Top 10 Favorite Things about Christmas Break

From Thanksgiving to Christmas our schedule was jam-packed with events.  Every weekend was spent traveling to and from events...never again!  It felt like such a rushed Christmas season and so full that it was difficult to enjoy.

Thankfully, I was able to take the week of Christmas off from work and it was a much needed break -mentally and physically!  My children and hubby rested and healed from stuffy noses and coughs, while I relished in the bliss of focusing all my attention on God, Family and Home!  (My dream job, you know!)

Top 10 Favorite Things about Christmas Break:

10.  Time for everything!  I didn't have to sacrifice family time to get housework done, there was plenty of time for it all.

9. Spending a few $$ on myself from a co-worker's gift...I hate spending money on myself, but when it is gifted to me, I can allow myself the pleasure without the normal guilt of spending money on me...I'm too practical sometimes.

8.  Mental relief from work-related stress.

7.  Uninterrupted time with my family!

6.  Staying up late watching favorite shows and movies.

5.  Sleeping in as late as we wanted to...even the kids slept in for a change!

4.  Being WITH my kids:  baking cookies and playing in the snow...we actually got some snow this year for Christmas!

3.  Making and delivering goody bags to my hubby's co-workers and a couple of staff in the cancer center who helped make our cancer experience easier.

2.  Watching the joyful moments as others opened their gifts.  It's such a thrill to pick out special gift for someone!  Receiving is nice because I feel special, but giving is so much more fun!

1.  Celebrating Jesus' birth with a really neat Advent Calendar by thrivingfamily.com and watching my girls perform in the church children's choir on Christmas Eve!

Here's the card our oldest gave us...so precious!

Being an Example

We're constantly setting an example for the world to see, whether we like it or not.  Many times I am not a great example and sometimes I can be.

I'm not mad at God anymore, thankfully.  It was quite the slump I was in though!  My stubborn, stiff-necked self needs to find that place where I have no other way to turn except away from God or towards Him.  He truly is the only best answer.

This past week I had a staff meeting at work.  Our devotion was on the power of the tongue and gossip.  One of the points that was made came from 1 Samuel 16:7  where God informs Samuel that "man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart."  Most times the focus from teachings about that verse is on how our Lord sees our heart.  But this time the focus was on the first part...how man sees what is visible.  Our lives are a constant example to others of who God is because we are His representatives.

I sorely needed that reminder.  Even when I'm being sinful and selfish, I can't just take off that "hat" of being a representative for Christ.  There is more than just me and my soul at stake.  I cannot get stuck on myself or I neglect God's calling on my life to represent Him in everything I do.

Another point God has made for me recently is from John 4:42.  It's the passage about Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well.  The people in her town originally believed in Jesus as Messiah because of the woman's reaction to Him.  Verse 42 says, "And they told the woman, 'We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world."

That verse is a parallel to what happens now in our time.  When we share Christ with others, they often come to Him because they are influenced by the change and excitement we have shared, but once they meet Jesus for themselves, He becomes the lasting reason for their faith.  We don't have to sustain someone else's faith, we simply point the way and let Him do the rest!

Mad at God

Have you ever been through a struggle, or a series of struggles that caused you to question your faith?  Have you ever been mad at God for not fixing a situation or allowing repeated difficult situations happen to you/around you?

Recently I had been through so much struggle that I actually told God that I didn't trust Him anymore.  So many different things were going wrong and I didn't even want to talk to Him at all.  I felt a betrayed that so much was allowed to happen to me.

Let me tell you one thing.  Being mad at God is a million times worse than just going through the hard stuff.  Being mad at God leaves you alone and helpless.  You don't want to pray or you don't feel worthy enough to pray.  It totally cuts you off from your peace, your protection, and your comfort.  Such a place of darkness.

I felt so unworthy, but I knew I had to repent and ask forgiveness.  I said the words and I meant them, but when I prayed my unworthy self felt nothing.  I didn't "feel" sorry, but I knew I needed to move on and move on with my Lord and Savior.

He always amazes me, but He began touching my life again, and He's waiting patiently to touch yours too if you're in a place like that.  He'll bring meaning to you through His Word and He will touch your heart.

