For the last two years, I’ve pre-planned 24 books to read throughout the year – one fiction and one non-fiction each month – for my own personal book club. It’s a plan I’ve held loosely (I read 17 of my 24 picks in both 2020 and 2021), but one that’s been a bright spot. There are just so many incredible books to read (!!), and it’s nice to be thoughtful about how I’ll meander through my TBR list – carving out time for both new authors, subjects, and modes as well as old favorites.
Here’s what I have planned for 2022. I’m excited to read each one of these books, and if you’d like me to join me for any of them, I’d love to have you!
January: The Last Story of Mina Lee | Recommended by my friend Sam, this is the story of a Korean immigrant mother and her daughter, switching between their two perspectives decades apart, and the far-reaching impacts of the secrets they keep. The Power of Fun | This book is brand new – it came out in December 2021! – and I’m reading it along with Janssen’s book club. For a naturally serious person who also places a high value on creating memorable and fun experiences for the people I love, reading a book about having fun sounds just about right :)
February: The Evening and the Morning | This is the prequel to Ken Follett’s epic, beloved Kingsbridge series. The books are fat and engrossing, and I’ve savored them by reading one per year over the last few years. This installment begins in 997 CE, the beginning of the Middle Ages (fascinating!), and is supposed to be just as good as the others. Gentle and Lowly | I’ve never really read a book focusing just on who Jesus is, but The Book of Longings, which imagines his earlier life, made me want to learn even more about him. This one, which promises to “reflect on his words, diving deep into Bible passages that speak of his affections for sinners and encouraging believers as they journey, weary and faltering, toward heaven,” comes highly recommended.
March: Cloud Cuckoo Land | This was my friend Steph’s top pick of 2021, so it was an automatic add to this list! I loved All the Light We Cannot See by the same author and am intrigued by the premise: “Set in Constantinople in the fifteenth century, in a small town in present-day Idaho, and on an interstellar ship decades from now, Anthony Doerr’s gorgeous third novel is a triumph of imagination and compassion.” The Weekday Vegetarians | I snagged this book late last year and though technically a cookbook, it’s packed with anecdotes, advice, and Jenny’s warm, funny writing I love so much. Looking forward to having dedicated time to page through it!
April: Sisters in Arms | Yet another 2021 release! I’ll be reading this untold true story of the only all-black battalion of the Women’s Army Corps in World War II with Janssen. I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet | I’ve never met a Shauna Niequist book I haven’t loved. This one comes out in April and I’ve preordered it.
May: The Great Circle | My literary agent/author brother-in-law and I were chatting about this list I was compiling over the Christmas holiday, and he mentioned The Great Circle as a book he read last year he thought I’d love. Also a 2021 release, this expansive story centers on Marian, whose dream is to circumnavigate the globe by flying over the North and South Poles, and Hadley, the actress cast to play her in a movie a century later. (Looking back at this post, I realized reader Abigail recommended it, too! Yay!) Hunt, Gather, Parent | It’s not a good year of reading if I don’t intake several parenting books (I just can’t quit them!), and this one sounds right up my alley. It’s also the May pick for Janssen’s book club, which moved it to the top of my queue.
June: Between Two Kingdoms | This memoir was the one non-economics book Emily Oster mentioned in her newsletter last year (with effusive praise), and I was intrigued enough to add it to my list. “A searing, deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman’s journey from diagnosis to remission to re-entry into ‘normal’ life—from the author of the Life, Interrupted column in The New York Times.” The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion | If you’re reading this blog, I assume you’re aware of my love for The Coddling of the American Mind (I push it on anyone I can at every opportunity). This book, by one of the authors, feels ever more relevant.
July: Crossing to Safety | This list skews heavily new (I don’t know if I’ve ever read so many recent releases!), so it’s fun to add one from the archives. This one was recommended by a friend and from the description sounds a bit like The Dearly Beloved, which I loved from last year’s list! Foundations: 12 Biblical Truths to Shape a Family | I’ve enjoyed listening to Ruth and her husband on several podcasts recently and am excited to read their first combined book effort. Reading this one with my bud Nancy.
August: Piranesi | Heather raved about Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel and Piranesi on this post, and Susanna Clarke has popped up several times since then as a rec! Plus, she has a fabulous name :) Take Back Your Family | This book has my name written all over it. I will admit I am a little ambivalent on Jeff Bethke as a podcast host/guest (he talks so fast!!) but I think his ideas are solid and so I’m willing to give him a chance on the page.
