Hello April! Hooray for SPRING!!

I had wonderful intentions of doing a goal update at the beginning of each month and life happened so at the end of February I decided to let that goal go for awhile at least and just do a quarterly assessment and update.

Per usual, I was a little ambitious in my goal setting. That realization often leaves me paralyzed, anxious and depressed. I want so badly to be amazing at everything, to accomplish the goals I set out to accomplish. God is teaching me much in the way of what it looks like to pursue HIM not my goals. Even in preparation to writing this post, I felt a bit like a failure and am realizing how much stock I put in productivity and seeming perfection. I am grateful for a God who reveals my heart and pursues my heart and changes my heart every single day.

So, while I do love setting goals and do value them, my hope and identity does not rest in my accomplishing any of these. AH! Do you feel that? That’s freedom my friend.

My goals for

JANUARY – March 2014

• Read the Bible & time in prayer daily (I’m attempting to read through the Bible this year. Yay!) YES. I wanted to read through the Bible in a year and realized quickly that in this season of my life I simply cannot devote the time required to stay up on that reading plan. (Note: I am a sucker for actually studying, i.e. reading every commentary note, on each verse thus the reason the daily reading takes me SO incredibly long.) I also realized that reading through the Bible, while amazing and I would highly suggest it, does not make me holier. So, I switched gears and have been reading Ephesians for the past two months. It has been amazing!! I read the same every day for a week. I study out the verses that God is really speaking to me on that particular morning, intentionally ask God to help me apply those verses to my life that very day and then pray through that scripture. This method of studying and spending time in the Word has been really amazing. 
• Exercise (of some type) daily – I live in Florida. I have no excuses for not getting outside and being active. Sort-of. I have been regularly exercising much more, but still not where I want to be on this. Still looking for a workout buddy if you know anyone…. 
• Go to bed by 10:30pm. Nope. 
• Phones away at 8pm. Yes. We of course are not perfect but turning social media off at 8pm has been a great move in our marriage. 
• Plan my week ahead on Sunday afternoon/evening. Yes! I cannot stress this enough. Do it!
• Weekly meeting with Aaron on Monday morning. Yes! These weekly sync-up meetings have been amazing for our marriage and family, helping us to be more intentional with the time we have and to ensure we are getting intentional time with each other and with the kiddos. We begin these meetings with a devotion (Morning & Evening by Spurgeon) and time in prayer.
• 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.) Nope. 
  
• Choose a specific time/day to meet with the women leadership in my city group. Yes! 
  
• Seek out at least 2 ladies from my city group to meet with this month. Yes! Again, while not perfect, God has changed my heart to give me the ‘want to’ meet up with these precious women and He’s also provided the time. 
• Read Seven by Jen Hatmaker. Yes! AMAZING read. Go get it. Now.
• Read Redemption: Freed by Jesus from the Idols We Worship and the Wounds We Carry by Mike Wilkerson. Yes! Almost finished… 
• Read Community by Brad House. Started. 
  
• Read Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath. Yes! I cannot wait to take the Strengths Finder test!
• Pray for clarity on podcast & ebook subject / content. Done. Still praying.  
• Pray for direction on new products & designs. Done. Still praying.
• Set up business savings accounts. Done. 
• Work on Asher’s 2-3 year & 3-4 year photobook. Nope. 
• Create a blogging calendar for the month. Yes!
• Write 3 blog posts a week. Yes!
• Research art classes in the area. Nope. 
• Create email list of pastor’s wives. Nope. 

There were a lot more Yes’s in there than I thought! Hooray! (Don’t remind me that was supposed to just be the January goal list. ;))

My goals for

April 2014

I am simplifying or trying to and have removed the goals that have successfully become a beautiful rhythm like Bible reading, etc.  

• Exercise (of some type) daily
• 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.)
• Seek out at least 2 ladies from my city group to meet with this month.
• Finish reading Redemption: Freed by Jesus from the Idols We Worship and the Wounds We Carry by Mike Wilkerson.
• Read Community by Brad House.
• Read The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
• Create reading list for rest of 2014 (14 in 14 may not be realistic any more….)
• Write & Release Ebook 1! 
• Begin writing Ebook 2 (I know that is so ambitious! bah.)
• Launch mini Spring Collection! (Including the Easter Advent from last year!)
• Begin designing Summer Collection
• AadenSage catalog & funeral home contacts made
• Launch 2 brands this month!
• Weekly Newsletter! (Eek! This seems like a daunting goal…. Sign-Up here to be get on the list!)
• Throw a party
• Celebrate Easter!
• Decorate Master Bedroom
• Makeover Office! (Making room for something really exciting!!)
• Make master closet beautiful
• Garden 1x a week (i.e. make sure the HOA doesn’t send us a letter about how terrible our yard is looking.)
• Lanai – add two big plants, a hanging plant,  and powerwash. I realllly want garden lights out there too! I need to save up though!
• Paint a few more walls (we are slowly painting all the walls a gorgeous off-white… very slowly.)
• Work on Asher’s 2-3 year & 3-4 year photobook.
• Work on family photobook 2013
• Research art classes in the area.
• Create email list of pastor’s wives.

I think that’s a great start! I always add to this list and then I have regular life which is crazy so…. we will see! What goals do you have this month?! Use the printable below to write yours down! Enjoy!