Joyful Mom Monday - Goals for 2013

It's Monday!  Are you ready for it?  I think I am!  Last Saturday evening, I sat down in my clean house and laid out all my plans for the following Monday.  We were starting back to school.  I had my lists, goals and plans all ready. My menu for the week was even prepared! I was so on top of it that I knew something would certainly go wrong.  That's why Miss Madelyn woke up literally screaming with an earache and running a slight fever.  And that is about how the rest of the week went for us!  So...here it is, time for another Monday, and I'm really hoping this one goes better!  

Speaking of goals and plans, that is today's Joyful Mom Monday topic.  What goals do you have for this new year that will help you become a more joyful mom?  I really steer away from the word resolutions.  I guess it's because I know that I tend to dream big and make high expectations that have a high possibility of  not being met or at least not being perfectly met.  I am a firm believer in setting the bar high though because it does make me try harder.  I would much rather fall somewhat short of my goal but work hard for it than to set a small resolution just for the satisfaction of being able to say I did it. 

What are your goals for this year?  I have a few I'll share with you...not because you need to make these your goals, but almost as an accountability for myself. (It makes me work harder if I know I have informed the entire world of my goals!) :)  My spiritual goal is to learn to pray more effectively.  A couple of personal goals I have are to be more structured and disciplined in my daily routine (getting up early every day would be a great start!), to begin digitally scrapbooking each of my kiddos' first year of life and to focus on my Mr.'s needs and desires more.  There a few habits I would like to work on in our family as a whole.  They are more consistent Scripture memory, better morning and evening routines, and finding more opportunities to serve others as a family.

Something else that I have never done before and am still working on is writing out each of my kiddos' strengths and weaknesses and finding Scripture verses that affirm their strengths as well as verses that  will help provide victory in weak areas. I plan to take some time with each of them so that we can talk about these things together and so that I can hear their thoughts and dreams of what they want to see happen or change in their lives this year.  I have never done this before, but I am excited about the possibilities.  I want my children to know that I see and know their strengths and weaknesses and that I will walk beside them and fight with them for victory in their hearts.  

New beginnings are exciting...and overwhelming.  Remember Daniel 11:32?  "But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits."  Don't just dream.  Take action,  Sometimes action begins with the smallest of steps, and that's OK.  A little at a time, a little each day can take you a very long way towards your goal.  Don't forget to link up and share with us your dreams, goals and plans for 2013!

Wishing you a day full of blessings,

Christy

Take Action

The beginning of the school year and the beginning of the New Year are my two favorite times of the year!  They are the times when I get to sit down and make out lists - lists of goals, lists of priorities, lists of schedules, lists of books to help me, lists of habits to work on and for good measure...a list of all my lists!  It's a blast!  I love lists!  With all these lists, though, there comes one small problem.  It's called the...ummm....doing of the list.  The lists are of no value unless I begin to do the things that are on them, and I find that to be a HUGE challenge!  

I found a verse in Daniel that I had never noticed before.  Daniel 11:32b, "but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits."  I was studying out that do exploits there because I wasn't sure exactly what God classifies an exploit as.  I mean to me an exploit is changing one of the newbie's diapers - you know the kind that are up to his neck!  I digress...Anyway, the word exploit could really be replaced with the words "take action."  This verse was extremely challenging to me!  Because I know my God, I will be strong and take action.  I am so thankful that because my God is so extraordinarily powerful, He can (and will) enable me to take action in what needs to be accomplished - whether it be a physical goal, a spiritual  goal, or just the small but seemingly impossible task of making it through the changing of another dirty diaper or the wiping of another snotty nose or the preparing of another meal!  Because of who our God is, we can take the next step - however big or small it may be!  It does not matter who we are, where we are, or what we are trying to do, if God has called us to it, we can also know that God will give us the ability to take action! 

Isn't this an amazing verse?  It has been an invaluable encouragement to me these last couple of weeks as I have begun implementing all of my goals and lists!  It hasn't all been successful, but it has been a start.  I do not want to be a fearful, unsure, sit on the sidelines and watch Christian.  I want to be a bold, "take action"  child of God relying on His strength for the next step!  How about you?

Wishing you a day full of blessings!

Christy

My Word for 2013!

Hi there!  It's been a little while - quite a little while actually - since I've written.  Between family fun, Christmas happenings, and sick kiddos (seemingly becoming the story of our lives here!), I have not had much time to spare.  A few weeks ago, I wrote about my word for 2012, and I told you that I would share with you my new word for 2013.  So...it's a little later than I had planned for the great revealing, but here it is...My word for 2013 is RELATIONSHIPS!

I know you can take this word many different directions and do many different things with it, and so I have spent some time thinking and narrowing down the endless possibilities that are within this one word.  Here are a few goals that I have for my relationships this year. (Yes, it's in a handy-dandy list as usual!)

1. GROWING - I want to make more time to nurture the relationships that I already have.  I have decided that the best place I can begin this at is my relationship with Jesus.  I want to abide deeply in Him this year, and I particularly want to focus on the area of prayer.  I also want to make more time to really BE with my husband and kiddos.  I need to take the time to look into their eyes deeply as they talk to me, to put aside what I am doing to help them or play with them, to pray for them in a more consistent routine, to stop everything to help them solve their problems.  People make relationships...not things or lists, and I want to make sure that this year I take my focus away from the ever present to do list and place it on my very time-limited relationships.

2.  BUILDING - I would also love to make more time to begin new relationships.  My comfort zone loves to be filled full of people....ummm....that I know very well.  It is a challenge for me to put myself in front of someone that I do not know well and have a smooth conversation with them that does not leave me feeling like a complete fool.  However, I do love people - once I get to know them.  The Mr. and I have made a list of people to have over to our house this year.  Guess who Mr. Practical chose for the top of the list?  Someone I do not know very well...and he did it on purpose!  It's good for me, though, and I know that with practice (and much, much prayer), it will become easier for me to build new relationships with others.

3.  PURPOSEFUL - With all the above being said, I realize that the biggest need in any relationship is TIME, and unfortunately, I am only given 24 hours each day.  In order to be a blessing to anyone, I must be purposeful about the relationships I invest my time in.  This does not mean that I make a circle of people I enjoy being with and become snooty to those "outside my circle."  Absolutely not!  It does mean that I must prioritize relationships.  In other words, there will be times I will need to say no to a friend because my family needs me.  There may be times when I request permission from the Mr. to temporarily let go of some of my home duties so that I can help a friend in need.  It means my house may not be perfectly clean every day.  It may mean that there are some days when my house becomes amazingly neat and clean!  (It can happen...I think!) It means taking the time each day to listen to the Holy Spirit lead me to the people who He has planned to reach out to that day. 

I am excited about 2013 and all that it might hold for me and my family!  I hope you are too!  What word will you use to center your year?  I'd love to hear.  I am going to do my very best to post a Joyful Mom Monday link-up next week (assuming my kids finally climb out of the sick pit).  The topic will be Goals You Have for 2013.  These do not necessarily need to be resolutions, but I do hope you have begun asking yourself what changes you can make in your life to make you a more joyful Christian or mom this year!  I would love for you to link up and let us know how God is working in your life to make you more like Him. I'll leave you with the verses I have chosen to go along with my word RELATIONSHIP.

Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. ~John 15:5

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall a l men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  ~John 13:34-35

Wishing you a day full of blessings,

Christy