New Year's Thoughts

I'm really excited about this year. Last year was absolutely wonderful with the birth of my sweet Abbi Grace, and I am so thankful for her! It was a precious time. But with the birth of a child also comes a season of "just making it through each day." I definitely had a long stretch of never being able to get all the dishes washed, the laundry done, and the floors cleared. I was happy just to have meals made and reading time with my girls before crashing onto the couch, utterly exhausted, after putting them to bed. I don't really know what this year holds, but I am hoping to be a lot more purposeful with my time. Sometimes it seems a little silly to make a lot of New Years Resolutions because hardly anyone keeps them and what is so special about January 1st, anyways? I can make a resolution any day of the year. But I have to admit that I've been kind of excited for all the traveling to cease and for us to get back to a normal routine so that I can focus on some things that I've neglected. I thought I'd share some of my shortcomings from last year and goals for the new year with you.

1. Getting back to our budget -- We listened to the awesome Dave Ramsey CD's about a year and a half ago and made a new budget and did great with it.... for a time. But we stopped being so strict and we really need to start saving more money again. I have to admit, I'm a big fan of a good deal and have several deal blogs that I follow. But it doesn't really save me money if I keep using the money I save (and sometimes more) to snatch up the next good deal! So we are trying to get back to cash and debit-card only purchases to keep us in our budget. And I am really trying to ask myself before every purchase, "Do we really need this?" rather than "Is this a fabulous deal that my family could use?"

2. Planning a-get-away with my husband -- We were not able to do much for our 5th anniversary because I was nursing Karlie and we've been wanting to take a little trip together ever since. We have not had more than one night away from the kids since we had Karis 4.5 years ago! So this year I am determined to get away for at least a long weekend with my love once Abbi gives up nursing.

3. Throwing things away -- I am slowly going through each nook and cranny of my house and trying to throw (or give) away as much as possible. I have found that it is impossible to be organized when I have too much stuff. I have a hard time throwing away things that are given to us (even if we don't need them) and things my children make. (Even though they each make me about 10 pages of artwork a day.) We have too many clothes and too many toys. I am taking pictures of my girls' artwork and tossing most of the originals. I am going through their clothes and only keeping what will easily fit in their closet that they wear the most. Toys that don't have a good spot out of sight will be given away.

4. Going to bed earlier (so I can get up earlier!) -- My big girls are not allowed to come out of their room in the morning until their clock wakes up and my baby consistently sleeps until 8am, so I really have no good reason to not be able to get up and have my devotions and get breakfast all ready before I even see their cheery faces. Unfortunately, Mark and I have gotten into the habit of staying up too late and it makes getting up early much more difficult and I end up dragging all day. It is not worth it! We've started off our first week of the New Year by going to bed earlier and boy does it make a difference! (And it has the added bonus of having enough energy to stay awake and chat and enjoy each other rather than conking out immediately :)

5. Planning out all my meals for the month -- I used to do this regularly before Abbi was born, but I took a break and found myself scrounging for meals in a hurry. It also saves time and money to plan it for the month because I don't have to go to the store as often. So I made my plan for January and it has already made my life so much easier this week!

Scripture Memory in 2011--Partnering to Remember

As Christmas ends, we often turn our thoughts toward the New Year, and how we would like to do things differently or better. Call them goals or resolutions, many of us hope to improve ourselves in some way in the new year.

My husband and I do not often make New Year's Resolutions, but this year we are both working towards a goal of memorizing the book of Philippians. A friend of ours, Tim Brister, has put together a 16 week plan that has us completing the memorization by Easter week. You can read all about it here: Partnering to Remember--the 2011 Philippians Memory Moleskine. If you are interested in participating, it is easy to download the PDF and set up your little memory verse notebook. Tim helps with the set-up of a memory moleskine.

