It’s the time of the year where I always wonder, where did all the time go?

It’s also the time I ask myself these questions:

What have I achieved this year?

Who have I become?

If there was a word that could sum up 2012, it would be “unexpected”.

This year, I submitted my blog for a contest, and lo and behold it actually got into the finals. (This resulted in a dollop of satisfaction and a huge serving of thankfulness!)

The year also saw the first linky I hosted, centred on the theme of love stories. (This was a tad unexpected because I really wasn’t sure at the beginning who would be willing to share their love stories. But it kinda spread even before I could finish saying “I love you”…so thanks everyone for being so game in sharing your stories, I really enjoyed each one of them!)

It was the year I became a voice for family with Focus on the Family.

It was also the year I spent working as a flexi-work mum, and was featured in a book titled Successful Work-Life Balance by Sher-li Torrey, founder of Mums@Work, and Ruth Wong, the writer behind Mommy Cafe.

It has also seen a couple of transitions: Javier has started school, I’ve started to work full-time temporarily due to a new project, and the hubby has made a career switch.

Despite the general state of busy-ness that is in the air, all in all, I am grateful.

I’m also taking this time to ask myself if I’ve been a good wife, mother, daughter, friend. Have I been there for my family? Have I been fully present at work? Have I been loving others, and generous with my money, my time, my strength?

If you ask me, I think I will always fall short, and there’s a whole lot more room for improvement. But instead of creating resolutions for the new year (simply because I’m really rubbish at keeping those), I have a simple wish-list for 2013.

Time - Time to play, craft, laugh. Time to sing, dance, dream. Time to be still. Time to write. Time to enjoy the present.

A bigger heart - For God. For my husband and children. For family and friends. For those in need.

Focus and clarity - To not be distracted with the unimportant, and to keep first things first.

What’s on your wish list for 2013?