September: A Long Petal of the Sea | Another Steph favorite! “One of the most richly imagined portrayals of the Spanish Civil War to date,” says the NY Times Book Review, “and one of the strongest and most affecting works in Isabel Allende’s long career.” The Blessing of a Skinned Knee | Shauna Niequist highly recommended this parenting book on her episode of the Coffee & Crumbs podcast, and I always think it’s interesting to read what’s influenced the people influencing you.
October: The Rose Code | I’m currently number 659 on the holds list for this at my local library, so maybe it will be available by the time October rolls around? A Testament of Hope | At 736 pages, this compendium of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches, writings, interviews, and reflections will be a feat to finish, but I’m up for the challenge. Dr. King seems to be a person that every agenda likes to twist to fit their own narrative, and so I’m looking forward to diving into his actual words!
November: The Snow Child | Based on the description, I’m not really sure what to expect from this Pulitzer Prize finalist, but it sounds appropriate to read as the weather gets colder. The Art of Gathering | A final read with Janssen’s book club!
December: The Four Winds | Though I’ve loved Kristin Hannah’s other books (The Great Alone, The Nightingale), and despite it being the best-selling hardcover novel the year it released, I didn’t rush to read The Four Winds because I’d heard mixed reviews (mainly that it was depressing?). When Nancy put it on her list, though, it seemed like the time to jump in. Four Thousand Weeks | Based on the premise that the average human life span is about four thousand weeks (or 80 years), this book – “time management for mortals” – this book “introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we’ve come to think about time aren’t inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we’ve made as individuals and as a society―and that we could do things differently.” I mean, yes. Sounds like the perfect read for the season of reflecting on the passing of another year.
I’d love to hear: Have you read any of these books? Would you like to read any alongside me in 2022? Let’s chat!
It finally feels like “ordinary time” in our family – we’re home from celebrating Christmas, we feted our birthday girl, we toted our tree to the curb, and we waved goodbye to my parents yesterday as they headed north themselves. The house feels a little empty without all the people and the decorations, and the calendar feels that way, too, as I look ahead. And that feels SO good.
In terms of goals, this is where it gets good, too – these monthly posts where I break down my big goals, take little steps forward on the things that matter to me, and hold myself accountable (with your help!). Let’s take a peek!
A few housekeeping reminders here at the beginning of the year: if you’d like to get an email every time there’s a new EFM post, you can sign up for that here. If you’re ever searching for something I’ve mentioned loving in a past goals post, you can find it here. And if you’re looking for my Amazon shop (mostly favorite books and kid stuff!), you can find that here!
On my calendar this month: — Celebrating our best six-year-old girl! For weeks she’d been talking about making pumpkin pie for her birthday dessert then took a hard turn toward make-your-own sundaes at the last minute :) — Our 17th dativersary! Since we started dating at age 17, this milestone marks the point where we will have spent more of our lives together than apart. I will probably have more thoughts to share on that, but here’s one to start: we are the luckiest.
What I’m loving right now: — I’ve wanted a dimmer switch for over our dining room table basically since we moved into our house. I’d think about it multiple times a week, but apparently I never mentioned it to John… and when I did last month, he promptly went out and bought one and installed it in, like, 20 minutes. I don’t even have a link for you (I think he got it from Home Depot), just a testimonial that the dimmer switch of your dreams is approximately 20 minutes away, ha!! — My sister-in-law introduced us to the Nate Bargatze Netflix specials (there are two of them) over the Christmas holiday, and they are such winners! Like our other favorite, Jim Gaffigan, they’re family-friendly and truly funny. Recommend! — With a kindergartener now in the family, I’ve been on the hunt for a school-years memory book. I recently purchased this one and am so pleased with it! It’s modern, stylish, has great prompts, and covers kindergarten to senior year (sob).
As a reminder, you can find allll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!
