Moving Forward Together

Wedded Wednesday is a collaboration
of married bloggers sharing their inspirations,
anecdotes, struggles and thoughts regarding
the amazing union of two separate people, as one.
Check out the other Wedded Wednesday bloggers at Marital-Bless

As you can see from my posts this week, Hubs and I are in the midst of a very busy time in our lives. Important decisions need to be weighed, decisions that (not to go all dramatic or anything) will affect us for the rest of our lives. Sometimes it can be tough to find a medium between focusing on the now and learning to be content with what you have versus planning for the future. I lean towards more of a type-a personality, more often than not I am the planner and organizer, though Hubs personality is quite similar (just not quite as ridiculous as mine can be). Neither of us is very content just living the day to day without making the most of what we've been given.

While we are content and happy with what we have (most of the time), it can be all too easy to get caught up in all the events on the horizon. A house, kids, new jobs, money, various opportunities...it can make you feel like you're in a giant swirling tornado. As we've learned to recognize this, Hubs and I have instituted monthly goal dates in order to help us slow down and enjoy the "now" moment. We use these coffee shop style dates to look towards our future plans and see whether we are still on track. Both hubs and I have "man/woman plans" that we created in order to help us visualize what is important to us individually and our dreams for the future. These plans were combined and reworked to form our "family plan" and ensures that we are moving forward together in the direction that we have chosen as a couple. It touches on everything from careers, where we want to live, what kind of house we want, all things kids, finances, spiritual life, health & fitness etc... Think of it as extreme New Years Resolution setting for life. We are working to break those goals down into 1/3/5/10/15/20 year increments and starting to looking at our future this way has brought so much more clarity to the present.

While I realize that none of us know how long we have on this earth, Hubs and I feel that we also don't want to come up short in the end-looking back on years of wasted time and energy on projects that didn't deserve devotion or priority status. I don't know about you guys but when I am held accountable for my life, I want to hear "Job well done" and frankly, more often than not, I feel like I'm ending my day with more of a "better luck next time" vibe. We both hope (God willing) to spend a good portion of our lives volunteering and working with various ministries. We love kids and would love to adopt and work with foster kids in addition to having our own. Both of us want to work in financial and debt counseling full time down the road as volunteers as we have seen way too many people around us that don't fully grasp the power of money.

These are all future goals however, and sometimes it can be hard not to scream when you feel like everything you hope to achieve and do and be in life is on hold. Our hope is that by setting clear visuals for our future, it will make it easier to break down lofty goals into achievable steps. I guess we'll have to see! Talk to me again in 20 or so years and I'll let you know how it worked out. :) Have any of you attempted or done something like this before?