My goals for 2016

This process took a lot longer this year than it did last year, because I learned a lot of what to do, and what not to do from last year, and so I was a lot more intentional and focused with my goals.  I tried really hard to capture small, specific, realistic, and physical steps for my goals, as Lara suggests in the powersheets.  She has room for ten, but I only came up with eight - room to grow I guess.

1.  Love my husband well.  Some of the action ideas that I have are: monthly dates ( both having time out of the house just us, but also planning some nights-in as well), Reading a marriage book, praying for him daily, and making sure I treat time with him as a priority and not just fit it in where and when I can.  I am also thinking about maybe attending a marriage conference together.

2. Cherish my kids and invest in them and their future.  Pray for them daily, help them to memorize scripture, pray with them every night before bed, create and implement a chore chart to teach them responsibility, and spend time with them monthly, one on one.

3.  Keep God at the center and grow deeper in relationship with Him.  Have early morning quiet times, memorize a new passage of scripture each week, journal what I am reading, complete "Open Your Bible" study that I got for Christmas!  I am also praying to become part of a small group or about staring an accountability/prayer partnership with one of my friends.

4.  Practice healthy living and make positive choices for my body.  This includes working out for thirty minutes 3-5 times a week, drinking at least 64 oz of water per day, counting my calories and trying to stick to my goal of 1300 daily, trying to get in my 10k steps a day!

5.  Have a gentle spirit.  List gratitude(s) daily, memorize scripture, read Putting on a Gentle and Quiet Spirit by Elizabeth George, and starting each day with prayer and time with the Lord.  This also includes other things that aren't translated well into actionable items, but I am going to try to work on yelling less when my kids aren't behaving, also simple things like smiling more, giving people the benefit of the doubt, and seeing the positive in things.

6. Invest in others and be in community with them - Share the gospel in word and deed.  I want to pray daily for my friends, make time for relationship each month, pray for opportunities to share the gospel with them if they don't know Him, or just encourage and be a light to others, reach out more - even if it is a quick text to say hello, get involved in the community- maybe volunteering my time, get more involved in the Influence Network. 

7. Take time to rest and recharge.  Lara includes a page dedicated to this each month, but I wanted to make it one of my goals, because I am not good at being intentional with rest.  I want to make sure that with all my goals and ideas for 2016, I am creating margin and allowing myself the freedom to do things that I want to do this year.  This includes making a bucket list of things that I want to accomplish this year (even little things like making macaroons!), reading books on my 2016 reading list ( I currently have 21 books on there!!), and balancing time with friends with time alone.

8.  Invest in the future.  This means that we need to create an actual working budget and stick to it, get life insurance, and being a savings plan for a house one day.  ( Lord willing!)

What goals do you have for 2016?

My themes for 2016 and how I begin the goal process

Every December I get so excited about setting goals and creating a vision for what I want the next year to look like.  I love getting out all my tools like my planner ( the simplified planner is what I am using for 2016!), my favorite pens, markers, washi tape, and most important - my powersheets !  I have mentioned these in the past, and while not essential for goal setting, I wouldn't begin without them personally.  They have helped me so much and it makes the process meaningful, but also fun!  She is actually sold out of these right now, but may get more in the spring.  

After I have all my tools, I start writing five themes or areas of focus that I have for the next year.  You can read my posts about this last year here  and here. This year I decided I wanted to focus on GRACE (giving it to myself and also others), PURPOSE ( making the moments count, being present, and making what matters happen), HEALTH (make good choices, more water and exercise, work at my step goal!), GOD-CENTERED (put God first, let Him build the house), and LOVE (for my family and friends, and share God's love with others.)

The next thing is I dive into my powersheets, and being the goal-setting process.  I have an idea of some goals that will flow out of my themes, and so I start writing down all of the ideas and steps that I would like to take to make realistic goals out of my themes for the year.  This is definitely not an easy process, and if you are taking it seriously and being really intentional about your goals it can take several days.  I try to set aside the week after Christmas and before New Year's to really focus on this, but starting earlier is good too!  I try to lift up my thoughts about goals in prayer for a lot of December, because I know that if they aren't in His plan for me, then they aren't the best goals for me.  It takes time, prayer, and listening to really accomplish the goal-setting process.

Another helpful thing is making a mood board or vision board on pinterest.  Lara talks about this in the powersheets, and is one of the steps she suggests for goal setting (if you don't want to make a pinterest boad, you can make one right in your powersheets if you want to cut and paste out of magazines, etc.)  I find the pinterest board idea really helpful, because I can pin ideas and resources to help me with my goals.  For example, I want to focus on health this year, and am thinking about completing the Whole30 Challenge at some point (possibly for lent) so I have pinned a few helpful tips and lists to refer back to if I decide to do this.  I pinned some motivational quotes from Jillian Michael's (health) as well as some inspirational pictures from She Reads Truth ( God-centered).  I really encourage you to create a vision board for 2016! It is really helpful as a visual way to capture your goals, and it is really fun!  What are your themes for this year?

My hopes for this advent season

This month started out wonderful.   I had completed most of my Christmas to-do's - cards were ordered, addressed, and stamped and just waiting for December to arrive to be mailed.  I had finished almost all of my Christmas shopping ( and wrapping!) and I was looking forward to my advent activities with the girls.  Although, a couple days ago something happened and I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  There is no other way to describe it.  I was off, and I didn't know how to fix it.  I started feeling the season slipping away - the joy was gone, the anticipation was gone, and I started to think about all the things that weren't how they should be.  So I decided to go back to my journaling from a few days into the advent season of what I wanted this season to look like.

