2012: January Goal Update

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that when I wrote this post at the end of December, I may have been aiming a little too high. Certainly, the goals that I set were honorable and worthy of attempting to achieve, however, they were a bit too lofty for the season of life that I am currently in. When I first began to realize this, I felt like a failure. I felt as though I was not living up to my full potential, not doing the very best that I could do. It was at that point that my husband gently reminded me to take a look at the priorities that I set for myself. He reminded me that, although I may not have met each one of my specific goals during the month of January, I still stuck to the priorities that I set for myself. He also reminded me to extend some grace to myself.

So, in an effort to be open and honest, I am going to evaluate the goals that I set and share what worked in January, what did not work and how I restructured to (hopefully!) better fit this season of life.

Personal 

• Exercise at least three times a week { While this is still my goal, I probably averaged two times a week throughout the month of January. } 
• Read through the Bible in a year chronologically { I did not maintain this. See the new plan here. }
• Read twelve enriching books { I read Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. }
• Drink 1 gallon of water daily { While this is still my goal, I probably managed to do this 2-3 times a week, while getting 64-96 ounces a day the rest of the month. }
• Memorize 12 new Bible verses { Instead of memorizing individual verses, I have decided to memorize the whole book of Ephesians. This may sound more lofty than 12 verses, but I assure you, memorizing a book at a time is MUCH easier. I committed the entire book of Romans to memory for a class in college and found that much easier to complete than the individual verses for other classes that same semester. Plus, I think there is more spiritual benefit to memorizing chapters and books at a time rather than verses here and there. }

Kitchen/Home

• Attempt four new cooking projects { I attempted homemade greek yogurt. We did not like it, so, I continue to buy our yogurt. }
• Serve fish for dinner once a week { While this is still my goal, I only served fish three times during the month of January. }
• Continue to "green up" our cleaning and personal care products { I made our own laundry detergent for the first time. It works great and you can find the recipe here }
• Do a seasonal Craigslist/Goodwill sweep { I decided that we are going to have a garage sale in the spring/summer before we move, so we currently have a growing pile in our bedroom of garage sale items. } 
• Create and maintain a cleaning schedule { I have done pretty well with this, except for this week due to illness. I will be posting it soon. }

Marriage

• Once a month out of the house dates with my husband { While this is still our goal, it did not happen in January. My husband takes full responsibility, since January was his month to plan! }
• Once a week in house dates with my husband { We achieved this! We played a game together, watched a movie, made dessert together and had a "grown-up" dinner after Julian was asleep. }
• Read 5 books together { While this is still our goal, we did not start any of the books in January }
• Encourage each other daily { This is ongoing, of course, and has been fun for us to find creative ways to achieve. }

Children

• Have a weekly family night { While this is still our goal, we are finding that night is not the best time! We are taking advantage of my husband's variable schedule and finding family time during the day. We took Julian to the zoo and went grocery shopping as a family. }
• Read from the Jesus Storybook Bible together daily { We have achieved this! Due to my husband's work schedule, it does not always happen to be all three of us together, but Julian has heard from it daily. }
• Write in Julian's journal once a month { I wrote in his journal twice during January. }

Ministry/Friendships/Extended Family

• Have at least one family or friend over for a meal once a month { While this is still our goal, this did not happen in January due to extensive traveling on my husband's part. }
• Send a handwritten note/card to a friend or family member every other week { A more realistic goal is once a month. }
• Start and maintain monthly get-togethers with extended family { We achieved this! } 
• Continue to teach SS at our church { Still going strong with our 6 third grade boys! }

Financial

• Continue to tithe 10% of our income { Done. }
• Continue to support a missionary family { Done. }
• Have once a month budget meetings { Done and enjoyable! }

There you have it, my first goal update for 2012!