It's okay if you don't believe it right now.  We all have those times and need to find the place where we will be vulnerable and surrender to Him.  You'll get there, and if it's not too much to say, you'll be better for it when you do.

Summer Belongs to You

The title is a song from one of our favorite kid cartoons "Phineas and Ferb" and it fits today!  Swimming lessons followed by a nice family outing to my husband's work picnic, tried gourmet PB&J sandwiches, gourmet cupcakes, and enjoyed street pizza and food truck BBQ.  It was pretty tasty. The kiddos enjoyed the bouncy houses and participating in the sack races.  I forgot the camera though, the only bummer of the day.

We left the picnic to go straight to a birthday party which was more yummy food and outdoor play.  Amazingly after 3 hours of fun, they do not appear tired!  I think we'll see it this evening.

Today has been a good day.  Everyone in the family slept in (very rare for our kiddos), and I was actually the first one up at 7:45am...yes, that is sleeping in for me!  I had time to start a load of laundry, a load in the dishwasher, and even make some homemade banana muffins for breakfast.  That makes me sound like Suzie-Homemaker, not my normal Saturday morning at all, it sure felt great!

We've had such a busy week that I feel like my kiddos have been pulled along behind me as I race around meeting all the many obligations screaming for my attention, so my WITH goal is motivating me to focus on that area of life. 

I've worked hard to catch up at work, and made really good progress.  It's very interesting.  The tasks that I dread to do are the ones that bring the biggest sense of accomplishment when I get them done...hmmm.  I have to remember that for the next time I'm procrastinating on something!  I'm working on finding a balance between giving my best while at work, but not depleting my brain energy so that I can still be present and WITH at home too!

Weight-loss Success?

I stopped weighing myself for several weeks, not intentionally, but out of discouragement in my failure.  My job was and remains very demanding.  Sometimes I have the energy to care about diet and other times the best I can manage is to grab something quick on the way home.

Imagine my surprise at seeing a 5 pound loss from my beginning weight this past week!  It was so exciting.  I thought back over my habits as of late.  I have continued to try and avoid excess sugar intake.  I am eating a lot more school lunches...so I am eating less because those meals are pre-portioned.  And I had been making an effort to have healthier snacks in the house. 

The little things do count.  It has been 6 months from my first goals to lose 7.5 pounds.  I'm over half-way there.  A 10 pound loss by December would be awesome, but if I can reach my goal by September I will be happy.  Happier still if I can keep it off.  I have seen my weight fluctuate in this 6 month effort and I hope I can remain steady.

Frozen "Elsa" Dress

Here are the pics of the dress I made...for a first ever attempt I'm pretty happy with it!  The tutorial dress is smoother and more even, but I know my little girl will still love it.

The lady in the tutorial makes these dresses and sells them and I also have a good friend who makes the most adorable outfits and accessories, you can find her on Facebook at Little K's Creations!
https://www.facebook.com/littlekscreations

 

 

If you are interested in making your own, here's the website to the tutorial I used!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbiyUf7Ie3o

Goals & Projects

Spring is in full swing finally!  I haven't given up on my original five goals, but I have to admit some are proving more challenging than others...and I added a project in the meantime to make my daughter's birthday the best it can be.

She is my girly-girl and in love with the movie Frozen, especially Queen Elsa.  She loves the songs, she loves the dresses, and is excited to be the first of her cousins and friends to do a "Frozen" themed birthday party.

When the movie first came out, she saved up her own money to purchase an Elsa wig.  Then she started saving up to buy the dress and shoes.  With her birthday coming up, my hubby and I were planning to surprise her with the outfit...and if you have any Elsa fans in your family I'm sure you know that all things Frozen are pretty much off the shelves and out of stock everywhere you look.  So, after looking online and refusing to spend hundreds of dollars on over-priced Elsa dresses I decided to attempt my own.  It's finally finished and I can't wait to see her try it on!

With my goals, I am making good progress in making time to be WITH my family.  Not everyday is a success, but I am noticing more good times than there used to be.

