First Month Goal Review

Okay, so we've officially come to the end of the first month of the year. I thought it might be fun to let you know how my goals are currently coming. Splendidly, should be the answer because everyone has energy in January for new or lofty endeavors.

1. One arts and crafts time per month with the kiddos

On MLK Day we were supposed to have a play date but one of my kids was sick so it turned into our craft day. I had already determined that in January we would make paper snowflakes because my daughter seemed to enjoy doing them in December of 2014 (Yes, that long ago. I told you I'm terrible at crafts). I also thought it might be fun to try paper doll chains with the snowflake scraps.

Neither of these turned out that great. My daughter became frustrated trying to cut through the thick paper for snowflakes and couldn't quite figure out the chain cutting to make the paper look like people. My son has minimal cutting skills. Small slits in paper is all he can really do. I ended up doing most of the work.

Our cat sitting among the paper creations

So I punted and gave them both paint and paper and they had a blast. My son drew a T. Rex (at least that's what he told me) and my daughter drew a birthday cake for her uncle, a tree and an owl.

The T. Rex is the bottom left picture, birthday cake upper right

In addition to supervising I finally completed a project I started several years ago - turning an oatmeal container into The Very Hungry Caterpillar to use as an activity to read along with the book. It turned out fairly decent and both the kids love feeding the caterpillar as we read the book.

All the food was glued to baby food jar lids (some not pictured)

2. Blog at least twice per month

So far so good here. I actually blogged two times in the first week, eight overall. Also, the fact that I've been struggling a bit has provided material for posts. I'm trying to be more transparent this year. I have learned that when I am vulnerable it gives others permission to do the same. Jon Acuff calls it "The Gift of Going Second".

3. Grow in gratitude, contentment, joy and generosity

Okay, so this one is a little hard to determine empirically. I do feel more joy in my relationships. I struggled through some discontentment and discouragement mid-month (or perhaps most of the month as you may have noticed from my other blog posts) but I feel like I've turned a corner. God is helping me to learn to enjoy my relationships as they are and also showing me steps I can take to improve my relationship skills with others.


After posting my initial list, I edited it a bit. I read a book that suggested I focus on a goal in each of my passions. I determined that my main passions right now are Faith, Marriage, Parenting, Relationships and Blogging. So an additional one that is more tangible for faith (than number three above) is to memorize two scripture verses each month. Below are January's.

John 14:1- "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me."

1 Peter 4:10 - Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

John 15:5 - "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Yes, I realize that's three verses. I can be an overachiever at times. January's a long month. Perhaps it can be considered an early start on February.


In January I also tried to not spend money on anything but essentials. How did I do? Find out!