A New Year!! Yeah! I love new beginnings. I love mornings because I feel like I have a fresh new day in front of me. I love Mondays (I know not really the first day of the week) because I feel like I get to start again checking items off my to-do lists. I love flipping the calendar over to a fresh new month and filling everything in. And I LOVE starting a new year! Feeling like the past doesn't hold me, that I can do things better, different, do it how I want it done!
In the spirit of newness, I am beginning a new series called Better Me Mondays (or BMMs). Mostly this will be a time when I write out my monthly goals, challenges, etc. God is growing me (Praise Him) and I want to document here a little of what He is doing.
So for my first BMM, I want to write out my goals for this new year. I don't like the term "resolutions." I guess it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I prefer goals. So...today I will write my yearly goals and each month I want to post my monthly goals as a sort of report on how I'm accomplishing these yearly goals.
Let me also say the following: I had been aching to take the time with the Lord to go through and think and pray through what I wanted 2013 to be like. I had my first REAL alone time with Him a couple of days ago and as I sat and wrote out all of the things that I wanted to do/be, I was feeling both very satisfied with myself and a little overwhelmed! Then I opened my devotionals for the day and God put it all in perspective for me.
In John 13, we see Peter telling Jesus "I will lay down my life for you!" Quite the resolution, wouldn't you say? Jesus then informs him that he will deny him 3 times before the rooster crows. That had to have been disappointing to hear. I wonder if Peter believed Him. This was before Peter was given the Holy Spirit (that came at Pentecost) and all of his effort to keep that goal would be in his own power.
Then I read in My Utmost For His Highest: "All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power (in ourselves) to accomplish them....There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ."
Then in Jesus Calling the author writes "True dependence is not simply asking (Him) to bless what (I've) decided to do. It is coming to (Him) with an open mind and heart, inviting (Him) to plant His desires within (Me)."
So...I was super convicted! All of these plans belong to the Lord and are for His glory. If nothing else happens, if none of my plans succeed, my #1 goal for 2013 is to RELY ON JESUS. More on that another day.
Let's dig in (these are in no particular order):
Personal Goals:
1. Write 3 blogs a week. This is an ambitious one. I want to write a personal blog, a ministry blog, and an adoption blog every week.
2. Learn French. At least some French. We are going to be doing it as part of home school and it will be good for BabyJ who will be joining our family this summer (we think).
3. Read 2 non-fiction books a month. Later I will be listing those books. So excited about this one.
4. Consistently get enough sleep. Sleep in when I can, go to bed early when I can, take naps when I can. I am a better wife and mommy if I have slept. I need to be a good steward of my body.
Ministry Goals:
1. Set a curriculum for teaching sewing to the girls at the orphanage and get the two older kids involved there somehow.
2. Home school the kids with consistency, attention, and pre-planned activities for LittleK to do. Less spontaneity in our schedule so I'm not frantic to get done by the end of the year.
3. Get out b-day and anniversary cards each month. Whew.
Family Goals:
1. Take each kid on a date 1 time each month. We don't have to spend $, we have to spend time.
2. Be a flirtier wife. :)
Homemaking Goals:
1. Create and maintain a mending basket. A place where I keep all things to be repaired, and a time each week that I set aside for mending.
2. Have some homemade gifts on hand for surprise hostess/birthday/thank you gifts. This goal needs to be quantified a little bit.
Social Goals:
1. Meet once a month with my Gringa girl's Bible study for prayer and encouragement.
2. Have a Spanish couples Bible study weekly or bimonthly.
Ok. That about sums it up. Keep me accountable, folks! I'll let you all know how it goes.
3 comments:
LOVE the mending basket! I absolutely need that. I tend to collect things to be fixed here and there until the piles overwhelm me, and I just toss them. Setting aside time intentionally for fixing?! Brilliant!
Also, I have some really fun and inexpensive hostess gift ideas that I did at the beginning of last year that got me through the entire year beautifully. In fact, I gave the last ones away as a hostess gift for a Christmas party. I'd be happy to share if you're interested!
God bless you and your sweet family in 2013!
TOTALLY interested, Alicia! My problem here is finding all the supplies, taking the time to make them, and then having them in a handy place when I need them. I do pretty good with little kid birthday toys, but hand made stuff falls apart at some point in the process. I buy half the items needed (the other half takes too long to find), or I begin making somethings but run out of time, or I make it last minute and never have a stash!
My favorite go-to hostess gift is handmade coasters. I just buy the cheapest ceramic tiles at Lowes or Home Depot (I'm sure you could find something similar). They're 16 cents each. Then I cut scrapbook paper 1/4 inch smaller than the tops of the tiles. You use Mod Podge (there are tons of recipes for homemade Mod Podge online if you can't find it in a local store) to glue the paper on. Just put a thin layer on the back of the paper, and press onto the tile. Let that dry for 30 minutes, then do a series of 2-3 coats of Mod Podge on top. I glue some felt onto the bottom so they don't scratch the table, then stack them in 4's and tie with a ribbon. They work out to be around $1 for 4 here in the States. Do you think you could find all of those supplies?
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