What I read in December: Reading slowed down in December with travel, holiday prep, and sharing more than my usual number of blog posts, but I did squeeze in a last read for my 2021 list: The Book of Longings. Though it came highly recommended by a number of trusted sources, it took awhile for me to add it to my queue – a book about a fictional wife of Jesus just made me raise my eyebrows. But I love Sue Monk Kidd’s writing, and I’m glad I took the plunge. I think overall The Invention of Wings is better, partly because of the writing but also partly because I never quite fell in love with Ana, the protagonist. It’s just hard to measure up as the wife of the son of God, ya know? But I did really love the first half of this book, where she lends some color (backed up by lots of research) as to what the years before Jesus’s public ministry might have looked like.
Revisiting my December goals: Set our 2022 budget (Done! This always feels so good!) Finish embroidering the numbers and sewing the pockets for our Advent calendar (Done!!! I finished the numbers and my angel mother-in-law sewed the pockets for me. Bless!) Edit Sheptember (I chose a song, downloaded and uploaded the clips, and edited the first 15 seconds! Then the holidays carried me away, ha!) Embroider shirts for I, J, M, and T (M completed! The rest tabled.) Book our spring break and Michigan trips for next year (Done!! So excited about returning to Michigan after 5 years!) All the blog posts. Just, all of them. (I did not get to all of them, but I did get to 9, which is pretty good!)
January goals: — Finish culling and sorting 2021 photos + print our favorite Instagram photos from 2021 — Prep for Valentine’s Day fun — Edit Sheptember — Paint prayer sticks with the kids (an idea from this episode of the Risen Motherhood podcast) — Morning time with New Morning Mercies on Fridays (my sister also has this devotional, so texting her when I read it will be a good way to stay accountable – and connected! :)) — Lay out 2012 in family album — Choose a DR program (thank you for all the recs!) or meet with an actual IRL physical therapist — Complete the first month of our fam Peloton challenge — Choose a contractor and set a start date for our kitchen refresh — Organize the new Best of EFM page (right now it’s just a random list of posts inserted by my developer, but soon it will be fun and useful!) — Fill out 2021 entry in our Christmas memories book (I need a new memory keeping commitment like I need a hole in the head, but here we are.)
As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2022 goals!
After the angst of last year, this year’s goals came clearly and quickly, and I’m really excited about them! As always, I set my 2022 goals with the help of my PowerSheets – they remind me what really matters to me and then help me make those things a priority. Sharing my goals here, year after year and month after month, is quite possibly the most potent factor in any progress I’ve made, so thank you, as always, for being kind, listening ears! :)
1. Return to in-person worship. My understanding of Jesus’s vision for a life of faith centers around learning, growing, and loving in a local community. Like many, we have worshipped from home since churches closed at the beginning of the pandemic, and that has been good in many ways, but I have felt strong confirmation that it is time for our family to open ourselves back up to the discipline and delight of in-person worship. This is not as simple as walking back through the doors (hence why it’s a goal), but it’s also very tender, so this is probably not a goal you’ll be hearing much more about right now. But it’s number one for a reason :)
2. Bury the word of God in our hearts. If I want to invite my children into a life of faith, the most powerful thing I can do is to live one myself – and let my children see me living it. The word of God needs to be on MY tongue if I want to teach it to them. The fruit of the Spirit needs to be in ME if I want to encourage it in them. The life of a believer needs to look like the best, most true and joyful and free life if I want them to say – I want THAT. This goal will initially focus on building a morning quiet time for myself and memorizing scripture as a family, but I’m open to where it takes me!
3. Complete my outstanding creative projects quarter by quarter. Last year, I had two goals related to creative projects and memory keeping, and while they all inched forward a bit, I didn’t move any of my many projects across the finish line. This year, to lend urgency, I’m assigning my projects to quarters and will only focus on one at a time.
Q1: 2010-2014 family photo album Q2: First 10 years of EFM book Q3: Kid memorabilia and memory keeping (baby books up to date, etc.) Q4: Advent calendar
4. Make my fitness a priority and have fun doing it. Fitness was 100% not a priority in 2021 – being a healthy pregnant person and a cozy post-partum person was, and that was perfect for that season of life. And 2022 is a new season! I have several goals under this umbrella: complete a diastasis recti program (any recommendations?), compete with our siblings in a Peloton challenge in Q1 (and probably Q4), add Annie into our life as a bike-riding family and get back out on the trails (starting in Q2!), and complete an MS75 ride in September with John and hopefully our brother- and sister-in-law!
