Fifth Month Goal Review

May has come and gone and it's once again time to check in on my goals for the year. You can read about January, February, March and April if you'd like. Without further ado, let's get to it.

1. One arts and crafts time with the kids each month

Perusing Facebook one day I saw a video showing how to make tote bags out of t-shirts. It looked like a fun idea, one my daughter would love, so I saved it until we had time.

Our first task was to find t-shirts at a thrift store. I took my son and daughter with me so they could pick out their shirt. J flitted back and forth between Batman and Mario before seeing a Transformers t-shirt that he liked best. K wanted something feminine and found it in a purple shirt that had a glass slipper on it and the words"Girl's Day Out". I chose a blue-green tie-dye shirt.

I watched the video again and tested out the design on my shirt while the kids were otherwise occupied. It turned out fine so we got started on theirs. My daughter did most of the cutting and a good portion of the tying of the strips. When it was complete, she drew Cinderella on the back of her bag.

My son tried to cut the shirt but it was too tough for him. His contribution was drawing on the back of the bag. I'm sure he would have preferred to just wear the t-shirt.

2. Blog at least twice per month

I have continued to successfully post at least two blogs in addition to my goal and book reviews. This month I used one post to promote my book geared toward high school and college-age women. Another one was about my current life dreams. A third post was me pretending to be interviewed by one of my favorite podcast hosts. A good variety of topics in May.

3. Grow in gratitude, contentment and generosity

I have continued to regularly write my gratitude journal entries. It is always interesting to see what I am grateful for that particular day. I would highly recommend it.

I am continuing to try to find things around the house we do not need so that we can live with less and enjoy what we do have. It is very eye-opening to hear the discontentment from my young children. It is definitely a learned behavior. I'm hoping that we can grow in contentment as a family and help instill this in the kids while they're young.

I am trying to grow in generosity with my time and attention. I want to be fully present with people, especially my children. I am trying to not keep my phone with me at all times so I am not tempted to spend so much time looking at it when I am bored or waiting. This tends to be an ebbing and flowing desire for me. Sometimes I am convicted that I am staring at my phone so much. Other times I see doing nothing as a poor use of my time (when I could be communicating or reading on my phone). I know this is a newer, generational problem I am grappling with.

Here are my verses for the month:

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Ephesians 5:1-2 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.


So, how did you do with working on goals this month? Please share with me what you're working on!

Fourth Month Goal Review

April has come and gone and it's once again time to check in on my goals for the year. You can read about January, February and March if you'd like. Without further ado, let's get to it.

1. One arts and crafts time with the kids each month

I wasn't sure what the kids and I would do in April. They both had their own ideas so I went with them. My daughter had received a Sofia the First sun catcher to paint in her Easter basket and wanted to work on that.

My son also wanted to paint and used the dot paint set we had to create a picture.

When those projects lost their interest my daughter decided she wanted to get out the art set she had received at her birthday and create a picture. My son had received a Paw Patrol coloring book at Easter and chose to color in that for a bit.

Finished creations

In between assisting them I decided to work a little on my photography, attempting to create images I could use on the blog.

2. Blog at least twice per month

I managed to achieve this goal again this month. I blogged four times. One was a book review for a launch team I was on. The others were just feelings and struggles and thought processes.

3. Grow in gratitude, contentment and generosity

A new friend introduced me to interactive prayer journaling this month. It is an opportunity to more clearly hear God speaking to you. It starts out by sharing your gratitude with God. My journaled gratitude has ranged from family and friends to medicine to the beauty of nature. It has helped me to remember that I have so much to be grateful for and, I think, has given me a more grateful attitude and heart.

I participated in a spring cleaning challenge in April which I thoroughly enjoyed. It helped me to clean out parts of the house I have been meaning to but kept putting off. I was also motivated by our neighborhood's yard sale at the end of the month. I cleaned out a bunch of clothes from my wardrobe, unused toys and too-small clothes from the kids (We decided the kids could keep the money earned from selling old toys and would use it as an opportunity to introduce the "give/save/spend" idea with money. Neither really understands the value of money yet, but perhaps it's at least a helpful start for the six-year-old.), baby things we no longer need and other miscellaneous things from around the house. Anything I couldn't sell in the fall children's consignment sale was dropped off at Goodwill after the yard sale. It felt really good to purge so many things from the house.

I didn't receive any feedback about whether sharing specific instances of giving went against the verse posted so I will once again be vague. We did give in addition to normal giving this month. I probably could benefit from increasing generosity with my time, specifically giving more undistracted time to my children.

Here are my verses for the month:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ~Galatians 3:26-28

I only ended up memorizing the above verse but it was technically three verses so I guess it counts. ;-) It was hard for me to get this one firmly in my memory.


So, tell me about your goals this month. What were you trying to do? Did you achieve it? Are you going to try again next month? Try something new? Fill me in!

A Yearly Review

Image courtesy of Idea go at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I have been thinking back over the past year and feel like I have experienced a lot of personal growth as a person and in my relationship with God. It started when I began participating in the women's Bible study at our church where we went through the book Seeking Him. I have a few posts from last fall that speak about some of my experiences with the study (and I would HIGHLY recommend going through the study if you desire to grow in your relationship with God). I thought it would be fun to list some of the highlights of this past year for future reference.

Here is my recap of God's work in me this past year:

• a better understanding/grasp of God's grace
• the realization that I can't change me but I can ask God to do so and he is faithful (I used to think that if I just tried harder I would be better.)
• more consistent and meaningful times of prayer and Bible reading
• a stronger desire for and pursuit of God
• awareness of weak areas or strongholds in my life and a partnership with God to strengthen the weak areas and break the strongholds (related growth - believing God's truth instead of the enemy's lies)
• more time in God's word and hiding it in my heart (memorization, especially verses that speak to struggles I am dealing with)
• recognizing God's hand and provision in my life
• more purposeful/meaningful relationships with others
• increased recognition and following of promptings by the Holy Spirit
• choosing to seek God more in difficult times

So that's my list. I know that I am not always successful at all of these and I still have a long way to go in terms of living like Christ and for Christ. I need growth in choosing God's agenda over mine, consistently/constantly tuning my heart to God, selfishness (oh the selfishness), praying more for others, choosing opportunities to serve others more. The good news is that God is faithful will complete his purposes in and for me.

What changes have you seen God working in you this past year?

"With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." Mark 10:27

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever - do not abandon the works of your hands. Psalm 138:8