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Thursday, January 01, 2009

Goals For This Year


I don't like the term "resolutions," but I do like the concept of setting goals for a new year. As this new year begins, I thought it would be good to share my goals for this year:


  • Work on making our house a home. Since we just moved this summer, we still feel like we are getting settled. But it's time to start hanging pictures and making it feel more homey. I will make an effort to do this, possibly spending any "extra" (ha ha!) money I have on things for our house instead of on books, as I usually do.
  • Take up scrapbooking again. Figure out some sort of plan for developing my digital photos. Digital photography is wonderful--- but it has messed with my scrapbooking rhythm big time. It's time to stop making excuses and start doing something about it! My friend Lisa had a great suggestion-- she sits down every Sunday night and places orders online for any photos she took that week. If she didn't take any, of course, she doesn't do it. But building that regular time in seems doable. Now to just order all the backlog of photos I have sitting in the various computers we have!
  • Come up with a master housecleaning schedule and a rotating chore list for my kids. My husband has been asking me to do this for some time and I am finally admitting that it would be a good idea. The idea of assigning each child a room or area of the house for a week, and rotating the responsibilities from room to room, child to child appeals to me. I am also going to purchase the Motivated Moms planner to use for keeping myself on track with the household duties I neglect simply because I don't think about them! This handy guide schedules out things like "clean out coupons," "wipe down front of dishwasher," "clean microwave inside and out," etc. for you! I am excited about implementing this new tool in my quest to stay on top of my domestic duties! They even have a format that includes a schedule for reading through your Bible if that's something you are looking for!
  • I wrote about my plans for reading certain books during my morning quiet time. I also want to devote time to studying prayer, worship and the Armor of God. This is for my personal spiritual growth.
  • Learn more about being frugal and implement more money-saving efforts and ideas in our home. I have joined an online group for this purpose and am learning so much already! I am going to even, ahem, maybe attempt, gulp, couponing this year. Maybe. One thing that has become apparent to me recently is that part of my job description is to be a helper to my husband. One way I can do that is to go the extra mile to save money. This might mean clipping coupons. It might mean meal planning and eating at home. It might mean driving a bit further and shopping in a store I don't really love (hello, Wally World!) to get the most for my money. Whatever it looks like, it's worth the effort to make our money go further and this is just another way for my husband to "have full confidence in me." (Pvb. 31:11)
  • Be more hands-on with my kids and their schooling. I have a written a whole post on this subject that I will be running next week.
  • Devote more time to my goal of one day writing fiction. Meet monthly with a friend who will hold me accountable to this goal and give me feedback on my writing. (I have already set this up with a friend and we are both excited about this!)
  • Read the book Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerich this year (I may participate in a women's small group that is going through this book), and put the concepts in that book to use. Also, go to a Family Life marriage conference-- after my friend Rachel went and raved about it to me, I ran the idea by Curt and he agreed it would be good. He and I have a book coming out together this year, so I know that Satan will work to keep us from encouraging other couples to have victory in an area where people feel so defeated (money). We would appreciate your prayers about that!
  • And finally, the dreaded exercise goal-- this past year I broke my foot and that put the serious kibosh on running, which I used to love so much. So I have asked my husband to consider taking down the big dinosaur of a PC that the kids use in the bonus room and buying them a laptop, then using that space to put in a treadmill that I can use each day. I know I would use it if I had it, so I am really hoping to work that out.

Above all, I must temper every decision I make, thing I take on, and thought I have with my verse for the year. I found this great quote that directly pertains to my verse on another blog and want to share it here:

I am a firm believer that God gives me the strength to do the things that He has given to me and everything else I do that is not in His will I do out of my own strength. I pray for wisdom and understanding and am always having some conversation with Him trying to be in tune with what is His will for my life. (Source: http://encouragementalongtheway.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-do-i-stay-motivated.html)

This is my biggest goal of all-- constantly drawing my strength from Him, cutting out the things I find myself doing in my own strength, and dialoguing with Him about it throughout the process.

What are your goals for this coming year? If you write a post about it, be sure to leave a comment and let me know, as I would love to read it-- or just leave a comment and share them right here!

I will leave you with this verse, which I am going to post on our fridge for the month of January. It was left by a commenter and I thought it was a great goal for all of us in 09!

I Samuel 12:24, "But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you."

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8 comments:

Arlene G said...

Mary Beth...I always enjoy reading your encouraging posts. I hope you can implement your resolutions as they sound as if they would make your life a bit easier. I only had three kids and they kept me on the run when they were living here at home. I love your Bible verse, I Sam 12:24...It is my life verse and it has so much to say to all of us in remembering where our blessings come from. Hope you and your family have a blessed 2009!

Julie Zine Coleman said...

Happy New Year, Mary Beth:

Your goals are admirable and inspiring. I have a list myself. I wrote a blog on keeping new year's resolutions. You can find it at http://www.juliecoleman.blogspot.com/. I'm very good at making lists, and weak at following through. Thinking about lasting motivation really helped me-- hope it helps others as well!

Best wishes for a good 2009!

Unknown said...

I failed miserably at my goals last year so I'm not posting them this year. Maybe that way, I will follow through with them. You set a good example.

Sandy said...

Marybeth,

I feel very inspired by reading your list of goals. I have spent this very morning setting a few of my own. I am not a resolution person, I feel that sets me up for failure but goals are something I can work towards without feeling so pressured to achieve, they can be changed as necessary.

I love your post on sharing your Scripture for the year. I have one that has been speaking loudly to me as well as prayer to go along with it.

My prayer is, "Cast Your road before me."

My verse is, "This is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your soul(s)." Jeremiah 6:16

It so so easy to get sidetracked or turn of on a detour and I really want to be on the path God wants me on in all areas of my life. This year I want to travel Route 66, through all 66 books of the Bible, using my GPS (God's Personal Scriptures that speak to me) to travel the path He wants me on. I am sure I will stand at many crossroads this year and desire to have the vision to plainly see the good, to take that route and hopefully find rest stops for my soul along the way.

Thanks for being one of those rest stops!

Happy New Year to you and your family, may God's best blessings be yours in this new year!

Connie J said...

Love and Respect is an amazing book! Blessings in this new year!
Connie

Sandra in Phx said...

I spent the day today getting Christmas put away. This allows me to spend some time the rest of this week deep cleaning the house. Seems that I have a much better ability to think about my goals for the year when the house isn't cluttered!

Mrs. E. said...

I've enjoyed browsing through your blog. I was convicted when reading your Dec. 23 post about deciding to not spend time on the computer without spending time with God first. I received a devotional for Christmas which I am really looking forward to reading by Ken Gire. It is my goal to spend time with God each day before I spend time on the computer. Thank you for your encouragement and wisdom.
Heather

Jennifer said...

I saw one of your goals for this year is to become more frugal; mine too!!! With that being said, I am putting together a list of the best frugal advice blogs on my own blog. This is partially for myself, my step-mom (she recently lost her job and needs all the frugal help she can get...she is brand new to couponing too), and all my coupon obsessed friends who simply don't have the time to find ALL the best deals. Anyways, feel free to check it out once I get it finished (people will hopefully be leaving their links soon in my comments).

The blog is here http://jennbpbc.blogspot.com/2009/01/who-all-is-out-there.html

Hope it's ok I included you in my post :)

Jennifer