The Pillmans

Many goals are setup around improving ourselves or situation in life. Get a promotion at work, find that soulmate to marry, or even find a gym and get in shape. Yet, I think each one of us is called more to help others and not put ourselves first.   Our family goal this year is to double our helpfulness to others. Worthy and lofty as the goal may first appear, I find several distinct challenges and many possible pitfalls along the journey. Indeed, at this moment I don’t even know how to decide or measure we were twice as helpful in 2020. For example, how do I know what the baseline of helpfulness is? How helpful was I in 2019? It’s unclear. There is no helpfulness score. No number, no metric. So that will be part of the what we will discover this year. Next up, helpful to who, how, and why.

We wish you all a Happy New Year! After looking back on the year 2019, we find there were big changes in our life and much to be grateful. Such as the arrival of our baby girl, Anna Grace Pillman! She was born this January, 2019. As a joyful new member of our family, we rejoice in her excitement to explore the world around her. It is fun to watch her reach milestones, look at books, and repeatedly take all the clothes out of her laundry basket. She also makes a great travel buddy and has accompanied us on many trips this summer. She came with us on a local mission’s trip to Trinity First, a school in Minneapolis, where we assisted with the summer program and cleaning preparations for the upcoming school year. Anna, about six months at the time, was held and enjoyed by many of the kids and mission teammates from our church. Anna has also been busy travelling with me to ESL tutoring at Trinity First twice a week, women’s group, story time, and not to mention on all errands. I ha...