I have referenced this before, and Tim makes use of it as well, but my pastor Andy Davis's booklet on Extended Memorization of Scripture is very helpful for projects like this! Our church is encouraging its members to take part in this memorization 'project', and Nathan and I hope to encourage our small group and Sunday School class to participate as well. Can you imagine what a blessing will come from a group of believers partnering together to memorize God's word? I am very excited about it.

This may seem like a daunting prospect, especially for me since I am expecting a baby any day now. However, though I may not have time for in-depth Bible Study during the early (sleep deprived) newborn days, I have 6-8 times a day that I will be nursing--and what a wonderful time to review and meditate on Scripture! My memory moleskine is pocket sized and perfect for reviewing during midnight nursing sessions :-)

Just in case anyone is interested, I have posted pictures below of my notebook (I followed Timmy's set-up, but I did make my cover a little more 'girly'--it helps distinguish between my notebook and Nathan's notebook). I am praying for the Lord to bless this endeavor, and I would love for you to participate with me! Let me know if you decide to, and we can hold each other accountable!






Two last notes: Tim has a post up today with some Tips for memorization and meditation. Also, I bought my Moleskine notebooks on Amazon.com (in packs of three), and I have one or two left if any local readers want one. Blessings to you in the New Year!

Christina's 2010 Resolutions

I hope you all had a great Christmas. Like Leah, I thought it would be fun to look back over my 2009 resolutions and see how I did. I'm kind of scared to post the progress (or lack of progress). Sidenote - the Christmas pictures in this post are me lamenting the fact that we skipped the Christmas Tour of Homes week. I was so looking forward to that week - but I guess we all got a little busy. Just a little...

My 2009 Resolution Updates:

1. Stop procrastinating - Umm, this will likely always be a struggle for me.

2. 5am Club consistency - Does 6am club count? That's pretty much my wake up time. But I think I'm ok with 6am. It gives me time to do what I need to do. The holidays really ruined this for me as I got used to staying up super late to finish projects, wrap presents or cook and then had trouble waking up with my alarm.

3. Improve homemaking skills - Although this isn't measurable, I do think I've improved some systems in this area. A new system has recently simplified my laundry.

4. Find balance with coupons and bargain shopping - It's funny to me that a year ago I was worried about spending too much time on this and lately I've felt as though I needed to devote a little more time to it. I've been a little slack in using my coupons and have had many weeks lately where I don't use them. I'm starting to feel it in our budget, so its time to buckle down once again.

5. More intentional with friendships - I do think we have done a better job with being intentional about deepening relationships with our friends. Planning these well in advance has allowed us to have several families over for meals each month. We have really enjoyed these times.

6. Intentional sharing our faith with neighbors - Doors have really been opened in this area in the past year and I know more neighbors now than anytime in the past 5 years. I've been able to share some with some little girls in our neighborhood and am building a relationship with their Mom as well. It's fun and exciting!

7. Potty train Will. Done! Well, we still wear pull up at sleep times, but I'm starting to see those days may soon be over! Hooray!

8. Finish baby books for Will and Adeline. Apparently this one has been on my "to-do" list for more than a year now. Still not done.

9. Exercise. Thanks to Jillian Michaels - I had a promising spurt a while ago, but the holidays have stalled that progress. My YMCA membership has been dormant as well.

10. Begin process for overseas work. Excited to report that we've spent the last year trucking through that process and our timeline is currently to move in early 2011.


Now for 2010...

First of all - 10 resolutions is ridiculous. All of these things I've listed are processes and not really measurable goals. This year I'm sticking to 3. I like that number much better. I'm also going to have measurable goals.


1. Finish baby books for Will and Adeline.

2. Exercise at least 4 times per week for at least 20 minutes (the length of Jillian's 30 Day Shred video).

3. Lose 30 pounds. I am TERRIFIED to publicly post this goal, but there it is! The past two years have brought some health issues that have contributed to some significant weight gain for me. But those issues are long gone and now I'm hanging on to that weight - plus whatever I had gained from pregnancies. 30 pounds over a year is about 2.5 pounds per month. I'm working on my plan to do this right now. Exercise is going to be one of the biggest ways I do this.

