January Re-Cap

Like many people, I started 2019 with grandiose ideas about things I planned to do and accomplish. So, now that January is a memory and February is upon us, it is time to see how those plans went.

Planner/Organization: This year I've selected two print your own planners to use. I'm using the Print and Go planner for personal/home use and the Momentum Planner for work. The Print and Go Planner has am emphasis on meal planning so I've been doing a really good job on planning dinners. I've also been doing a better job of planning my lunches which I usually take to work. My kids eat at school and my husband plans his own lunches so they are on their own. I hope to work into planning breakfast as well. The planning pages also have a spot for "To Do This Week" which I've re-imagined as "What am I going to wear." I have found it very helpful to plan my outfits according to my calendar and the weather. I've found myself wearing a wider variety of outfits instead of grabbing the same things all of the time.

Physical Health: Like many people, I want to improve my health. So far in January, I've been eating better because I'm planning my meals. The biggest change I've made has been in my what I'm drinking. I worked really hard in January to drink water instead of my typical diet coke or coke zero. While I didn't go completely soda free, I can count on one hand the number of times I had any soda during the month of January which I a huge victory for me. I'm hoping to keep it up and truly drink soda only for special occasions. My downfall during this month has been my exercise. I started out well but then dropped off after having a sick day. I'm hoping February will get me back on track.

Spiritual Life: I've been tackling several different options for my spiritual life this year. When the year began I decided I wanted to be more intentional about my Bible reading. So I planned to read through the Bible using The Books of the Bible which is the Bible without chapter and verse numbers. It's designed to simply read like a book. However, my church then announced a plan to read through the New Testament using a chapter a day format with weekends off. I decided to use the New Testament plan for daily reading as I am reading with a larger group of people. I'm also reading with my family and we have a text group where we give a brief "what did we learn" or "what stuck out" synopsis of each day's reading. I'm still using The Books of the Bible to sit down and read larger chunks of scripture and plan to read it entirely during this year but at a slower pace.

I'm also using two devotional books. One is a weekly devotional geared around the lectionary/church year titled Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Reading Lectionary Cycle C from InterVarsity Press. My church doesn't follow the lectionary but I am finding this resource very useful as it lists the readings for each week and has excerpts from various church fathers. Sometimes I read this on Sunday afternoon or another day early in the week. For daily devotions, I'm reading A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Upper Room Books. This resource is also centered around the lectionary but has daily scripture readings listed for all three lectionary years as well as excerpts from a variety of books. I will admit while I try for daily Monday through Saturday, sometimes I double-up when I have missed a day. Fortunately, with several different plans, I am in God's word at some point each day. These resources and several others also provide a variety of prayer prompts each day.

Beyond these three items, there are a variety of items on my "hope to do" list such as various things to read and subjects to learn about, potential writing projects, and a variety of other things. I also continually try to get our home in order but that's a post for another day. For now, my February plans are to reboot my exercise plan, continue to plan my meals and clothes, and to be in the Word consistently.

How was your January and what are you goals for February? I'd love to hear how your 2019 is going!

Word for 2019

For several years now, choosing a Word of the Year has been one of those "New Year" things that many people tend to do. While I had flirted with the idea of choosing a word for the year previously, I will confess I have not experienced success with selecting a word that stuck with me and impacted my daily life. So, as December rolled around I saw where several friends chose their word of the year and several bloggers I follow had a series of blogs about choosing your word of the year. Given my previous experiences I did not sit down with determination to select a word but allowed the idea to germinate as I considered other potential "New Year" goals.

Before Christmas I drove to St. Louis for the day. While driving down the interstate, I had a word pop into my mind that really resonated with me. Over the last two weeks, I have continued to mull over and consider this word as a possible word for the year. I have found the word "Intentional" is quite applicable to the other goals I have for the coming year. So during 2019 I plan to be intentional about life rather than just letting life happen. So, there will be some "go with the flow" because sometimes there has to be and that it will be an intentional choice not to make a fuss about something. I plan to be intentional about what I do, how I spend my time, what I put into my life in terms of physical, spiritual, and mental nourishment, and what I put into other people by speaking and writing positively. Intentional sums up my attitude and plans for 2019 yet does not pigeon hole what I plan to do.

As we begin a new year, a fresh start, and all those things, do you have a word for your year? Are you planning to pursue specific plans or goals? Share a comment describing your word, goals, or plans.

January Goals Re-Cap

This year rather than making huge goals for the entire year, I have decided to make smaller goals for each month. January flew by very quickly, and now we are already to February! Looking back on my January goals I did not meet each goal, yet I did make progress in each area. As the FlyLady reminds us, "Progress not perfection!"

Our church is doing a read through the New Testament plan which is one chapter per day Monday through Friday. January's reading were the book of Mark and the first 5 chapters of Acts which I finished. As a family we also listened to Mark on CD and will be beginning Acts soon. I found an Old Testament reading plan with is 3 chapters per day Monday through Friday as well. I'm behind in this reading but anticipate catching up through a combination of reading and listening.

Reading is my escape and the one thing I will make time for in my day no matter what else is happening. My favorite thing to do is to curl up with a book and something yummy to drink. I enjoy writing book reviews for several publication as well as my own blog. I had not been faithful in writing reviews over the past year and desired to step up in my reviewing for this year. I was pleased in January to submit a review for The Christian Librarian,a professional publication, as well as post two reviews on my blog. I'm also quite excited to have received two books that I'm reviewing for The Englewood Review of Books as well as having two more books on the way for The Christian Librarian. Stay tuned for several reviews to appear here as well thanks to NetGalley and other fun things I find to read.

Exercise seems to me at the top of most everyone's goal list and mine included. My goal for January was a modest 150 minutes of cardio exercise per week. While I started out well in early January, I promptly fell off the bandwagon. So for February, I'm planning for 150 minutes a week again. I like having a minute goal versus a daily goal. This goal allows the option of spending a longer amount of exercise on one day in case you miss a day although I aim for the recommended 30 minutes per day.

I had hoped to have a one-on-one date with each family member during January. While this didn't happen, we had multiple enjoyable outings and activities with the entire family. Hopefully, the individual outings will occur this month.

Another of my goals was to complete the Babysteps as outlined by FlyLady. I didn't make it through all 31 steps but am farther along than previously. I can report that I now have a shiny sink. I'm working on training my family not to put dirty dishes in the sink but to immediately put items in the dishwasher.

This is only a peek at a portion of our January activities. While I didn't cross off all my goals, I took steps in the right direction and will hopefully continue to do so in February.

New Year's

That grand day of the year when everyone resolves to do this, that, and the other has arrived. This ritual has been a source of much contemplation the past few days as I have tried to figure out what I would like to do that stretches but does not set up certain failure. My list includes the ubiquitous exercising more, being more faithful in my devotional life, better parenting, keeping a cleaner/more organized home, etc. James Emery White's recent post added to this mix as I contemplated things to stop doing such as less time spent on the computer.

Well today, I received inspiration from Dear Abby's annual New Year's column. Her column emphasizes "just today" I'll do this. Focusing on today instead of yesterday, last year, or next week resonated with me. However, as I pondered this idea and implementing it, "just today" morphed into "one thing." So for 2008 "What one thing today?" is my constant question. What one thing can I do to benefit my health? To strengthen my walk with God? To be a better parent, wife, employee? Stay tuned for more details on how this continues and what other incentives or tools I add.