My relationship with God is slowly improving, or I should say that I am slowly improving.  God showed me that I was sinning in the fact that I said I wanted to have a relationship with Him, but I was putting other things ahead of Him when it came to how I chose to spend my time.  I'm starting to make a bigger effort and I notice that I get more out of my time with Him when I am taking time out of my day for Him rather than trying to squeeze in a devotion or prayer here and there.  Duh, right?  Well, I guess I learn the hard way sometimes!

My weight loss goals were at a stand-still and I think I am getting back on track again.  I can still say I've lost 3 pounds, but it isn't thrilling because I was doing closing in on a good 5 pound weight loss until I got discouraged and gave up for that few weeks.

Cleaning up my basement is a goal I did make progress with.  I didn't meet my original timeline, but I have gone through part of the pile.  The nice thing about this project is that if I do get discouraged, the pile doesn't get bigger.  It just sits and waits for me to find it again.

Happy May Day!

Failure and a Lesson Learned

The past 5 weeks has been an emotional roller coaster for me and blogging has been challenging.

My family struggled with colds and flu bugs for about 3 weeks.  On top of struggling at home, I was struggling at work and it overwhelmed me.  I got depressed.  All my good intentions and motives to accomplish those lovely goals of mine went down the toilet.  As I got frustrated and the stress mounted, I stopped caring about eating right.  I stopped caring about cleaning my house.  I stopped being intentional about spending time with God or my family.

I gained back some weight which only proved to discourage me further.  My house became a live-in pigsty and I withdrew emotionally from everyone.  Every goal I had set faded into the background.

What finally broke through that fog of stress and depression was a Sunday afternoon when once again I was struggling with work at home.  I got angry and I went to my journal and I vented to God.  I unleashed all that pent up frustration, all the discouragement and how my selfish heart thought He had stopped working in my life.  Amazingly, despite my terrible attitude, He provided a solution to my immediate problem within a few short minutes after my venting.

It was humbling.  Here I was accusing Him and complaining, when He had never left me.  He had never forsaken me.  I could only apologize and it taught me a valuable lesson.  In my prayers, for the past many years without realizing it, I have pretended, I put up a wall of false humility pretending with all the ways I had learned were the "proper, Christian" methods of speaking to the Lord.  I wasn't being real or honest with myself or with God.

It's been 2 weeks since that Sunday afternoon and I am getting back to my positive outlook.  I perceive God to be actively involved in my life and I strive to make sure that false humility doesn't sneak back up on me.  It prevented me from having a true intimate relationship with God.  He wants to know you.  He wants to know me.  He wants the raw you.  No false pretenses.  No pretending you have it all together.  No assumptions about what you have to do to reach Him, to earn His blessing.  He gives freely and we must learn to give ourselves freely in return.

WITH Success!

My children lately have not had much WITH time from me lately so this weekend it was my main focus.  Today I spent nearly every moment with them. 

We went to church together, they to their Sunday school class and I to service, we worked all together in cleaning each girl's bedroom, and the living room, we watched a movie together and overall was a very good and productive weekend!

After having illness in our home over the past two weeks, our house needed a thorough deep clean!  It was fun to be together and see the progress. 

The girls don't enjoy cleaning, but when we are all together, they are much more cheerful in the process and they always love the outcome of a clean floor! 

They even got to get out some of their toys they hadn't seen in over a month!  ...I have to explain that one...their toys are kept in labeled bins on the top shelves of their closets and they have to have a clean room to get any new ones out.  So far it isn't good enough incentive to get them to clean on their own much, but it does reduce the size of a mess they can create.  I am thankful for our time together this weekend!

 

Goal Update

February flew by!  Can you believe it is already March?!  Life has been incredibly busy, but I have been working on my goals and thought you might enjoy a quick update.

Goal 1: Deeper Relationship with God...it has been a struggle for the past few weeks to be honest.  My work responsibilities have been overwhelming and I have to say that I was trying to do a lot in my own power without trusting God to carry me through. 

Knowing that my struggle was affecting my attitude, I began to work at making sure I kept the lines of communication open between me and God.  One of my favorite ways to hear the Lord is by setting my alarm clock to sound off with KLOVE radio.  Almost every morning I wake up to the lyrics of a song that are exactly the words I need to hear and meditate on.  It's a great way to wake up!

