Thursday, June 4, 2015

8 Goals for June (and grace for when I only end up doing 3 of them)

It's almost summer! I know it's four days into June already, but I thought I would get these up and out into the 'ole blogosphere now rather than never. A little public accountability never hurt anybody right? (...That's probably totally not true, the internet's a super nasty place at times.)

First off, I want to make sure to say that the main thing I remind myself when making goals is to sprinkle it all with grace. I have no clue what is in store for us this month. Sometimes life just throws us a curve and unexpected things come up. For me, sometimes out of nowhere in a month I struggle with depressive symptoms and just getting through the day caring for two little ones can be difficult enough to accomplish. So there needs to be grace all over these goals. That being said, I've found, for me, having at least loose routines and some goals in my life can help me to focus and determine what my priorities should be. When making goals I try to cover a variety of different areas. Some to consider are: spiritual, physical, emotional, financial, as well as home, family, work, and hobbies. So here is what I have for this month:

1. Spend time each weekday doing Jen Wilkin's Bible Study in Judges.

In the fall I started a Bible study of the book of Joshua by Jen Wilkin, and after a lengthy hiatus have just now finished it. I cannot recommend her studies enough and am so excited to dig into this next one. I love that she emphasizes doing the hard work of studying the Bible for yourself before you go and hear what others have to say in commentaries. She makes you work, makes you dig, and the experience in the Word is richer for it. So I've started her study of Judges this month and hope to invest some time in it every weekday. I'm very grateful to be in a season of motherhood where I finally feel I have a bit more time to devote to study again. You are more than welcome to join me! All her studies can be found here. The link to the workbook you can print as well as all the audio of her teaching is there for free.


2. Exercise in some form 'erryday. 

There isn't much more to be said about that, except I desire to be moving in the direction of health. And I've been moving a little too much in the (delicious) direction of ice cream lately.


3. Write at least one blog post a week. 

I have a lot in my heart I want to share with others - some things are deeply personal and serious while others are quite lighthearted.  It is a challenging discipline to sit down and find the words to share what God has laid on my heart, but I want to challenge myself in that. I need to just keep trying until I find my voice easier to get out. Thank you for being with me along the journey. And I appreciate any feedback you have, and I love to interact with people's responses to what I write. So don't be shy to leave comments!


4. Get the guest room ready for guests.

We just bought our very first house and actually have a space for guests! I've always wanted to be able to host people "properly" (the 'couch in the family room' approach worked for a while, but I'm glad to upgrade!). I'm so thankful for it, and this month we have quite a few out-of-province guests staying with us. So the pressure is on to get my butt in gear to sort through and clear out the half of the guest room that presently looks like someone built a store with half of the stock from Toys-R-Us and half from HomeSense (and maybe a little from the junk yard) and then set off a bomb in it.



5. Hang photos in the living and dining rooms. 


My family is notorious for never hanging some dang art on the walls! I need to break this generational cycle of naked walls, and just do something with what I have because it can always be changed later. Art really brings a space together.



6. Plan a 4th birthday Jackson will love, not myself or Pinterest. 


This year we want to let Jackson plan what he would like in a birthday party (within reason - "No Jackson, we can't ride flying tractors and fight Scar from the Lion King for your birthday") and I'm not going to worry about perfect decorations. We will have family visiting who he rarely gets to see, so I want it to be about making memories together, resisting my tendency towards desiring a picture-perfect presentation and a million crafting projects which become too much to handle in the end. I want to be happy mommy, celebrating the life of my sweet boy - not stressed-out mommy!








7. Do a fun activity with the kids off of our Family Summer Bucket List at least once a week. 

I'd like it to be more often, but let's start with baby steps, people!



8. Take more photos with my "real" camera. 


I adore photos and enjoy amateur photography. Now that we have our first house, I want to fill our home with our beautiful life. I want to print photos of all the sweet memories we have and hang them upAnd yet, I've found that I have very few pictures that are good enough quality for printing, since I almost always use my iPhone cameraI want to remember every stage of my quickly growing babies, and my Nikon is my best friend for that. 




So those are some of my goals for June! I can certainly think of many more, but these are a few I'm going to try to emphasize this month. We will see how I do. What about you? Do you have any goals or dreams for this month? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below. 

5 comments:

  1. Those are all lovely, achievable goals. Good for you for putting them on paper - well, virtual paper - and inspiring me to have some goals too!

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    1. Thanks Sandy! I'm definitely hoping having written them down will help keep me on track.

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  2. Ooh, love this! I am really good about setting goals for my business........not so much for personal life 'stuff.' And it's true, if you don't set goals, time literally slips away.
    I selfishly like #4. :)
    You have inspired me to do the same!

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  3. This is lovely Kaitlyn. I really enjoy the pictures you put up!

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  4. This is lovely Kaitlyn. I really enjoy the pictures you put up!

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