Wow, can’t believe 2011 is halfway over! Here’s my mid-way check-in for my over-ambitious 2011 goal list:
Verses to set my heart upon:
1 Corinthians 15:58 & Ephesians 5:15-17 have continued to be important verses to me during this season. I have also been meditating on Philippians 1:20-21, Philippians 4:8, & Romans 8:1-2. I just keep coming back to these verses over and over in my daily life.
Books:
I’ve read so far this year: Spiritual Depression by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, What Did You Expect?! by Paul David Tripp, Spiritual Parenting by Michele Anthony, and since the last goal check-in, I’ve finished If God is Good… by Randy Alcorn & Why We’re Not Emergent by Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck. …This is much more than I expected to have read! Last year I barely read anything!
Right now I’ve moved onto Introverts in the Church by Adam McHugh & for our small group through our church that we are a part of, we are reading Worldliness by CJ Mahaney.
Also, I am part of a fabulous book club — we meet every 3 weeks & it has been so, so fun & refreshing! I love it. : ) We are reading, yes indeedy, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Hospitality:
I have slacked on this the last three months! Our church recently began small groups, and ours is meeting at our home — so I have become slack about having others over for dinner throughout the rest of the week! I hope to fix that soon!
Purge & Organize:
While I’ve been doing a good job keeping my pictures from getting out-of-control, I have yet to tackle other organization projects around the house. Right now I want to purge & reorganize:
- the under the stairs closet
- three boxes of childhood books out in the garage
- our master bath cabinet
- the pesky corner cabinet that has turned into a bottomless pit of kitchen miscellanea
Projects: Memory-Keeping:
I finished our 2011 family album from MyPublisher! Yay! I love these & I’m so glad that we do these. {Right now, MyPublisher is offering their HUGE 50%- and 60%-off sale!}
I haven’t worked at all on Noelle’s baby book. I am currently working on a fun digital project I hope to share soon… realistically, probably by next check-in. ; )
Projects: Minibooks:
You can see all the minibooks I’ve completed this year right here.
Projects: Home:
Our {beginner’s} garden isn’t so pitiful this year! It was terrible last year, but then again we did try our first garden right as we were expecting a baby and then caring for a newborn.
I have slacked off on home projects! I hope I am more motivated the second half of this year than I was the first! : ) Here are some things I’d like to get done:
- cleaning up & repainting an old shelf for our half-bath
- redoing my plate wall
- working on a photo gallery for our stairwell
- changing up Noelle’s room ever-so-slightly as she approaches pre-toddler stage
I REALLY want to repaint (after only 3 years?! I know, I know) our downstairs. Like, all of it. Rust says as of right now, I should keep dreaming. Maybe that gives me time to really cement what paint color I’d use, hah!
Another big project we hope to finish is installing hardwood for the rest of our downstairs. This one we are very serious about!
Mothering:
Anna: Since the last check-in, Anna is now sleeping in a toddler bed and potty-trained except for nap/nighttime (which I don’t think she is ready for yet). Yay! We have our super-casual, super-flexible, non-stressful “learning time” about 15-30-minutes 3-4 times a week, doing anything from reading our library books, coloring, pasting, letters/numbers, anything that could be qualified as a “sit-down-with-Momma” time. : ) She still enjoys it! I enjoy it because I don’t make it something we “must” do — summertime has been so busy for us, so I don’t feel guilty when we skip it & go do something else, like run around outside or go for a walk or go swimming or whatever.
Noelle: I have given up on teaching “new” signs — still working on consistency with please/thank you/more/all-done. Since she’ll attempt to say words, I am just trying to teach her to say words for milk, drink, and words for her toys. Still trying to find the best time to read one-on-one with her & do alone time for her.
Nurtrition:
I lost my nutrition goals notebook I had begun piecing together — in it included recipes I wanted to try, healthy subtitutes, lists of books about food/nutrition/natural living I am interested in, and lists of blog posts about moving to a less-processed-foods diet that I wanted to print out!
Let’s see, from memory, I’ve begun substituting stuff like spaghetti seasoning, taco seasoning, cream of ____ soups, for my own made-from-scratch stuff. We are enjoying those changes, and they’ve become more automatic for us.
We are still a long, long way from where we want to be, but we are slow-changers & are totally okay with that! : ) Just a little baby step at a time & make that change “for real” before moving onto the next.
Recipes to Try:
These are off the top of my head! There’s more, but I don’t know where I’ve squirreled away my ongoing, always-changing list of “to-try’s”. : )
Summer: Tomato Tart (this one, this one, this one)
Fall: Stacked Applesauce Cake
And that’s that! The end! Next check-in will be in October!
Over-Ambitious 2011 Goals | Goal Check-In #1