5. Celebrate our marriage with joy! This one gets an exclamation point :) We are celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary this year, and that is a milestone worthy of celebration! There’s not a lot I want to *do* for this goal; I mostly just want to make it a focus to praise the Lord for all He has done and continues to do in our marriage. We’ll continue with our monthly date nights and celebrate big-time with our anniversary trip in September. On that trip, I’d also like to incorporate some “marriage summit”-type activities and vision casting for the next decade, which will take some intentional pre-planning.
6. Refresh our home one quarter at a time. We have a few projects already in the works, and like goal no. 3, I’m going to try to focus on these one by one.
Q1: Refresh our kitchen (and possibly our mantel) Q2: Tweak our loft into a true play room Q3: Refresh our powder room Q4: Probably nothing – enjoy the holidays :)
7. Establish new rhythms for our family. I am so grateful that many things are running smoothly and joyfully in our family. I also know that our family is always changing, and so upgrading and fine-tuning our ways of life will always be one of my most important roles (alongside John!). The five of us are held together and built up by rhythms, routines, and traditions, and so it’s worth spending time tinkering. I need to do a little more mapping on this goal, but there are a few rhythms I’m considering implementing, codifying, or deepening: Sunday dinners, Sunday mornings (see goal no. 1!), family meetings with learning topics (oh yes), once-a-month friend lunches, Write the Word Sundays with June, family hikes, and baking together.
8. Make meals easier. This is by far the simplest goal! I have focused on various aspects of getting food on the table in my goals for the last few years, and I have seen HUGE strides in making this part of our family life run more smoothly. This year, this goal is basically about buying a secondary fridge/small chest freezer and developing a rhythm of doubling and freezing meals and incorporating frozen meals into my weekly meal planning. I also want to build out 1-2 “brainless” weeks of menus for each season that I can copy and paste when I’m short on time. That’s it! :)
As always, each of these goals will be broken down and lived out through my monthly goals. A little time at the beginning of each month and week picking out a few tasks that will help me move these goals forward goes a long way!
On that note,I’ll be back with my January goals post and my 2022 book list soon, but in the meantime, I’d love to hear what you have planned for 2022. Have you set goals yet? I’d truly love to hear, so please drop a note in the comments! I can’t wait to cheer you on.
I have been writing these year-in-review posts since 2012, the year John and I were married. They’re often a feat to push out, publishing as they do in the last week of the year, when family time is the priority and free time is scarce. But they’re also always worth it. These are some of our favorite posts to look back on, because even though the contours of our years might have similar curves – we’ve been picking strawberries since that first year, after all – the particulars change memorably.
I’m not sure if I’m just lucky or optimistic or delusional (maybe a bit of all three?), but my family and my faith make it easy to see the bright side of even a tough year. Thanks for taking a walk down memory lane alongside me before we turn our eyes to 2022…
We kicked off the year by celebrating our best five-year-old and with a first project from the now-famous baking book: cake pops! The kids scraped together enough snow in our one dusting to create a snow alien and I struggled to formulate and share my 2021 goals amidst the fatigue of the first trimester. I also (finally!) finished our happy upstairs bathroom refresh.
On the blog, I shared my 2021 reading list as well as this funny little post about research studies that seemed to encapsulate for many of you what you love about EFM.
There were celebrations of all kinds in February! We celebrated my birthday here on the blog with a two-partQ&A, we celebrated Valentine’s Day with the most fun mailbox, and we celebrated a normal anatomy scan and finding out we were adding a sweet baby girl to our family!!! On the blog, I shared one of my most memorable posts from the year, at least in my mind.
We kicked off April by worshiping outdoors for Easter, a true delight! This was our first time back at church since the pandemic began and was long awaited. We ate many meals outside, cheered June on at soccer, and took the first of many trips to the strawberry patch. I enjoyed the sweet spot of pregnancy, when it wasn’t too hot and I wasn’t too large or tired :) On the blog, I finally posted another Marvelous Money installment: Investing 101!
Life in May was very sweet, as recorded in this post! We took advantage of the beautiful weather to pick more strawberries, picnic, cheer at a Bulls game, fly kites, and visit many flower gardens and playgrounds. We took a weekend trip to Charlottesville to meet up with John’s sister and family, we took maternity family photos, and June finally cashed in her tea and pedicures Christmas present, one of my favorite memories of the year. Of course, life took a turn at the end of May when John ruptured his Achilles’ tendon while playing tennis. He attended June’s preschool graduation on crutches and went in for surgery the next day.