Anyone else setting some serious health goals this year? Whether weight loss, healthy eating, exercise, etc? Please tell me I'm not alone... :)

Leah's Resolutions for 2010

Before I list my 2010 Resolutions, I wanted to revisit my 2009 resolutions and see how I did. Here's the rundown:
-Read through the Bible, noting God's mercy and compassion. Didn't do.
-Spend $50 or less average on groceries each week. Accomplished.
-Take my prenatal vitamin, fiber supplement, and use my estrogen supplement. No longer necessary.
-Continue to limit my time on the computer. Accomplished.
-Stop watching Grey's Anatomy. Accomplished.
-Be intimate with my husband __ times/week. Needs work.
-Write things in the checkbook. We went to an all cash system.
-Do Quicken. Didn't do.
-Ask Ed before spending money. Resolved with our cash envelope system.
-Keep a short prayer list in my Bible and pray for them daily. Didn't do.
-Do memory verse with Samuel. Accomplished (AWANA helped greatly).
-Make cleaning schedule and STICK TO IT. Didn't do.
-Actively find ways to respect Ed. Needs work.
I had a rough year healthwise that made a few of these tough to work on. But there are a few that I just dropped the ball on.

So here are my resolutions for 2010. I have one for Mind, one for Body, one for Spirit, and one for Family.

Mind: Read six parenting books (1 every 2 months).
Body: Spend the first six months of 2010 healing and adjusting to my new digestive track. Spend the last six months building up an exercise routine (walking regularly and lifting light weights at home to tone).
Spirit: Stick to a read through the Bible schedule and keep a short prayer list in my Bible to pray daily (trying this one again!).
Family: Make a family Scripture Memory System box and work on it regularly.
And one more: Send a birthday card to each family member/close friend this year.

Do you make resolutions? Do you want to share any of yours with us? Do you have any questions about mine? Let me know!

Christina's 2009 Resolutions

1. Stop procrastinating!

This has always been a terrible habit of mine. This week was especially bad because it was my week to start out our topic! (We each have "assigned" weeks to start the topic.) I really dropped the ball on that one! The sad part is, I really have NO excuse. This wasn't a terribly busy week - no one was sick - nothing out of the ordinary. So, thanks Leah and Hollie for picking up my slack! I am not just saying this because of my delinquency with posting. It extends into many other areas of my life!

2. Be more consistent with my "5am Club" membership. (Remember our discussion from the Shopping for Time book club?) It's actually the 6am club for me, but I've not been consistent. I actually get up that early maybe 3 days a week? Those are ALWAYS my best days too. I get more time in the Word and get things together before the kids get up.

3. Improve my housekeeping and homemaking skills in order to get more done during the day and have more time spend with Jacob when he gets home! With three kids here during the day (I keep a one year old along with my two) - its been a challenge to get as many chores done during the day.

4. Find a new balance with bargain shopping, coupon clipping and money saving habits. Jacob has never complained about the amount of time I spend with my coupons and grocery lists. Mainly because he's seen the savings and loves it. But, I'm starting to grow weary! I want to continue sticking to our greatly improved (lowered) grocery budget, but shorten the time I spend doing it. I have definitely seen that my couponing is taking less time with more practice, but I want to spend even less!

5. Be more intentional with our friendships. Jacob and I noticed a sharp decline in the number of Christmas cards we received this year. I do think it may be partly due to the fact that we don't send one ourselves. However, when we looked back through stacks of cards from previous years (yes, I keep them all in neatly labeled baggies) we realized that many were friends we had simply lost touch with. Neither Jacob nor I have ever been very good at this and it takes a great effort. Many of the friends that we have made since being married were from our wonderful Young Married Sunday school class. Probably 50% of them have moved away and we are no longer in the class. (We teach two year olds on Sunday mornings - intense!) So, who's coming to dinner?

