notion that I can pull together photos and build a book of memories has me really jazzed!