Goal 2: Getting Healthier...losing 7 pounds.  I've been following my plan pretty consistently until this last week where our family went through a nasty tummy bug.  While I was sick I went down to a solid 5.5 pounds weight-loss, but of course some of that was water weight, which I have taken back now that I am doing better.  The good news is that I can say I've truly lost 3 pounds in 2 months.

I realize that for some, three pounds in two months is a sad number when you can go elsewhere online and find someone who is losing double digits in a month.  I am simply thrilled to be losing weight, period.  I'm not as concerned with how long it takes, just that I am losing my extra pounds.

Goal 3: Spending time WITH my family...My job has been incredibly stressful lately and I have to admit I've had some moments where I lost it and was short-tempered with my children.  However, I have also had some great moments.  We've been playing board games -a perfect quality time activity -and I am keeping better boundaries on putting my phone away so that I am WITH instead of just located near them. 

Goal 4: Decluttering  I think it is safe to say I have successfully avoided this goal for the past couple weeks.  I did however find a desk for my children to use that I want to put in this space and so it has been on my mind more often that I need to make time to tackle the piles.

Goal #4 - Organize / Declutter My Home

CLUTTER...ahhh!  The mention of this word makes me cringe!  Being a very visual person, clutter is my friend and my enemy!  Working full time, being a mom and wife, and our small little home make clutter the biggest culprit of messes at home.  In all honesty, clutter is a life-long battle and one I am preparing to face head on this year!

To narrow it down so I can be specific and purposeful, here are my main two goals in this area: (I plan to continue to the rest of the house after these first two steps)

1.  Organize my paper clutter build-up.
            I do not throw away any paper until I am for sure safe to not need it again...this habit while has been useful on occasion, has created piles of clutter.  Last year I was able to get through my office paper clutter, so I know it is possible (see the before/after pics below!).  This year I hope to demolish the remaining piles of clutter from the past and organize future clutter!



2013 - BEFORE

2013 - AFTER

2. To develop a system of organization to avoid developing piles again.
            I have filing cabinets.  I have some shelving and obviously some skill at organizing.  Now I need to make the time to find the best way to accomplish this and make it work for my style of home management...

1. Does organizing/decluttering follow God's plan?
Oh, in so many ways this follows God's plan!  Now, it isn't truly the highest priority in my life and should never replace or become more important than time WITH God, Husband, or Children, but it is an important need for our home.  Right now, this clutter has taken over the space that could be used by our family, and that is not good.

2. Is it a reasonable goal to accomplish given my strengths and weaknesses?
At work I am known for being organized...it is silly for me to do so well at work and struggle with this area at home!  My weakness is my own pride and selfishness.  I would much rather re-arrange a different room of the house to make it look brand new than spend the same amount of time cleaning up a pile of paper.  I like the instant gratification and sense of accomplishment when I can see a drastic visual change for my efforts.  Paper clutter on the other hand...oh dear...I can spend hours and not be able to see much difference.  My strength however is determination and putting my mind and heart to it, especially knowing how it will impact our family life for the better is a great motivation!

3. How will it enhance the lives of those around me?
Our basement/family room is currently used as a multipurpose room. It is the one room in our home that can be a dedicated work space.  My husband and I use it as a home office.  It also contains our laundry room (aka closet), our treadmill, and storage for papers, games and arts & crafts.  Because of my piles, my children have had to use the kitchen table for their workspace and do not have a designated space to work on projects or save a work in progress for later.  Getting my paper clutter organized will allow the children to have a dedicated workspace in the same room as mom and dad's workspace!

4. Do I have support and accountability in accomplishing this goal?
The mess is in perfect sight every time I sit down at my computer so I isn't a goal I will forget or ignore for long.  My husband will probably throw a party once this goal is complete because he hates it too, but is kind enough not to nag me about it.  Making this public on my blog is another motivation and accountability method for me.  I would be wholly embarrassed to be posting 6 months from now and not have made any progress to share with you. 

5. Do I have a specific plan of action?
The first step will be to sort out what to keep, what to trash, and what to shred.  That should decrease my pile of by at least 30-50%!  Then I will have to sort the "keep" items and decide where each one will be stored or create a storage system that is easy to use and not just a clutter-hider. 