6. Be more intentional with sharing our faith - mainly with our neighbors. Like Hollie - we have lived here for almost 5 years and have had far fewer interactions with our neighbors. While we know and love many of them, our relationships have hardly gone beyond conversations that take place outside. Any practical ideas?

7. Get Will potty trained. Man, we're struggling so much with this! We started just before Thanksgiving and have made very little progress. He rarely fights us and refuses, so he's willing - but I'm not so sure he's able anymore. I'm wondering if this is another situation where he WANTS to do it - but physically he's not able yet. He still poops 4-5 times a day. At least! Because of that, I did go to pull ups pretty quickly. The pull-ups have halted our progress with peeing in the potty as its too easy for him to just not hold it and go in the pull up. But they sure help my sanity when cleaning up that many poops. He gets so sad when he tells me he has poopy underwear, although we've not scolded him for it yet. I just don't know what to do! We're considering dropping it totally and retrying it in about three months or so. Anyone stories or advice to stop or not? He's 2 years, 7 months right now.

8. Finish BOTH Adeline and Will's BABY books. This is ridiculous - but Will has a half completed baby book. Talk about procrastination!? My Mom just gave me my baby book this Christmas and I loved looking at it again. I want my kids to have that as well in 25 years. Interestingly - after looking at all three baby books (mine, Will and Adeline's) I learned that we all got our first tooth at almost exactly the same age! It was about 9 days difference total! I had always heard it was genetic. Weird!

9. Stop making excuses and just exercise! I used the Y before I had Will and loved the variety of the classes offered at ours. I did kickboxing, pilates, yoga, hip hop and some strength training. But now, I'm not sure I can justify the cost with the amount of time I have. I don't think I'll use it as fully as I once did. Plus, if our house sells in the near future, I don't know how close I'll live to another branch or if I can even transfer my membership. The most routine exercising I've done since having Adeline has been our 2 mile walks. We have a route through the neighborhood, but I can promise you that I have not seen that path in the past month at least. Between the holidays and cold weather - it just hasn't happened! I definitely need an alternative! We're considering a Wii fit. Does anyone have one that they use regularly for exercise? Is it lame? That's my main concern.

10. Officially begin the process to head overseas! We've known since before we got married that this is where we would be someday. Its so exciting to see the Lord knitting all the details together! However, for any of you reading that already live overseas or are in the process - you know how LONG it all can take. I'm not really certain of how many details I should publish here, so I'll just answer the two questions that are always asked first. WHEN? At least 18 months from now. (I've been saying that for about 6 months though! Ha!) WHERE? Central Asia. Please pray for us - I'm currently a little overwhelmed at it all.


So there they are. Better late than never, right? Actually, I've never liked that cliche. Maybe because I always heard it in relation to my students turning in their assignments late. I can totally relate to them now.

One more note about New Years resolutions. I rarely put them to paper - mainly because our habit has become to evaluate our marriage, family and personal walks at our anniversary in October. This started on our honeymoon and I look forward to talking about it during that time each year. But, for the sake of the blog - I included some of them here. I also feel as though we are constantly re-evaluating our lives throughout the year. Although, the first of the year is certainly a great time to put them to paper in order to hold ourselves accountable to those tasks that we need to work on!

Anyone else have resolutions to share?

Leah's 2009 Resolutions

These are my resolutions for the year 2009, NOT that I have 2009 resolutions!