I want it to be a season of:

anticipation - Christ's coming and how He will show up for me again this season.
freedom - from the bondage of to-do lists and being bogged down by expectations
rest - true rest for my body, heart, and soul.  I want slow quiet mornings and peace from Him.
joy - I want to celebrate Him and I want to treasure this time with my children.
meaning - I want each activity, every task or event to carry with it some weight.  I want to ponder them and soak them all in.  Savor each moment and take it slow.

I started to think about how I could get back to this and I realized that one of the things that I was missing was spending my mornings with Jesus.  I have been so physically tired, that I was sleeping through my alarm and then missing out on those quiet mornings.  I didn't protect my bedtime like I should, so I was going to bed later as well, adding to the exhaustion.  My mornings were rushed, prayer time was cut short, workouts became non-existent, and I was feeling the strain physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I needed to get back on track.

I had the first real prayer time in days this morning, mostly because it was the first time in days that I had time to do this, while still being able to sleep in.  I prayed that God would help me take the steps I needed to get back on track, and I also prayed that from now on I would submit to His plan for me this season, rather than me trying to make up a plan for Him to follow.

I want to protect my bedtime and go to bed when I should, so that I can get up early and spend time with Jesus first thing.  I want to have dedicated prayer time that won't be cut short by morning tasks and getting kids dressed and on the bus.  This is when I feel my best mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I want to get back into my workouts, and even if I only manage three a week, that is better than nothing.  I want to make sure I am getting the water that I need in a day, and eating like I should, because this is when I physically feel my best.  I also want to give myself - and others -  more grace.  It is a process and nothing happens overnight.

I feel clear-headed for the first time in days, and I am thankful for the Lord meeting me right where I am.  I pray that He helps me do what I need to do to in order to keep moving forward.  I pray that He helps me to keep my eyes on Him during this season, not the severity of the storms or the size of the waves that crash around me. I want this Christmas season to be one of anticipation, freedom, rest, joy, and meaning.  I want to finish out this year well, and be ready to take on the next year with a hopeful and expectant heart.

Day 30 - My thoughts after one month and December Resolutions

I am so glad I made it the whole month with blogging.  I did share them late at times, but at least I did 30 posts in all.  I did not do half of my cards of encouragement, because I forgot about them most of the time, but at least I did half.  I finished my "book" and I did my best to ignore the numbers both here and on Instagram.  This was a little harder to do, when it came to my business, but I have been  thinking a lot about my business Instagram, and if I am going to keep it up.  I feel guilty for not posting every day, twice a day, and it is carrying over into my personal account, and I have just been avoiding the whole thing.  This is not like me, and so I am doing a lot of thinking about where I want to go from here.  As far as feeling happier?  I am not sure I feel happier, but I do feel accomplished for finishing the month out, and I do think that I will continue to blog my happiness project from here forward, but will definitely not be posting every day.  I will be happy with once a week, to be honest.

As for my December resolutions, December's focus is on Parenthood - Spread Joy.
My resolutions are:
- Take time to listen
- Acknowledge the reality of people's feelings
- Make happy memories 
- Document life

The first two resolutions are pretty self-explanatory and I think that I need to work on the first one more with my older daughter, and the second one is geared more towards my youngest.  As far as making happy memories, this is the holiday season and we do an advent activity each day in December leading up to Christmas.  This is a great way to make memories, and the girls and I look forward to it each year.  I also plan on taking a photo a day in the month of December, as a way of documenting life.  I have heard of making a December Daily mini-album, and I am not sure if I will do this or not, but it is an idea to consider.

Day 29 - Dear Santa, My wishful thinking Christmas List

If I could pick five things that I would love to have this Christmas, no matter the cost, I would choose these:

1. A new fitbit flex.  ( mine suffered an unfortunate accident.)

2. A new house.

3. Some (or all) of the books on my previous blog post.

4. this blanket scarf

5. Holy Donut Coffee - as many bags as I could get.  It is my favorite coffee ever.

So if any one is looking for gift ideas for me, feel free to select any of the above.  :)

Day 28 - Meet Scout

Scout is our Elf on the Shelf, and the girls look forward to him coming around every year.  He always makes his first appearance the day after Thanksgiving, and each morning the girls love searching for him.  He gets into a lot of mischief, whether he turns the milk green, or he throws toilet paper all over our tree.

Pinterest is my best friend when it comes to ideas for him, although some of them are a bit too much for me.  He is fun, the girls love it, and so that is the most important part to focus on -  I am not trying to win any awards for how clever or creative his adventures are.  As long as you don't let it overwhelm you by falling into that trap, he is a fun addition to our holiday celebrations.

Day 27 - Advent activity ideas

Advent starts December 1, and every year I plan activities for us all to do each day.  I thought I would share a few of our activities to give you some of our ideas if this is something you are interested in doing.

- Bake cookies for the library, the fire department, ( the orthodontist, the neighbors, etc.)

- Watch a Christmas movie with popcorn.

- Watch the Christmas classics (Rudolph, Frosty, Mickey's Christmas Carol, etc) and have hot chocolate.

- Dress in PJ's and go for a drive to look at Christmas lights.  This year I am planning on searching pinterest for a Bingo or Scavenger Hunt idea to use while we look.  I think it will be really fun this way.

- Wrap our teacher's Christmas presents.

- Go Christmas shopping for each other and our dog.

- Make Reindeer Dust.  Check pinterest for this too - there are a million different ways to do this.

- Have a picnic dinner under the Christmas tree, and listen to Christmas music.

- Write a letter to santa, and a gratitude letter to Jesus.

- Decorate gingerbread houses.

- Decorate Christmas cookies with Gigi.