Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my family to yours! Christ is born! We are still singing Christmas carols and eating Christmas cookies at the El Massih house. We get a whole 12 days of Christmas and won’t take the tree down until Epiphany (on January 6th!) 🙂

And can you believe it’s 2020? I’ve been reflecting on the past year – the past couple of years, really – and everything feels like its blended together a bit. It could be the many transitions we’ve gone through between moving, welcoming a baby-now-toddler, and beginning new work with lots of monthly – and often, weekly – travel.

In an attempt for more creative and intellectual stimulation, my main goals for 2019 were to read more, pray more, and write/reflect more. I’m so grateful that I did and have noticed three main themes rooting themselves in my heart the past few years: suffering, prayer, and service. There hasn’t been a single event that suddenly changed the shape or course of my life or the way I’ve been thinking, but I think together with age, close relationships, and seeing the world through the lens of parenthood, has awakened me to a world of suffering that I never knew existed. I feel a great need, desire, and responsibility to learn more and pray more, and to serve. As I list out my 2019 highlights and 2020 goals for this year, I am hoping to continue the rhythm of reading, praying, and writing that I did last year, and as the following quote by St. Porphyrios, “to advance in love” and learn how to serve.

“The object is not to sit and afflict and constrict yourself in order to improve. The object is to live, to study, to pray, and to advance in love…” – St. Porphyrios

2019 Highlights:

• We are debt freeeeee! Yep, my husband and I both paid off our student loans and it feels. so. GOOD! Thanks and glory to God for all He provides!
• We went to Russia! We spent two weeks (with Sonia) visiting St. Petersburg, Moscow, and surrounding areas!
• We announced that we are expecting baby number two – a BOY – in March! If you tell Sonia she is a big girl, she’ll respond, “No, I a big sister!”

2020 Personal Goals:

• Transition to family of four, of course 🙂
• Expand and stick to a more regular prayer rule.
• Designate one night a week of unplugged quality time together.
• Cut out extra expenses – less eating out, more homemade lattes – and save more.
• Bless others.
• 2020 Reading Goal: 12 Books – that’s a book a month. I can do that as a working mom of two littles, right?

2020 Business Goals:

• Launch new website! HELLO new website! I haven’t touched my website in three years, so this is an overdue update that I am SO excited for!
• Seek new inspiration and network relationships in my area. To include networking events, coffee dates, and fun collaborative projects!
• Book more local weddings to meet my NYC and New Jersey wedding goals
• Designate a tax day each month to relieve the end-of-the-year pile up!
• Blog once a week – This is a challenging one for me. I am a perfectionist and with my time being so limited, I may have to loosen up a bit and tell myself that it is ok if I catch typos or revise my thoughts later!
• Be more consistent and social on social media
• Choose favorite images from 2019
• Update pricing guides
• Update client surveys
• Build stronger relationships with my clients, because I love them!