February Update on My 2012 Resolutions

Scripture Verse to Live By in 2012:  1 Thess 5:16-18, "Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."   I'm working on memorizing this right now!

 

Spiritual goals:  Memorize 26 Scriptures.  Memorize the catechism listed in Matt Friedeman's book  (I highly recommend Friedeman's Discipleship in the Home for a Biblical perspective on how to raise our children.  Unfortunately, when studying his book together, Brian and I realized we can't teach our children basic Christian principles if we haven't memorized them in our own heads).  I'd also like to stay with my 2011 goal to read 3 chapters of the Bible each day and spend 10-15 minutes in prayer.

 I changed this up a little bit!  I am going to try to read through the Bible in 2012 (my first attempt).  I just finished Leviticus.  I've decided that if I can make it through the book of Leviticus, I can make it through anything, although I do advise that it can be a little hard on your tummy at 6 am.  You'll want to make sure you have those Cheerios down before you start reading about blood offerings and leprosy!  I've memorized Romans 8:28 and have been having my Bible time very consistently through the week.

Goals as a wife: Have 2 date nights with Brian per month. 
Epic. Fail.  You would think this would be easy.  Does going to a wedding on Friday night without Jackson qualify?  I mean, even if we are with 100 of our "closest" friends.  Haha.

Goals as a mother: Discipleship!!  I need to start focusing more on Jackson's relationship with God.  Working on the catechism with him (and by the way, this isn't a Catholic thing in case anyone is wondering) through songs that he can remember.  I also want to focus on making more whole foods for him to eat (which is also important to Brian and I).

I've been doing ok at reading to Jackson and talking about God.  The whole foods are another story...I've been letting him dip his green beans in ranch dressing just to get him to eat them.  Not lying.

Health/Physical-  Survive giving birth again!  (Just kidding!!)  No really, my goal is just to go to the Y twice per week.  I realize there will be a sabbatical after baby #2 arrives, but I would like to be back to pre-baby weight by July 1st.  With Jackson it took me 6 months to lose all the baby weight.  This time I've done a little bit better job of managing my weight so I'm hoping it will only take about 4 months.

I've been going (to the Y) about once per week this month, which I think is stellar for a waddling lady.  :)  And I'm still down quite a few pounds and inches from where I was with Jackson- as long as I don't go two weeks late, I should be ok!

Cleaning- After Jackson was born, I made this weekly checklist to help me prioritize my cleaning tasks.  I've edited it and added to it since then, but I need to get it back out and start sticking to it a little bit better.  Because we have also lost our junk room office with moving Jackson into a "big boy room" I've got to keep clutter to a minimum (esp. paper clutter).  So my goal is to THROW THINGS AWAY!  This week while cleaning out the old office, I found cards from my HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION.  I may have some emotional, hoarder tendecies...and well, there is no room anymore for them!

 I've stuck to the weekly checklist the past 2 weeks.  I've even planned meals!  However, I would like my bathroom to clean itself.  Any advice on this?  I even got all of the ingredients for a natural floor cleaner.  Someday it will end up in the mop bucket, I promise.

 

Professional goals- Is it absolutely pathetic that I couldn't think of any?  I'm not going to be proactive about growing my business this year.  Some people may think that is stupid but I think that my family (and my sanity) comes first.  This doesn't mean I am planning on slacking off, I AM going to continue to provide the best service to my clients.  The rest is "que sera, sera, whatever will be...."  (You will be happy to know that Brian has lots of goals...and that, folks, is why he is the breadwinner)!

The best success comes when you don't set a goal!  Haha, jk.  But things have been super busy!

Financial goals-  Brian and I have some pretty lofty goals this year for saving for our own personal retirement accounts as well as saving for our boys' college.  We made a yearly budget this year so we can see the big picture (we normally just follow Dave Ramsey's Monthly Cash Flow Plan).  We also have a goal to take a vacation just the two of us.  (We haven't really done this since our honeymoon, other than a few random road trips).  Anyone want to babysit? 

A trip plan is in the works... and we're already budgeting for both retirement and college.  Success!

Books to Read: I want to stick with the goal to read 12 non-fiction books.  Some of the ones on my radar: Radical, The Ministry of Motherhood, and School Can Wait.  I also want to read the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis- these should be a breeze!

In January I read the first CS Lewis book in the series.  I'm also reading the Duggar's latest book right now and I started Dave Ramsey's EntreLeadership but it was due back to the library before I finished-- picking it back up today!  I should be able to get 12 books in without a problem.

So those are my updates!  How are you doing with your resolutions?  It helped to actually read these again- I'm not going to lie, I forgot what some of my resolutions were.  Now I should take my hoarder-tendencies and stop typing and clean off this desk!!!