The Year in Review

As is my custom, I find it helpful to reflect upon the good and the bad of 2021.  I start the year with goals; this post looks back at some of them and considers other factors we experienced this year.

Our year was defined by transition- we moved back to the USA from Germany in July (I did a series of 'long goodbye' posts around that time), and then bought a home in September (after which we did a lot of home maintenance and had some reflection on what makes a home). Such things can be hard- we lived out of suitcases for over three months- but we feel that we've transitioned back much faster than last time we moved back to the States (2014). That's been a great blessing. Okay, on to the goals.

Spiritual
My goals here:

- Be disciplined in prayer/scripture routines (and start tracking them to encourage it)
- Teach the family

I mostly met this goal- I tracked what chapter I read each day and made prayer more of a priority. I also had a goal to teach the family more- that happened at times. There's room for improvement in both areas, but some good things happened here.

Nutritional/Fitness

My goals here:

- Keep weight under 185 lbs (goal: 180)
- Get a six-pack
- Complete 240 workouts (run, bike, gym)
- Be able to do 60 push-ups in a set and 15 pull-ups

The first two did not happen- I'm 190 right now and need to drop weight. I did complete 240 workouts, which I'm happy with, especially given the transition and days in hotels/with family/without access to 'normal' fitness routines. I started playing soccer again this year- what a great workout that is. But I started developing tricep tendonitis early in the year, meaning pushups are difficult. I did max out at 17 pull-ups at one point this year.

Most workouts were runs, gym, bike rides, or soccer games:

2021: 63 runs for 134 miles, 115 gym workouts, 43 bike rides for 539 miles, 8 soccer games

My diet wasn't the best- it's the same old culprits of too many calories (overall) and too many sweets (in particular). Need to improve there.

Financial
My goals here:

- Get good budgeting system in place

Little progress on this front- we did meet with a counselor and got some good tips on budgeting approach. But it's critical now that we're homeowners again.

Reading
My goals here:

- Read 50 books
- Complete my German Reading List

No problem here; I read more than 50 books and finished my German Reading List. My post here caps this year's book recommendations. 

Travel
My goals here:

- Visit the Alps
- Take the kids to new countries (Belgium, Liechtenstein, Italy, etc.)

While the pandemic obviously continued to affect travel, we were able to do a quick day trip to Bastogne, Belgium and Luxembourg. We visited France (Verdun, Paris, Metz) and the Austrian Alps (mainly the Pitztal and Ötztal) on long weekends, too.

Fluency
My goals here:

- Obtain a certification in German

Done. I tested as a "2+/2" in reading/listening to German (I was hoping for a 3/2). I started working on Spanish.

Games
My goals here:

- Minimize game collection to what I play regularly

No progress on this front. It will be a goal for 2022.

Adjust
My goals here:

- finding a house, job, school, etc. will be priorities as we approach the summer.

Done! We were really blessed to find a private sale in a horrid market. We love the house and neighborhood and location. The kids have settled into school faster than we thought, especially in the pandemic. 

Conclusion
It was a good year. There is still much uncertainty in the pandemic, but we're blessed and thankful. We need to step it up for next year, though. There's work to do.