Working full time, weekends are my best opportunity to focus on a big project like this, although weekends are also the best time for family events and other projects that are a higher priority for my husband than this project.  I think a good goal would be to get the initial sorting process done by the end of March and the beginnings of sorting the "keep" items by the end of April.

Here is a "Before" picture, and God-willing, the After pictures will be here soon!

Goal #3 - Spending more time WITH my Family

WITH, (yes capitalized!) has been a word that God has used to quickly and immediately remind me of the precious little time we have with our families in this life.  As a full-time working mom, my children spend a good 40-50% of their waking hours in the care of others.  Not at all my ideal way of raising my children, but it is my reality at this point in my life. 

There are days when it has been a challenging day at work and all I want to do is mentally veg out.  I need rest, but my children need me.  I tend to have a constant mental to-do list running through my brain and that distracts me from spending time physically and mentally WITH my children.  This is actually a goal that God put on my heart over a year ago, and I continue to learn new ways of battling the selfish desires of my working mom lifestyle and keeping my godly desire to be a present mom and a mom who builds relationship with her children.

1. How does being WITH my children follow God's plan?
In my list of God-given priorities, my children are third in line, just below God and my husband.  I use WITH to also remind me of time to be WITH God and my man, but my struggle in this goal is centered on my children.  God has called me to raise godly young women and to be a role model, a source of safety, love, and joy for my children.  It is my gift to teach them and prepare them to live a godly life in the fallen world around them.  To be strong in their faith and to have a solid foundational understanding of who God is and who they are in Him.

2. Is being WITH, a reasonable goal I can accomplish with my strengths and weaknesses?
This goal in particular is a spiritual battle my saved self fights with my sinful desires.  I fight against my weaknesses in prayer and in my relationship with the Lord, He is teaching me to be a better mother.  My strengths include a strong desire to be the best -to be the Super MOM of faith for my children, an education centered in child development, and a God-given gift to see a spiritual need within the confusing contexts of a child's misbehavior.  My weaknesses are those that are selfish, impatient, demanding, and sometimes angry when life gets busy or when circumstances fail to meet my expectations. I can only accomplish this goal with the grace of my Lord and Savior teaching me each step of the way.

3. Does being WITH enhance the lives of those around me?
It is the best thing I can do!  If I forget about being WITH, it is too easy to fall into selfish behaviors and neglect the time and care that my children and family need.  Even with having a fulltime job, being able to interpret what priorities are at all moments of the day are vital to my ability to have a positive impact on the world around me.

4. Do I have support and accountability?
My ultimate support and accountability is God.  He speaks to my heart and uses verses, reminders from my husband, and situations with my family that show me areas to improve, times when I need to make a change in my perspective, and when I've crossed that line and need to ask forgiveness.  In my #1 Goal of having a deeper walk with the Lord, I cannot be successful in that Goal and ignore His leading in my life concerning this goal.

5. What is my specific plan of action?

 

This is complicated to explain in a short paragraph, but number one is spending time WITH God, which leads to my personal growth and a godly perspective on my life and my priorities.  My internal "mantra" so to speak is to make as many moments in the day ones that build positive relationships with my girls, point them towards the Lord, and are me focusing wholly on the moment (the gift of time) with my children.

I fail daily in this goal, but I also succeed daily.  As God continues to work on this area of my life, I will see more successes and less failures.  This goal will never end and will never be perfected because I am a human mom and I make mistakes...however!  With God's intervention my children will have the best mom God could have given them!

Goal #2 - Get Healthier, Lose 7 Pounds

This goal is kind of a learn-as-you-go thing for me, being that this is my first serious attempt to lose weight.  I'm using the concept of "Good, Better, Best" that I found in Elizabeth George's book, A Woman After God's Own Heart.  Basically it is making choices that continually improve as you grow in your faith.  I think it also applies to this goal.  I'm starting out with a good idea and a good plan, as my habits begin to change, I can make my plan better and better until it is the best it can be.

