December Goals

Hi friends!! I hope your December is off to a great start! I’m a little late on sharing goals but I’ve had a good reason! We are shipping orders like crazy for Christmas! Each year I am just so humbled how many of you scoop them up for not just one friend but so many! I am already praying for y’alls 2017s and what the Lord will do in your lives through our journals. Quick note: December 15 is the last day to order to guarantee in time for Christmas.

NOVEMBER RECAP

1. Write Family Vision. Because I didn’t get it done last month! Still didn’t do it. Still reading one of the books. 

2. Contribute something to Thanksgiving meal. If you’re a cook, my cook goals probably make you laugh! 😉 But this is big for me!! Yes! It was caprese which means literally toasting bread and slicing mozzarella and tomatoes, but it’s a start. 🙂

3. Write out a prayer based on The Power of a Praying Woman notes. I pray daily for Tyler using Stormie’s prayers from The Power of a Praying Wife so this will be a part of that prayer time praying for myself. Almost finished!! 

4. Shop early and shop small for our loved ones. I’m not good at gift-giving. It’s always a last-minute dash the weekend before Christmas. I want to plan now and put more thoughtfulness into each gift. And also shop small in the shops of my sweet friends! We got some gifts but not finished yet. I need ideas for our parents! Leave a comment if you have any!

5. Read The Life-Giving Home. This book is already changing the way I see our home. I actually stopped reading this book at least for now. Not because it wasn’t good. It’s broken up by months so I read November and December and then January – April and it was just slow going and hard to pick up to read about seasons we aren’t in. This is my too efficient brain at work but I wanted to spend my reading time on books that covered things that pertained to the season I’m currently in. I think it will be better to read each months chapter right before the month! 

6. Participate in abs challenge. I’ve had so many issues with my back since Vana arrived. A combo of no ab muscles after pregnancy and c-section and carrying around a big baby. Yes! I didn’t do it every single day but I’m getting more consistent and trying to keep it going. 

7. Participate in SWHW social media detox. If you are a business owner, check out She Works His Way. It’s an incredible resource! They have a social media detox going this month and I’ve just looked at all the daily challenges and it’s going to be so good!! Yes! I also spent a week off Instagram and FB and that was really good. It’s always a helpful reset to disconnect and remind yourself that the world doesn’t fall apart. 

8. Pray for right vehicle. Because I forget God cares about these practical-type things. Still praying! We have been trying to go look at vehicles a few weeks now and it’s either raining or we have forgotten something we need to do instead. Hoping to look before end of year! 

9. Prepare for smooth holiday ordering season. We basically sell about a 1/3 of our journals for the year between Thanksgiving and Christmas! Last year things went really smoothly because I prepared so much ahead of time so I’m hoping to do the same this year! Yes! This is what took up most of my time and it seems to have paid off. 

10. Plan serving series. I’m working on a series about serving friends in their season! Hoping to share it in a few weeks! 🙂 I worked a little on this but am post-poning until after the new year. I will have a goal setting series the week between Christmas and New Years like I did last year! 

DECEMBER GOALS

1. Create Vana’s picture books. We did the small ones for Artifact Uprising for Vivi and have them on a shelf in the living room. Vivi has loved flipping through them and they’ve brought more joy than I thought a little photo album could do!

2. Figure out prep list for food each week. I have the best of intentions to prepare healthy food on Sundays but it rarely happens. I think it’s because I don’t really know WHAT to do. I’m hoping with a little game plan I’ll be more consistent.

3. Do a Daily Office. Read here for more on what that means!

4. Host Small Group Dinner and Cinco de Cember. It’s easy for me to blaze through the holidays and not spend intentional time with friends and instead plan to catch up in the new year.

5. Organize photos. I bought Nancy Ray’s guide and it has been so helpful! I’m excited to set up a system that is easy to use for 2017!

6. Track food for a month. I need a little reset mentally. Tracking my food in the past has always been such a good reminder of how wide the gap is between what I need and what I actually eat!

7. Limit my phone use to an hour a day. An hour may sound like a lot, but between text messages, phone calls, social media and random google searches, my average is definitely higher! This has been a big goal for me this year but it’s still such a struggle. I loved being off social media for a week and am hoping to keep that momentum going.

8. Fix cars. I still have dents from when we got sideswiped BEFORE Vana was born! Trying to take care of it now before insurance won’t take care of it!

9. Focus on customer service. The inbox has exploded with questions or special request! I’m trying to focus on making the shopping experience the best possible! 🙂

10. Write 30 minutes a day. On the book and the blog! I’m trying to create a consistent habit of creating. 😉

If you are looking for a way to set goals and take action on them daily, weekly and monthly, check out the Powersheets they just launched the new ones for 2017! Besides prayer, this is the single biggest factor for how I’ve been able to focus my goals and make things happen over the last 3 years!

DECEMBER BOOKS

• Parenting by Paul David Tripp
• Find Your Brave by Holly Wagner
• The Curated Closet by Anuschka Rees

BOAZ FUND

I’ve been wracking my brain trying to decide the best recipient this month for our Boaz Fund. This is one of our biggest months of the year, if not our biggest so I was feeling so much pressure. This morning, as I ran back in the house to grab Vivi a sweater, I started thinking about how easy it was to add a layer and keep her warm and I see it as a necessity and can’t imagine not being able to give that to her. But there are tons of parents in that situation. So this month, we will be donating $.50 of every journal sold to Operation Warm. If you listen to K-Love, they are also big supporters of this organization so I’m even more excited (because we love our K-Love in this house! 😉 to be a small part.