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Month: January 2018

2017 Report Card

Here we are again at the end of another year.  The years seem to go by faster the older I get!  Each New Year’s Eve I try to review the previous year and how well (or not) I met my goals and also set goals for the coming year.  As I’ve said before, even if I don’t reach the goals in the year I made them, I will often reach them in a different year.  It never ceases to surprise me how the universe seems to work to meet my goals if I put them out there.  Most years I put my goals out to the universe and don’t look at them again until the end of the year.  It’s always a fun surprise to see how things turn out.

2017 Goals
1. Learn more about my 3rd great grandmother Hester Ann Eglentine MITCHELL DRAKE. (Research goal)
I didn’t do very well on this goal so hopefully progress will come in the next year or two on this line.  I did two blog posts which referenced Hester.  One blog post was about her mom, Lucretia HUTCHISON MITCHELL HARTMAN, which you can find on the old Livejournal blog here.  The other is about her husband, William DRAKE, and can also be found on the old Livejournal blog here.  I’m hoping to get back in touch with another researcher on this line and make some progress soon.
2. Continue to blog but with a more regular schedule and begin including some of Bart’s family stories as well. (Writing/Sharing goals)
Well, I did well for a few months but a new job got me derailed and I never quite got back on track.  Hopefully this year will be better.  I typically do well for the first few months of the year and then my blog posts trail off as life gets in the way.
I made some changes to the format of the blog that I really liked and I may continue to use the format where I post a Sunday preview and then a Saturday recap that includes any new information I received after the original post went live.  I’ve invited another cousin to do a guest blog post and I’m hoping she accepts soon.  I think I’d like to do a lot more guest posts so you all have something to read and I still have time for things that pull me away from the blog.  So if you’re interested, this is an open invitation for you to write a guest post on my blog in 2018!
This year I began to tell some of my husband’s family stories on the blog.  That was a lot of fun for me and a nice change in storytelling.  I’m looking forward to telling more stories from both our families in the future.  I also began the “Stories for the Boys” series where I tell stories from mine and my husband’s lives so the boys will have stories about us in addition to the ancestral stories I tell.
My husband’s parents agreed to do their DNA so I’m hoping to make a lot more progress on his family tree this coming year.  My daughter, daughter-in-law and son-in-law all agreed to do their DNA as well so hopefully the coming year will bring a lot of new information on all sides.  My oldest grandchildren are getting old enough that we can start digging into their family histories and getting them involved in it and I’m really looking forward to doing family history-related activities with them.
One last change to the blog was to move it from Livejournal to WordPress in order to include audio clips.  There are still features of Livejournal that I like better but overall I think this was a good move.
3. Set up a research area in a spare room and FINALLY get started on those organization goals I’ve had the last couple of years. (Organizing goals)
I got my research area set up but found that I didn’t use it all that much.  It did get all my books and most of my unpacked research together in one place so that’s something.
Do you remember my post a little over a year ago about our hot-water-heater fiasco?  You can find it here.  It’s very short if you want to read it.  Well…we finally decided to go ahead and build that new house in 2018.  I’m pretty excited about that!  Unlike the house we’re currently living in, the new house will be built by someone else.  It was interesting designing and building this one but I don’t want to do that again!  Once was enough.  We made a few changes to the house plan but one thing I will definitely get to have is a room for my genealogy research.  Hopefully the new research room will be one that I use a lot more often.
4. Create a successful class to teach Spring, 2017 at conference. (Self-Improvement Goal)
I put my class together and presented at a conference this year.  It was fun and exciting and I got some good feedback from participants.  I haven’t agreed to do another class yet.  I may still decide to do one but I don’t have much time left to make a decision.  My presentation was about blogging your family history.  I have considered doing that one again and incorporating some changes that participants suggested and also doing a class about getting children interested in family history.
2018 on the Blog
I’m floundering on my goals this year so I’m going to keep it short and simple.  New goals for a new year:
  1.  Learn more about my 3rd great-grandmother, Sarah DAVIS REITER.  (Research goal)
  2. Take a writing course to improve my storytelling. (Self-improvement goals)
  3. Be more consistent with my blogging. (Sharing goal)
That’s it! Just three goals this year.  I’m hoping to keep it simple and stay focused on blogging and research this year.
 

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!  Happy new year, everyone.  I hope it’s your best year ever!

(Me in Hawaii, Dec. 2017)

Until 2018,
~ Lisa at Days of Our Lives
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