I've given birth to two children in the past ten years.  With each child I gained some weight that I've never lost.  Each child, I gained a pant-size.  It's been over 5 years since my last child and in the past year I have gained 7 pounds in addition to the baby-weight.  My clothes are tight and I am not thrilled with the growing muffin-top...although my kids like to pat it and lay on my jiggly belly.  At 5'3", my goal is to get down to 150 pounds from the 157.5 I was at the beginning of the year and to get healthier.

1. Does this goal follow God's priorities for my life?
My body is a temple for the living God...as such I need to feed it healthier foods and take better care of it.  I have noticed an increasing lack of strength and muscle tone in my body, it shouldn't hurt to play with my children if my only reason for pain is being out of shape.  I believe it is God's wish that all His children would be healthy and take care of themselves and others.

2. Is it a reasonable goal to accomplish with my strengths and weaknesses?
This question is a little more challenging.  In my dream world, I will be able to lose all 32 pounds I have gained through child-bearing and eating poorly.  But, knowing this is my first serious attempt and how hard it is to deny myself my favorite foods or the comfort of sitting brainless at the computer, I will be thrilled to lose the 7 pounds gained over the course of last year and fit well into my current clothing.  I am hoping to create better eating habits and build upon those habits as I go.

3. Will this goal enhance the lives of those around me?
A resounding yes!  My husband and children will greatly benefit from a healthier wife and mommy.  My example of making healthier choices will be something my children can learn from and be proud of, and it will help encourage my husband in his own weight-loss battles.

4. Do I have support and accountability?
My husband is also in the mindset to lose weight.  It was harder for me than him, but we actually had a candy-free Christmas this year and we didn't gain weight over the holidays!  My co-worker's pact with her boyfriend to not eat out for 6 months is helping me to eat the school lunches at work rather than going out to eat during the work week.  My accountability is lacking in this plan.  To be honest, I have a fear of making a commitment and failing.  Stepping on the scale is my biggest accountability so far because the scale doesn't lie.

5. What is my specific plan of action?
Consistency and learning new eating habits are my generic plans right now.  We will see if this method works or not.  Right now I am eating smaller portions, reducing my sugar intake (less pops, juice, and sweets).  I am also working on drinking more water.  During the work day I usually finish 16.9 oz, but I need to be drinking more than that.  My goal right now is to drink at least twice that much.  I do usually drink a good 24 oz at home in the evenings, but not always. 

So far my plan seems to be working, at least slowly!  I have lost 2.5 pounds in the last 5 weeks. "Slow and steady, steady and slow.  That's the way we always go!"  ~quote from my childhood Mickey Mouse book about Donald & Goofy racing.  :0)

Goal #1 - Deeper Relationship with Christ

Naturally, this is a great goal for anyone to have, but this goal is a biggie for me!  I have to admit that I struggle to make Christ first when it comes to spending time with him. God really pressed it on my heart this past year in three very specific ways:

 

1. Being challenged in my faith by other Christian's views that are different than mine.

2. Finding myself repeatedly failing in having a quality quiet time.

3. Feeling like I was going through the motions with good intentions, but not getting anywhere.

 

 

So, it has been my goal to truly seek the Lord.  After all, in His word He promises that when we search for Him with all our heart, we will find Him.  (Jeremiah 29:13)  This goal is more difficult to specify because there is no specific formula for having a relationship with Christ.

 

 

But if I ask myself the 5 tips I shared in my last blog, here are the answers...

 

 

1. Does it follow God's priorities?  Yes, God should always be number one, first in all I do.   Too many times I allow the busyness of life to become my idol by pulling me away from my commitment to the Lord.

 

2. Is it a reasonable goal to accomplish with my strengths and weaknesses?

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13.  This goal pushes me and I am learning to develop ways to overcome my weaknesses and laziness.  One way is a little "quote" from Jesus that I have written and posted in my bedroom in my quiet time space.  It says, "I am looking forward to our time together" ~Jesus.  I posted this quote to remind me that not only should I be looking forward to my time with my Savior, but that He is also looking forward to spending time with me.

 

3. How will accomplishing this goal enhance the lives of those around me?  Whenever I am centered on Christ, my behavior and attitudes are so much more loving, forgiving, and accepting than when I have been centered on myself.  I am working on how to work my busy life in with the time I am spending with God...it isn't like I have spare time just hanging around, so I do have to make sacrifices of my time, and most often I am either sacrificing sleep or time playing computer games.