On the blog, I shared some of our favorite dad’s wardrobe favorites just in time for Father’s Day.
June! I think this month was a sweet spot for many of us, coming as it did with the ease of COVID in many parts of the country. I feel so grateful we were able to gather safely for our backyard garden party and celebrate the arrival of three new babies. We counted down to Annie’s arrival with pool trips, blueberry picking, our niece staying with us for a week to attend pony camp with June, and enjoying my parents’ extended stay as best we could.
July was the turning point of our year, as we welcomed our youngest daughter, Susanna Liberty, into the family just eight days into the month. We are still praising God for a healthy pregnancy and healthy delivery, albeit in less-than-ideal surroundings :) Once discharged from the hospital, July was spent with both John and I on parental leave, soaking up our squishy baby and adjusting to life as a family of five. June had the biggest adventure of any of us: she traveled to Maine with my family for her first solo trip to the Island just a week after Annie was born. We missed her so much, but she had the BEST time with cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles!
Blog posts were scarce in August, but lots of life was happening at home! John went back to work after six weeks of leave (although still mostly from home), June started kindergarten, and I adjusted again to a new daily rhythm (with smoothies). I dropped almost entirely off of Instagram as we prepared for elementary school (including with a back-to-school dinner!), but I did squeeze in a post of fall outfit inspiration. I’m pleased to report I’ve had fun adding a little variety to my daily looks in the second half of the year!
September marked the official close of summer, and we looked ahead to fall with John back on his feet (hooray!). We actually checked off everything on our seasonal fun list except a visit to the Museum, including a long-awaited trip to WaterColor with John’s extended family. It was a dream! More about our stop in Decatur on the way down, too. And June lost her first tooth! And we got to ride on Thomas for Shep’s birthday!
We celebrated 13 years of blogging on EFM with a rather epic three-part series: on nuts and bolts, on content, and a grab bag. Those were some of my favorite posts to write, and I think some of your favorites to read, but man, they wiped me out!
I returned to work in October just in time for the PowerSheets launch and with reduced hours (down to 30 per week). The adjustment has gone smoothly on the home front – drop offs and pick ups and our daily schedule are falling into place as I’d hoped, though we continue to fine-tune! – but it’s been a steeper curve at work, where I’m still trying to figure out what can stay and what must go in a shorter amount of time each day. I’m grateful to have the challenge, though, and God has truly given our entire team so much grace and mercy as we closed out the year.
We celebrated six years of Articles Club in October – one of the joys of my life! – squeezed in a backyard camping trip with the Rays, ate our way around the State Fair, and carried off my favorite family Halloween costume yet. (I think we’ve peaked.) We also took one of my favorite trips of the year, to Black Mountain, which I haven’t recapped yet but will soon. It was a little slice of magic!
We wrapped up Shep’s first soccer season in November and June began ballet and tap again after a pandemic-hiatus. We made our first gratitude tree and were VERY grateful to bring home our new family car after a five-month wait (!). We finally hosted June’s first sidewalk bakery and closed out the month celebrating Thanksgiving at our brother- and sister-in-law’s new home in Virginia with grandparents, too.
December saw the return of several of our favorite holiday traditions, including our town’s Christmas parade and pancake breakfast, the Nutcracker with cousins, and our favorite Duke Chapel Christmas concert with the Rays. We ended the year with a double-dose of Christmas: Christmas Eve and morning with my parents and sister here in North Carolina, then hopping in the car on Christmas afternoon for a week in Connecticut with John’s family. Annie even got to meet my grandmother (her great-grandmother) for the first time, which was the sweetest capstone to 2021.
Friends, thank you for indulging me. No matter the year, these posts are such a treat for me to write, and always some of my favorites to look back on years later. They help me to notice the good things, do my best to facilitate more of them, and remember to thank God for every delight (and for being with us in the struggles) along the way.
I know I’ve said it before, but I am SO excited for what we’ll discuss here in 2022. Thank you for being here, and for sharing so generously with me! It’s one of the delights of my life. Wishing you a healthy, happy, and abundant new year. My 2022 goals are just about ready to share, so I’ll see you soon! :)
