5-Year-Plan Update

As a senior in high school, I developed a 5-year-plan for the years immediately following my high school graduation. I am almost exactly halfway through those five years now and thought it would be a good time for an update! :-) The items that are struck out are items that I’ve completed (although in many of those areas, I can certainly learn more and will strive to do so!) Next to other items, I’ve made note of where my progress is right now!

Prepare to be a good wife and helpmeet by:

·         Learning how to run a household budget and do banking (*I handle a lot of my own finances, but I would like to learn more about what an actual household budget looks like*)

·         Read through all the “Tightwad Gazette” issues and book

·         Learning how to clean an entire house regularly without using lots of cleaning products (read “Household Cleaning”)

·         Learning how to cook healthy, balanced meals on a reasonable budget (read “Cut Your Grocery Budget in Half”)

·         Learning how to manage my time well

·         Learning how to garden organically

·         Learning how to raise livestock (*we are currently in the process of acquiring chickens and rabbits!*)

·         Learning how to purchase good quality clothing on a budget

·         Taking care of young children via babysitting/nannying/foster care?/church (*I have babysat, been a nanny, and worked with children at church. Currently, I am working to get involved in a local foster care and adoption agency/ministry!*)

·         Helping homeschool/tutor my younger siblings

·         Submitting to my father’s authority

·         Learning basic sewing skills

·         Learning “special” household chores (mowing grass, weed whacking, changing/rotating tires, minor household fix-it jobs, etc.) (*I probably know a lot more about car maintenance, lawn care, and fixing household things than your average college-age girl. But there’s still a lot of things I would like to know before I don’t live in my Daddy’s household anymore!*)

·         Planning our family’s annual Cobbler Party

·         Taking a week to learn how to cook Abuela’s Puerto Rican food

Grow in my relationship with God by:

·         Personal devotions and Bible study

·         Reading books on theology

·         Reading R.C. Sproul’s works (*I am nearly finished reading the books we have by him.*)

·         Memorizing scripture (including at least 1 full book)

·         Mentoring/discipling a young lady one-on-one

·         Being mentored

·         Participating in occasional group Bible studies

·         Increasing my prayer life

·         Attending appropriate conferences related to spiritual growth

·         Starting a Bright Lights group?

Prepare for a lifetime of ministry/missions (regardless of location) by:

·         Earning a B.A. in International Studies from College Plus (read “Accelerated Distance Learning”) (*Lord willing, I will graduate in spring 2017!)

·         Attending the World Mandate Conference

·         Attending the Austin Stone Conference

·         Learning how to play violin and guitar

·         Writing to Valencia and financially support her

·         Volunteering at pregnancy center or homeless shelter

·         Volunteering at VOM (*Our church is talking about doing this later in the year!*)

·         Spending a month on the mission field (preferably in Haiti)

·         Helping coordinate missions trips for A Child’s Hope (potentially a team from our church)

·         Reading books we have on missions work

·         As I’m able, financially supporting missions work

·         Youth ministry/missions internship at church (learn about relationship building, how a church works and is involved in missions, and the nitty gritty of planning and administration)

·         Learning how to be flexible and live with less

·         Taking the Perspectives course

·         Taking some type of medical training course (*After I graduate from college, if finances allow, I would LOVE to get my EMT-B license.*)

·         Getting a private pilot’s license

Miscellaneous:

·         Taking a concealed weapons class (*I’m almost old enough!*)

·         Taking a photography class

·         Doing a photography internship

·         Going skydiving (*This is on my bucket list for 2016!*)

·         Reading 52 books in one year

·         Organizing family photos into albums

·         Starting a blog on post-high school life (*You’re reading it right now. ;-)*)

·         Writing a book (*I have started the process on this, but definitely will not work on it very much until I graduate from college.*)

·         Weighing 125 (*As I focus on fitness and eating healthy, I’ve become less concerned with this number and more concerned with how I feel and how my clothes fit.* :-))

As you can probably tell, I most likely won’t get to doing everything before 5 years are up. But the goal was to keep busy and keep learning, and that is definitely being accomplished! :-)