Last week I posted my BIG picture 2014 goals. These will be printed and hung in a million different places in the hopes that when I begin to get off track I will have something right before me to guide me back, to filter the day to day wonderings through.

I mentioned in that post that I named a lot of specific things that I want to see done in and through me in this year. I am posting here as a form of accountability. If I put it out there then hopefully you all will hold me to making these things happen!

PERSONAL

• Daily time in the Word & in prayer (Have a reading / studying plan)
• Intentionally planning my week, not just creating endless to-do lists but scheduling and prioritizing and cutting out that which is not a true priority.
• Invest in my home with my time, energy and mental focus.
• Make time for rest.
• Make time to play.
• Read 14 books 2014.
• Take an art class.
• Learn calligraphy.
• Send birthday cards.
• Write at least one thank you note a week.
• Intentionally plan days off with the kids. (and legitimately step away from work those days.)
• Plan ‘date days’ with Aaron
• Plan mommy-son/mommy-daughter dates.
• Exercise daily.  UGH. I got into a TERRIBLE rhythm of not exercising in 2013. TERRIBLE. It’s just unacceptable. We have been given these bodies and I do believe we are called to steward them well. And that means intentional exercise. This is absolutely not about a number or a size but about being and feeling healthy.
• Eat healthy.  It is really important to both Aaron and I that we pursue healthy eating as a family. This is obviously a consistent battle though because gross, bad-for-you food is just cheaper and easier.   
• More sleep. (i.e. go to bed!) I just absolutely did not sleep enough in 2013. No way. We took the tv out of our room a few months ago and already that has helped us be intentional about going to bed at a decent time. 
• Shower and get dressed. ha!!!  SERIOUSLY! AH! Why is this always pushed to the last of the daily priorities?! Part of my reasoning behind the Fashion & Style Series with Megan Michele is that I believe women are worth the time it takes to take care of their body and invest in themselves by actually getting dressed every day. 
• Simplify, cut the non-important.
• Invest in the women God has put in my life.
• Make disciples.
• Travel
• Social Media Sabbath 1 day a week.
• Phones away at 8pm.  It’s pretty pathetic that I had heart palpitations when we made this decision. Pathetic. Thankful we are pursuing this goal though and excited to see the fruit that I know will come from sticking with it. 
• Print pictures, make albums and photobooks. SERIOUSLY. This has been a goal for… I don’t know… 5 years now!!! Can I please just make it happen this year?!?!
• Write letters, prayers, memories to the kids (email or journal) Love this idea I found from a few different women (Lara Casey & Jessi of Naptime Diaries) of writing prayers, memories, funny things they say in an email (Lara has an email account for her daughter Gracie. What an absolute gift that will be to her one day!) or in a journal. (Jessi, has separate journals for each of her 4 children that she writes in.) 

MARRIAGE / FAMILY / PARENTING

• Have fun. Laugh.
• Maintain our budget and savings goals. We ended 2013 with a 4 hour financial counseling and budget meeting with super great friends of ours. We consistently kept a budget throughout 2013 but we were still struggling to find the peace within our finances and our new system is already working so great. TIP: We use Good Budget to track our spending and to essentially keep a cash envelope system but without actually pulling out the cash. There’s an app on both of our phones that sync up, so we can both see what we have left for the month, etc. 
• Go on a family vacation. Yes! The littles are getting bigger and we just want to make this a priority.
• Invite people into our home and love on them generously. (I LOVE having people in our home. But much of 2013 I had filled my calendar too full not leaving room for that which is really important, it was sometimes hard to say yes to people. Aaron and I made the decision to set aside one night of the week as our specific ministry night. Since Aaron is a pastor we have some obligatory type ministry like marriage counseling, etc. that has to be done but wanted to make sure that we were super intentional with our church body, friends, family, and neighbors. So we simply say at the beginning of the week “Who do you want to have over for dinner on Wednesday night?” It’s that simple and that wonderful. We consistently had people in our home last year and it makes my heart so full. I am excited to keep this routine through 2014 and to not have such a full plate that makes it hard for me to love generously. 
• Weekly time in the Word and in prayer with Aaron. (we started this last Thursday and it was amazing, hard, but amazing. We chose one night a week that we have set as sacred in our home. Our goal is to listen to God’s Word together and pray for one another and the children. We set aside an hour of time for this and last week that healthy conversation spilled over into hours. It was beautiful and I just really thank God for a husband who desires to nourish my soul. For those of you whose husband is not a believer, or maybe he is at a place where this idea of reading the Bible and praying together seems absolutely absurd, I would challenge you to set aside an hour of your week just to pray for your husband, that he would know the Lord and love him deeply and lead you well. During that time ask God to show you specific ways to minister to his heart would point him to Christ.)
  