 

4. What support do I have in accomplishing this goal?  When I was sharing with my husband my struggle to make time for God and my desire to have a special place to meet with God, it was his suggestion to make a change in the way our bedroom was arranged to accommodate my secretary desk.  My desk in the corner with my lighthouse lamp, journal, devotion books, and bible have become my own little sanctuary.  My hubby doesn't judge me or ask me how much time I have spent with God, but he is flexible when I tell him I am going to spend time with God and doesn't make demands on my time.  Here's a quick pic of my Quiet Time space!

 

 

5. What is my specific plan of action?  This part is a little more tricky to narrow down.  I have to remain flexible, because I have found that if I create a routine for myself, it becomes more of a ritual than a relationship.  Prayer is important.  Reading my bible is important.  Listening to worship music helps.  Using my concordance and devotion books help guide me.  I am careful to avoid falling into a ritual and have been seeking the Lord's guidance in how to not just go through the motions.  Some days my mind is just so full of my mental 'to do' list or the stress of the day, that I journal about those things first before I can turn my attention to the Lord.  I am considering getting a small CD player and some more worship CDs because I am missing my worship time.  I haven't been singing like I used to and something about singing rather than just listening makes worship so much more personal!


5 Tips to Setting Attainable Goals

Has the arrival of 2014 motivated you to make a change to your life?  Are you feeling discouraged or are you still excited about the potential?  Here are some quick tips that I have followed to make my goals realistic and attainable!

My history in making "resolutions" has always ended in failure.  I dream up these big goals of what I would ideally love my life to look like and of course, never go much farther than those dreams.  This year however, I didn't go that route.  I used the following five principals as I debated how seriously I was going to "resolve" to make changes in my life this year. 

1.  Does it go along with God's priorities for my life?

One of my favorite books I've read as a woman of faith is A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George.  In it she gives a general outline how God desires our priorities to be:

*God
*Husband
*Children
*Home
*Myself
*Ministry
*Other Activities -your career is included here!

Think about the goals you have made or are contemplating for your life.  Have you spent time in prayer about them? Do they match up with God's plan for you?  Do you think you can place the proper emphasis on accomplishing your goals without changing God's priorities for your life?

2.  Is my goal something I can reasonably accomplish given my strengths and weaknesses?

Are you imagining your weight loss goal with you ending up as thin as you were in high school?  Realistically consider what you are likely to accomplish given your unique strengths and weaknesses in dealing with temptation, discouragement, and mistakes.  I had always imagined getting back to my high school sized self, but realistically, back in high school I was involved in sports year-round and very active.  Now, 15 years and two children later, my body shape has changed and I am not nearly as active.

3.  Is my goal one that will enhance the lives of those around me?

Will getting that degree or starting that at-home business help or hinder your family?  What type of time and attention are you able to commit apart from your other priorities without your goal becoming detrimental to life at home?

4. Do you have others around you who will support and encourage you when the going gets tough?

Does your husband support your goals?  Do you have friends or co-workers who will help you be accountable in your journey?  My co-worker and I share the same goal of desiring to be a little healthier and to lose some weight.  We help each other make better choices during the work week even though we have different ways we are working to accomplish our goals.  If you are alone in accomplishing your goal, set up motivational smaller goals to reward yourself as you strive for your ultimate goal.

5. Last but not least, can you narrow your goal down to a specific plan of action that you can follow the majority of the time?

I know that I have a very hard time eliminating foods I love from my diet.  I also do not like to exercise unless it is fun for me.  I have narrowed my goal to lose weight down to a goal of eating healthier foods, consuming less sugar, eating smaller portions, and drinking more water. I have also resolved in my goal of losing some weight to choose to be active more than I have this past year.

So, if you are wondering what my goals for this year are...here they be!

1.  Deepen my walk with Christ...seeking Him and following His leading in my life.
2.  Get healthier, lose the 7 pounds I gained last year.
3. Spend more time WITH my family (being mentally and physically present).
4.  Organize/De-clutter my home, especially my multipurpose room.

I will be sharing more about my personal goals and how these five principles apply to them in my future blogs!