April Goals

As we roll into a new month I am thinking about what is MOST important to me. Family? Absolutely!  God?  But of course!  My job?  Not as much as it once was.  My health?  Yep.  My home?  Yes, I want to make my home a comfortable and inviting place for my family and our friends to enjoy spending their time.


Are any of these categories where I want them to be?  Not even close.  So what am I going to do about it?  Set my 3 in 30 goals to reflect who  I want to be.  So here they are.


Goal #1)  Simplify my home.  This month I am going to get rid of 2 bags/boxes of stuff a week.  This could come from my bedroom, my garage, my craft room that still needs to be finished being purged, my kitchen or the bath room.  Removing clutter will provide peace and calmness in our home.  


Goal #2)  Continue weight loss with healthy eating and exercise.  The only way I can be my best for everyone is to take care of myself by making sure I am providing my body what it really needs and removing the garbage it doesn't.  As of March 31st, my weight is 219#.  I lost 6 pounds in March.  I am working to be under 200 by April 30th. It is kind of unnerving to put my weight out there for all to see, but I am going out on a limb and hoping for your prayers and support.  


Goal #3)  This one is a bit more complex than the first 2...It's all about relationships.  I want to make April the jumping off point for becoming the women I know God desires me to be.  I say people mean the world to me but I don't show it as often as I should.  I want to be a woman of active love.  I want to serve gracefully.  I want to love without limits.  I want to put my time and energy into letting the people around me know that they have my attention and my love and I will do anything and everything to keep my promises to them. 


With that said, I'm off to start doing what I need to do to make those goals happen.  I look forward to sharing with you how things are going and to hear how you're doing on your goals. 

Time for Change

Wow!  As I typed that title, I thought of political promised and all the campaign promises we are subjected to.  I would love to have a politician run and win by being honest and saying what they are really about without dancing around unpopular topics AND most importantly by not slamming their competition but focusing on their strengths.

That was so off topic from what I got on here to talk about but today is a day of saying what comes to mind.  LOL!!

What was I going to talk about?  I will have to remember and come back.

Have a wonderful day!

Desires

God has given me some pretty crazy ideas lately.  Stretching me WAY outside my comfort zone.  If you know me you would not typically categorize me as extremely outgoing or as a public speaker.  I am kind of an observer rather than an instigator.  I stay in the background rather than jump into the forefront.  When I volunteer, I do things like holding babies and playing with toddlers.

I'm an idea person but don't go out and try to draw people into doing things I'd like to see done.

One thing God has spoken to me about is mentoring, both being mentored and being a mentor.  My excuse is the standard excuse I use for just about everything...I don't have time.  I have time to sit and watch tv for an hour a night.  I have time to play on FB or pinterest.  Why do I make time for those but not for growing in relationships and growing my walk with Christ by learning from others?  Hmmm...

Another things God has spoken to me about is prayer and worship.  In my former church I was blessed to be part of women ministries and to plan events.  The event I was most passionate about was our evenings of prayer and worship.  We would have a nice soup dinner and then have corporate prayer and individual or small group prayer.  It was always well attended and we saw many answers to prayer come out of those times.  Now that we are at a large church I don't even know where to get hooked in, which is really strange since my husband is on staff at the church.

So much be praying about. God's going to have to help me to rearrange my time to better manage what I need to do.  I feel like I am balancing so many things right now and they all seem so very important.  How do I take time from one to do another?

Please be praying with/for me.  I have the storybooks I am writing that are a gift from God.  I am tutoring my son in reading, trying to get him up to his grade level.  We are stuck at the moment but God is giving me glimpses of hope when I feel most hopeless, such as my son just randomly reading something.  Tonight he was reading the things that popped up on the TV or signs in the store.  It was nice because it wasn't forced, it just happened which tells me what we're working on is sinking in.  THANKS GOD, I needed that!

I am still trying to get an outlet to sell my earrings and necklaces.  I have a couple ideas and would love to get out there and try.  The problem is overcoming shyness and walking into a spirit of boldness.  God gave me this enjoyment for a reason. I can't believe He would do it just so I could have 100's of earrings or my friends and family have a ton of earrings too.  I'm sure they would probably like me to give them something other than homemade jewelry once in a while.

And of course I am a wife and mom and employee and daughter and granddaughter and auntie and great auntie and friend.  All of these relationships take time and energy and are important.  I want everyone in my life to feel important and loved.  If you are a part of my life, I do truly value you.

I would covet your prayers as I walk out the life God has shown me he wants for me.

Saturday

I love Saturdays!  They hold so much potential.  There is so much I can do.  Do I clean house?  Do I go adventuring?  Do I craft?  Do I cook?  Do I organize?  What to choose?

This Saturday I determined last night that I was not getting out of bed until 10am.  Not to say I was going to sleep in but I was staying in between the covers until 10am.  LOL!  I was so determined.  But even with my steadfast determination, I couldn't do it.  I got up at 8am and let the dogs out then right back into bed I went.  At 9am I got up to brush my teeth and my hair then climbed right back into bed to read for a while.  At 9:30am, little one came in to tell my love was watching Bath Crashers,  my favorite show. Needless to say I got up and came into the living room to watch TV with my fellas.

After I got my fill of home improvement jealousy I finally got up and got some chores done.  5 loads of laundry were folded.  Little ones clothes were gone thru and separated.  Got get the castoffs ready for consignment.  Found that all he needs is shorts and sweats to carry him thru til next fall.  That made me very happy.

I have lots more projects to do but for now we are all sitting around watching the new version of Footloose.

Pretty good day.  Good fun.

God is so good

It is so fun seeing God's hand moving in my life and the lives around me.  Last weekend I stepped out of my comfort zone and God met me right there and I had a blast!

That fun and excitement has carried over into my crazy hectic week.  I saw the opposition of the enemy and laughed.  "If God is for me who can stand against?"  It seemed as if the curtain was drawn back and I got to see the battle that goes on in the spiritual world more defined than usual.  I mean I know there's a battle but to see the enemy fighting so hard and not be shaken by it is a pretty cool deal.

Knowing that God allows my testing, not that He tests me but that He gives his permission as He did in with Job.  Thank you God for not allowing Job sized tests in my life at this time.  Thanks that you gave me the faith to stand firm in the midst of chaos and confusion and at times intense pain and discomfort.

I feel so blessed to have had the week that I've had and to still be positive and upbeat.  Don't get me wrong, the stress did take it's toll on me.  When I finally walked in the door at home at the end of the workday I was DONE.  All I wanted to do was sit on the couch and veg.  That wasn't so much a win.  I didn't blog.  I didn't write.  I didn't read.  I vegged on FB and Pinterest and watching stupid stuff on TV.  My dished got done but that was about it.  I have a huge stack of laundry that needs to be folded and since I didn't do it when I needed to a good portion of it needs to be ironed too.  The cost of procrastination.

Today was all I could do to make it thru the day.  But I did. I worked my WHOLE workday even though I really wanted to leave early because of all the negative and being in so much pain.  I survived.  Not only did I survive, I came home and vegged for a while then got up and made playdough with my littlest love and then read for almost an hour.  I love reading!  The laundry is still piled up but I am going to finish this post and go to bed.

I just wanted to share how incredibly blessed I have been this week to have God's calming presence in my life and helping me through the stuff I had to deal with at work.  I can't wait for tomorrow morning and a fresh day to spend with my family working and playing.  The balance will be so nice.

Hope you have an amazingly blessed weekend!