I sat down to make my list at the end of November. I wanted to think through what I would focus on this year and try to concentrate on what was most important. To help me do that, I first thought through "My Job Description" and "My Duties". Here's how it goes:

My Job Description
-To love God and keep His commandments
-To love my hsuband and show him honor and respect in the way I speak and act
-To love my children and train them up in the way of the Lord
-To love my Christian sister and teach her to be self-controlled, pure, a hard worker at home, kind, and submissive

My Duties
-Read my Bible and pray daily
-Reflect on God's characteristics
-Listen to Ed and respect what he says
-Read the Bible to the boys and talk to them about God
-Teach other women
-Be a hard worker at home by...
-Cleaning daily
-Cooking
-Meal planning
-Doing laundry
-Grocery shopping

Thinking through these things helped me to see weaknesses in my life and come up with a better list of goals to work on. Here's what I came up with:

-Read through the Bible, noting God's mercy and compassion. It helps me to have a task at hand when I sit down to read the Word.
-Spend $50 or less average on groceries each week. This is a goal that will take me all year to work my way towards. I am at about $100/week right now. I'm trying to gradually take it down by re-evaluating my meals, buying less convenience food, and stocking up when I find good prices. I hope to be at this goal by the end of the year.
-Take my prenatal vitamin, fiber supplement, and use my estrogen supplement every day. I am absolutely HORRIBLE about consistently taking medicine.
-Continue to limit my time on the computer. I have cut back a lot the past month or so and I want to keep this up. I want to spend time with my family and working on my home instead of wasting all sorts of time doing silly things (Facebook time warp, anyone?)
-Stop watching Grey's Anatomy. I like watching this show but sometimes it is a bit too much for me and so I decided to just stop watching it. I haven't missed it.
-Be intimate with my husband __ times/week. I'm too embarrassed to write the number, but let's just say it's more than what we have been doing! :) Ed works from 3pm-11pm and so this is such a tough area for us. I am trying really hard to be more open to intimacy. I'm also embarrassed b/c I'm pretty sure my mom reads this blog!
-Write things in the checkbook. I stink at this and it drives my husband crazy.
-Do Quicken. Ugh, my parents have harped on me for years to do Quicken and I don't know why I don't b/c it is so great, but I think it is the consistency thing that always messes me up. To be honest, it is Jan. 16th and I still haven't started!
-Ask Ed before spending money. He has asked me time and again to do this. I am trying to keep it up in order to honor him.
-Keep a short prayer list in my Bible and pray for them daily. I have an empty slot now because Hollie is pregnant! Praise God!
-Do memory verse with Samuel. Haven't worked on this one yet either.
-Make cleaning schedule and STICK TO IT. Ugh, I hate to clean.
-Actively find ways to respect Ed, namely in the way I speak to him. I'm really embarrassed as I type this because he just left the house for work after I made a sarcastic comment to him! We are both very sarcastic people and it can be so easy to make cuts at each other with our words in the name of "just teasing" or "just being funny."

That's mine! I am nervous for the end of the year to come around and I will have to face these IN PRINT. Yikes.

Hollie's New Year's Resolutions

Being the list-maker that I am, I could probably come up with a dreamy list of how many things I am going to do differently this year. BUT...that wouldn't be realistic, and I'd set myself up for failure. I'm a dreamer at heart anyways, so boiling my "wants" and "desires" down to just the bare bones is somewhat difficult. But I'll give you five biggies. These are domestic in nature. My spiritual resolutions will need another post! I might add a few more resolutions as the week goes on. Here they are:

1.) Plan out my meals (round two): I started doing this a while back, but didn't follow through with it. Any kind of new, drastic change in my lifestyle that demands continuous attention and planning, usually takes a few times for it to really "stick." And if I really want it, I'll come back for round two or three. Eventually, it happens. I can't think of anything more liberating for me than this. I told my husband Hugh the other night that I didn't find cooking as enjoyable as I did when we first got married, and I am a lover of home-cooked foods. But the joys are gone because I see it more of a mundane task that I'm obligated to instead of an opportunity to explore new worlds and send my taste buds dancing. Part of the reason might be that my daughter is quite the picky eater, and I don't have the desire or the energy to make two different meals at dinner-time. I LOVE food. I really do. I've met people who just aren't "food lovers," and I seriously cannot comprehend how they just don't get excited over food. Mmm! I think that making this change in our home will once again relight that flame of enjoying cooking once again. That leads me to my next resolution...