• Weekly ‘family meeting’ with Aaron. We do this on Monday mornings. Sunday is a work day for my husband so we decided that getting up a few minutes earlier on Monday was a better solution than trying to squeeze this in on Sunday. We discuss each other’s schedules and appointments for the week (this is mostly so we are both keenly aware of each other’s day-to-day, so we can be praying for hard meetings, or difficult work projects (i.e. sermons he is preparing for), the budget (any area we are off track, need to cut down for the week, etc.) date night (where do we want to go, do we need a babysitter, etc.) ministry night, and anything else we need to talk about. We start this ‘meeting’ with a devotion and end with time in prayer for one another. Honestly, the first time we did this it ended in my crying. I think I was just overwhelmed and of course there is ALWAYS a spiritual battle going on for our marriages so I’m sure that played a part. The second time was beautiful and a real blessing to my heart and to our marriage. I’m looking forward to how God uses this seemingly simple time together in big ways this year.
• Weekly date nights with Aaron (even if its just an at-home date night after the kiddos are asleep.)
• Declutter & simplify home
• Prayer Sticks at the breakfast table
• Memorize Philippians as a family this year! hahaha. We will see how this goes.

BUSINESS

• Write and launch an ebook. I LOVE writing!! LOVE it! Pray for God’s direction and clear leading.
• Plan and see to fruition at least one workshop this year.
• Teach other women entrepreneurs through my failures and successes
• Take control of my business finances. (aka get my big girl business pants on and do the hard parts of running a business.)
• Design new products that I love and believe in.
• Start a podcast. 
  
• Encourage other pastor’s wives.
• Write more. Blog 3x a week.
• Simplify work flow & processes
• Declutter office, computer, online presence
• Hire a permanent assistant! eeeek!!!!

I don’t believe in holding too tightly to goals or plans. They are wonderful and useful and so purposeful because they get us moving and away from stagnation. The danger exists when we begin making the goal or the plan something we worship, something we are afraid of not fulfilling fully and our identity becomes wrapped up in the success or failure of those plans and goals.  The beauty is that God may lead me in a completely different direction. I prayed earnestly about this year, begging Him to lead and guide this planning process, specifically the goals within my business and while I feel Him directing me towards certain things right now I will not be surprised or discouraged or confused or feel like a failure when He leads me in a new direction and I must cross off one of the listed items above.

 Obviously a list as long (it’s SO long!! Sorry!!! I really just have to spell it all out for myself! ha!) as the one above can become unbelievably daunting if it isn’t broken into smaller steps. So within that list I created a few goals just for January. 

Use this free printable to write your own goals for January on. (Sorry its a few weeks late, but it’s never too late to make BIG changes!) Click HERE to download, save to your computer and print!

JANUARY 2014

• Read the Bible & time in prayer daily (I’m attempting to read through the Bible this year. Yay!)
• Exercise (of some type) daily – I live in Florida. I have no excuses for not getting outside and being active.
• Go to bed by 10:30pm.
• Phones away at 8pm.
• Plan my week ahead on Sunday afternoon/evening.
• Weekly meeting with Aaron on Monday morning.
• Begin memorizing Philippians as a family. Chapter 1. (I’ll be honest, we are already really behind on this one. Good thing its a short chapter.)
• Choose a specific time/day to meet with the women leadership in my city group.
• Seek out at least 2 ladies from my city group to meet with this month.
• Read Seven by Jen Hatmaker.
• Read Redemption: Freed by Jesus from the Idols We Worship and the Wounds We Carry by Mike Wilkerson.
• Read Community by Brad House.
• Pray for clarity on podcast & ebook subject / content.
• Pray for direction on new products & designs.
• Set up business savings accounts.
• Work on Asher’s 2-3 year & 3-4 year photobook.
• Create a blogging calendar for the month.
• Write 3 blog posts a week.
• Research art classes in the area.
• Create email list of pastor’s wives.

Hooray! I am excited to see all that God accomplishes in and through these goals and even the new directions He sends me in throughout this month and year. At the end of the month, I’ll check back in on these specific goals. I’ll be honest about what worked and didn’t work. I hope for this goal series to be an encouragement to you and source of inspiration as God moves in our life, a very normal, busy American family just praying that God would draw our hearts nearer to His and that our lives would bring Him glory.

What are your goals for 2014? For January? Is there anything you would like to know more about from the above crazy long list?!