Goodbye 2025 – You Were A Good Year!
Do you love new beginnings like I do? I like to pick out my new calendar/planner for the new year and transfer all the important info. Picking out my new calendar is one of my favorite things to do. I’ve purchased the expensive ones and the very inexpensive ones and so far the medium priced ones are the ones I keep going back to. I’ve wanted to design my own planner, but, I have this issue called “procrastination.” I know…it’s sort of serious, but not too bad to mess my world up. It’s just enough to frustrate me when I want to do everything. My self talk usually goes like this, “Beverly, calm down. You can’t do everything! Just do what you can and enjoy it. Stop putting pressure on yourself. No one really cares what you do…you are the only one worrying about it. So, slow down and enjoy the blessings God has for you right now. If you do too much anyway, nothing will be fun anymore and you might miss something that God has planned for you and you will mess it all up…again!” I usually listen to myself and it all works out. I just need to have a little moment and get things straight.
Have I mentioned that I have an addiction to journals? Whew, they make some cute ones, don’t they? Along with my new calendar/planner, I choose my new, fresh, crisp and oh so cute journal(s). I have been journaling seriously for the past 6 years now. My journal knows everything!!!! My thoughts, goals, dreams, disappointments, hurts, successes, scriptures, prayers….everything! Yes, a few have been shredded, too!
I like to reflect on the past year; the good and the not so good. There have been some crazy years in the past and 2025 was a very fast but great year!
Our year began with have a newly married granddaughter. She was our first that called me Mimi. So many amazing memories with her. My Jim married her and her handsome prince. He married our daughter and her prince many years ago as well. So, it was a bit emotional for me, but I hid it well I think. She was as beautiful as ever.
We then celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary. You know….when you look at how fast life is going and take note of God’s amazing blessings, well…it takes me to my journal. 😉 I just got to get it all out and have a time of praise and worship to my Heavenly Father!
We also had a precious baby boy born last January. That makes 8 grandchildren! Their ages are all so fun…we have one in each stage of life…1, 3, 4, 11, 14, 17, 20, 22. If that doesn’t keep you young, nothing will. Did I mention that they are all the cutest and smartest kiddos ever?
I love traveling and we saw some beautiful places last year! We like to drive more than fly so we site see on the way to wherever we are going so that makes it even more fun. We had plans to branch out from our regular path a few times but had to cancel as we did something that we’ve thought about for a long time! Okay, I’ll tell you! We bought a vacation home! I know!!!! You know me, it has a story with it! So, I’m saving my story for my next post unless something else pops up in my brain to write about before I get it posted. It’s coming! I think you will like the story!
With keeping grand babies while parents are away… to a couple of DisneyLand stays… to beautiful Arizona with friends (and even hiking)… to a few visits to see our California cuties….and we have been doing some remodeling and decorating to our new get away home in the beautiful Ozarks! Okay on the hiking part, so it was a very small flat trail….I really did do a bit of a hike. The weather was perfect, so why not.
A fun thing that happened last year is that I found out I have a first cousin that I’ve never met and had no idea about. He and his wife are so sweet and I’m excited to have a new family member. You can’t have too much family, don’t you think? Especially one that wants to be family. My mom had 6 siblings and my dad had 2 siblings. Lot’s of cousins here and there but I didn’t grow up around many or see many except for a few short years as a teen. I have some sweet memories of a few of my cousins that I’m thankful for. So, I have loved getting to know him and sharing the few things I know about the family tree that he never knew.
So all of that rolled into holidays with my mom and our kids makes for a great year! Memories were made for sure!
I have a funny story for you….
Years ago we joined a country club in our area. Jim golfs and I like to lunch there. They have a gym and I’ve been a couple of times. I really should go all the time, but…anyway, that’s not part of the story. We took my mom in law to dinner one evening and as we were walking across the parking lot she said, “Who’d ever thunk it! Beverly Dillow a member of a country club!” We had a big laugh over it. If you could hear her voice, you would laugh, too! Anyway, it has been years since she said that and almost every single time I’m walking across that parking lot, I can hear Granny saying, “Who’d ever thunk it! Beverly Dillow, a member of a country club!” I’m even smiling as I write this. We lost Jim’s mom. It was a year this past December. I’d love to hear her voice in person saying that again. But, I know she is probably smiling down on me as I’m heading in to meet a friend for lunch at the “country club” and saying, “there she goes, who’d ever thunk it!”
How about you? Was 2025 a good year for you or did you have some hard things to get over that made you happily tell 2025 goodbye! Whichever it was, it’s gone and we have a brand new year and a fresh start to make new memories and become stronger by the things we’ve been through. As I mentioned in my last post, don’t let anything go to waste. There is someone that needs your wisdom and to hear or see how you became stronger by going through some tough times. Remember my favorite saying? Live life to the fullest. Before we know it we will be celebrating Christmas and waiting for 2027 to arrive! Let’s don’t talk about 2027 right now, it’s time to get our plans together for 2026 and live….life to the fullest!!! You knew I would say that, didn’t you?
My sweet mom is in a season of life where it is much quieter and slower than it has ever been. Even in that season, we can still live life to the fullest…even in the quiet. What a blessing to open your eyes in the morning and say. “the Lord still has plans for me! Whatever it is, I’m here for it whether it is in the quiet or in the busy busy.” Speaking of my mom, I have a post coming soon about her in my series called “A Woman of Worth” I may be a bit partial, but her life has inspired many over the years, especially single moms. Before I say too much more, I will just have to save the rest for later.
Again….Happy New Year! I would love to hear your thoughts on your vision for 2026 and if it was hard or easy to say goodbye to 2025. We’ve got a very interesting world out there with some pretty crazy things going on. It’s easy to forget that we have a Savior who knows all about and knows exactly what is going to happen eventually. I’m so thankful to have that peace and when I get fearful I know exactly what to do……give it all to Him. I learned the hard way a few years ago what fear can do to you. There is a reason God’s Word is filled with scripture on how we are not to fear. Have you ever heard that saying “I’ve read the back of the book and we win!” It’s so true! Social media is so huge, sometimes I wish we didn’t have it. If you weren’t fearful before you read your social media, you possibly could be after spending awhile on it. I had a friend remind me that we weren’t made to take in so much information and deal with so much heartache. This verse always helps me when I’ve taken in too much bad news:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8
Thank you for being a reader of my thoughts at His Heart, My Desire. My desire and I have a feeling your desire too, is to have a heart like His!
Until next time,