2.) Opening my home: If I can tackle resolution number one, then number two will follow suite so much more easily. When I was younger, I always hoped to have a very "open" home for my kids and their friends at which to hang out. I always wanted the "hang out" house growing up. And to this day, I still desire that for my family. But I can't wait until my children are all grown up and in high school. If I wait that long, it'll never happen. I'll be too set in my ways by then. I have to start now. I want to have people/families once a week or a few times a month. And since people love to eat, if I can get organized with meals, then I can feel the freedom to invite until my heart's content and it not be a stressful burden on me. Want to hear an awful confession? We've lived in our home for three years now and have not ONCE had our neighbors over for dinner. Ouch! Man, that hurts to even confess that to myself, much less the blogging POH world. But now that I've said it, I'm accountable to it. Whew. We absolutely LOVE our neighbors, hang out in our yards in the hot, Summery and Fall months, and even email at times. But just going to the yard and chatting it up for 20 minutes doesn't cut it with me. I want our children growing up knowing that it's a normal thing to have friends and family over to "do life" together. Not only neighbors, but younger couples and couples that after which we want to pattern our lives/marriage. So, who's first? :)

3.) Clearing the Clutter: I'm a crammer. I can't stand to "see" clutter in my living spaces, so my living room, kitchen, and other rooms mostly have things off the ground, in their cubby or place. But don't YOU DARE open my coat/shoes closet, can cabinet, spice cabinet, linen or sewing closet. You might get bonked in the head. And here's the ironic part, I LOVE organization, and I'll organize to a "T". But if you don't maintain well, you won't be organized. When push comes to shove, I shove. Ha! When people come over with their toddlers, the little cutie pies that love opening doors and cabinets, I start sweating. When I see those chubby, dimpled fingers heading for the knobs on my buffet, I start hearing the music to "Jaws". (Duh-nunt, duh-nunt, duh-nunt....) My eyes get big and everything goes into slow motion. About that time, I'm screaming in my head "Noooooo!!!!!! Don't open that door!" That might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but I have indeed been there before. When I do my homework and everything is organized, I really am so excited when those chubby fingers open the cabinet doors. I love it! It's like a pat on the back!

4.) Embrace a hobby: I love to sew and create. It's a "high" for me. I love to step back and see my finished product with pride in my heart. I want the next seven months to be saturated with sewing. Why just seven months and not the whole year? For all of you who don't know, I'm two months pregnant! There will be no sewing from Sept-Dec 2009 and well into 2010, so I really want to seize this desire to sew to the fullest. I'm in the middle of a few projects right now, but I'm so so tired being that I'm only 8 weeks along and in the thick of "morning sickness" and fatigue. Whew! I want to be able to give homemade gifts, so I need to be organized in knowing birthdays and knowing what I want to give to my family for Christmas.

5.) Home-made Pasta/tortillas: Last year I was determined to start making our own, incredibly nutritious bread and never have to feel tied to buying stale store-bought bread again. I did it and haven't looked back. Is it tough and tiresome at times? Heck yeah it is, but the benefits far outweigh the costs. I was so overwhelmed last year, wanting to make all of these changes at once, which is impossible. This year I want to make our own pasta. Why? I know the benefits of freshly-milled grain and not just that but freshly milled grain that has been soaked overnight. It's so amazingly beneficial for you. So, I want to soak my grain and using my Kitchen Aid Mixer (with the pasta attachments that I don't have yet), I would make my own pasta. I'm telling you, I get excited just thinking about it! I also just ordered a tortilla press where I can make my own corn tortillas/shells/chips! I might can only do one of these, but I want to at least tackle one. If I had my preference, it would be the pasta, but buying these attachments isn't cheap.

We would LOVE to hear from you, even if it's just ONE New Years Resolution that you're determined to tackle! Stay tuned for more.....I just might be back to add to this list!