Second Month Goal Review

We've completed another month of 2016! I started out the year strong. How did I do in February? Let's review my goals and find out!

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

Since it's February, I knew we could do something Valentine's themed (as long as I could get everything organized and together before the second Sunday of the month. My daughter's class was passing out valentine's and she had decided that she wanted to make her own so that made the decision of what to do quite easy. We gathered up supplies and she got to work.

Meanwhile, we needed something fun for my son to do. He likes stamps and stickers so I thought he could make his own valentines with those supplies. He also wanted scissors since his sister had them so I obliged.

My daughter enjoyed personalizing each valentine for her classmates. Some had stickers. Some received stamps. She drew special designs and wrote specific phrases for others. She seemed to have a blast and was proud of her completed projects. 

One of her completed valentines

My son's valentine was quite colorful

I decided to also attempt a Valentine's craft to make our home a little more festive. Our house has decorations for Sept-Dec but the rest of the year it's fairly plain. I think it turned out lovely.

2. Blog at least twice per month

I am trying not to use my monthly reviews as counting toward my twice per month goal or it would be too easy. After posting my January reviews I was struggling with something to say. Thankfully the holiday gave me something to write about and helped restart my brain's idea center. I ended up with three non-review posts for February! My latest one was reaaaalllllly long and I was a little concerned that people wouldn't want to read so much. But I reminded myself that God will do what he wants with my posts and I'm just to trust him with my story.

3. Grow in gratitude, contentment and generosity

This month I participated in a mug swap with a Facebook group. It was fun trying to find fun things to send to an unknown woman that she'd enjoy. Last year I would have been more concerned with spending money on someone I didn't know but I focused on it being an opportunity to show love to another person. Each participant also donated money to one of the group member's adoption fund. Of course, it wasn't completely unselfish because I did receive my own package from a thoughtful woman. Steps, right?

Jen Hatmaker had a "Share the Love" event where people could register themselves or someone else to receive a free copy of her latest book, For the Love. After the registration period, other people could pay for one or more copies of the book to be shipped to one of the registered people. I chose to send out a book. The exciting part is that 2250 books were sent out - one to everyone who signed up for one!

This month was also the first children's consignment sale of the season. I thought one way to grow in generosity was to use any money made from selling our old clothes, toys and books to bless others however the Lord leads. Ten percent will be given to our church and the other ninety will be used for opportunities the Lord provides. I struggle off and on with spending money because I don't earn any as a SAHM. I try to focus some on saving money but that seems different than bringing it in. With this little bit of extra, I hope that I will feel freer to give.

I worked on memorizing two more scripture verses this month. They are below.

Matthew 11:28-30 - "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Psalm 68:19 - Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.

I am continuing to try to avoid impulse purchases for myself. I know I really don't need anything so if I can focus on enjoying and appreciating what I do have, that will be progress. My mother-in-law decided to get rid of one thing from her closet each day for Lent (I assume clothing closet) and I think that's something I could do as well. I haven't started but removing forty things would definitely be a bit of a challenge and an opportunity to be grateful for and content with what I already have. I'll report back next month and let you know if I did this.

How are you doing on your goals for this year or month? Are you participating in Lent? If so, are you giving something up or did you add something?

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!

Happy 2016!

My family celebrating NYE in our cul-de-sac.

It's a new year! Full of promise and hope and the unknown. I spent the last couple of days pondering how I wanted to make this year better than the last. I found there are a number of ways I could stand to improve myself. This assessment was a bit overwhelming so I'm trying to scale it back and start with a few reasonable goals. 

The past few years I have set achievable goals and actually achieved them. Two years ago I decided to find a new dessert recipe each month and make it. It was quite a delicious challenge. One month I almost missed the deadline. This past year my goal was to hand write a note to every address in my address book (yes I have an actual address book). I surpassed this goal by adding a few notes here and there. I even received a few responses back which was thrilling. I love receiving actual mail! I know email is so much more convenient and faster and I enjoy it also, but there's just something about opening an envelope and reading words in someone's handwriting that makes it extra special.

This year I chose my New Year's Goal to be to execute one craft per month with the kids. This may not sound like much of a challenge to some but I am not a crafty person. I went to a crafting night at a friend's house a few months ago and spent the time coloring in pictures. Not very high on the crafting scale. My daughter LOVES creating things and asks often to do something artsy. I know my son hasn't had a lot of crafting experience because of my lack of skills but I'm sure he could benefit from some time practicing with scissors and markers. Having a plan helps me greatly with execution so having this goal in my head will perhaps get my creativity juices flowing (that and pinterest, of course).

I also am hoping to spend more time blogging. I know right now my posts are sporadic and it is because I struggle with perfectionism. I feel like if I don't have something profound to say, there's no reason to write. But I have learned from others that sharing the everyday experiences of life can be just as encouraging and beneficial to others. Ideally I'd like to work up to once per week this year. A current reasonable goal based on my responsibilities and life stage is twice per month. Perhaps I'll become an overachiever if I can get a routine worked out.

I have been working out some thoughts that have been reinforced by things I've been reading. I really want to grow in gratitude, contentment and joy. I know these things are intertwined. I know that I have everything I need and more. I want to become someone who holds material things loosely and is willing to share my blessings and abundance with others. I want to have a generous heart. I'm not sure how to make this tangible other than to perhaps keep a gratitude journal and pray regularly for these qualities to become manifested in my life. Another avenue would be to seek opportunities to serve or help others.

I have a few other things I am desiring to become habits - like scripture memorization for one - but I think I will have to slowly incorporate them into my life otherwise I am going to fail quickly and become disheartened. It's much easier to add than subtract. For succinctness I will summarize below.

Goals for 2016

1.Plan and execute one craft time with the kids each month
2.Blog two times per month
3.Grow in gratitude, contentment, joy and generosity

Seems like a good start. Do you have any areas of your life where you're hoping to see change or growth? Please share them with me in the comments!