Wednesday, January 1, 2014

New Year, New Goals!

2013 was a good year – and there were some things that went really well, that I want to continue….so we’ll start with those. 

1.  Keep running!  I made it almost 375 miles between February 25 and the end of 2013, so my goal for 2014 is 500 miles for the year….and a Half Marathon in May.

2.  Continue with Hello Mornings challenges.  This challenge has helped me more than you can imagine!  In 2013, I made my mornings a priority – which meant setting my alarm for 4:50 Monday through Friday.  Crazy, I know….but this lets me get in some time with God and a workout BEFORE I start chasing children….and I’m a much nicer mom when that happens! J  I also started planning my weeks – laying out the schedule for the week (hello, shared google calendars), planning meals, planning activities to do with the kiddos and of course my always too long to do list.  I’d like to say this made all our weeks smooth and peaceful and pretty much perfect but I’m pretty sure you know me well enough to know that’s not true….but it did help immensely!  And if nothing else, it gave me a plan and helped me be intentional about what I was doing!

3.  Keep reading – Reading 6 books a year has been on my list for the last two years and it’s here again!  The number of books isn’t so important to me as just making sure I’m reading – I love reading and it’s good “me” time!  Here’s the list to start 2014:  Finish Out of the Spin Cycle, then (in no particular order) Train Up A Mom, Sparkly Green Earrings, and Lead Your Family Like Jesus. After that I’m not sure….I’ll take suggestions if you have them.  I’m a big fan of dccebooks.com – they post a new FREE ebook every week, so my ipad is loaded with TONS of options!  Now if I just had the time to get through them all.  J

And here’s the NEW goals for 2014:

4.  Limit phone/email/facebook time so that I can be more intentional with my family!   You don’t need a big long explanation; I just need to DO IT!

5.  Be more intentional with our finances.  I’m not really sure what this looks like – it needs a little more planning (and probably some chatting with the hubby J), but here’s what I do know: we could steward our resources better!  I’m good about setting up a budget every month (and maybe not quite as good at sticking to it every month), but whether it’s spending money on things we don’t need (and by we, I mean I) or donating $25 to every.stinking. person that knocks on the door raising money for who.knows. what….we could use a little thought and planning.  I’d like to give more to causes we really believe in (and maybe not give to things that don’t matter) – coming up with a plan is definitely going to be the first step.

6.  No more yelling.  I hate, hate, hate to admit it, but I’m a yeller.  And there’s nothing that makes me want to yell more than bad behavior or stinky attitudes out of my little darlings.  But we have a problem – they’ve started yelling.  And it’s awful….and I’m pretty sure that me yelling at them to stop yelling isn’t going to do the trick.   So this one’s a family goal and I know it has to start with me.  Deep breath, count to 3…I can do this.  J

I’m still working on some goals with the kiddos, but I LOVE this resource!  2014 marks the 3rd year we’ve used this to set goals for/with the kids and it’s super fun to see the progress we’ve made (and it’s good to see the things we need to keep working on).  I feel like so often in parenting I’m just trying to survive the day – keep the kids bathed, clothed, fed and not fighting is sometimes a monumental task by itself and I feel like I miss the big things.  The truth is, it’s those big things that matter.  20 years from now I’m not going to care about whether we missed a bath or two or ten, and my kids probably won’t remember that they had PBJ sandwiches way too often…..what matters is that they learn to love Jesus.  And that means I can’t get so caught up in surviving each day that I forget to point them to Him and His truth and love and mercy! 


So, here’s to a fabulous 2014!  Oh yeah and one more goal – I hope to blog here a little more often than I did last year, so hopefully you’ll see more of me! J  

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