Journal of a Busy Mom

living one day at a time

My 2019 Goals

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I was talking to my son about goals verses resolutions. I think resolutions are too vague. Like “I will exercise more this year” or ” I won’t eat cake everyday”. Whereas goals, are broken down and measurably.

I have been writing goals for a while. Since 2015, I’ve keep a binder that has all my goals. Okay, that is not that long, but in 2015 I found Money Saving Mom and she had a really cool system for goal writing. I bought her older course on Say Goodbye to Survival Mode and worked through the steps. Here is a link to her newer course. Say Goodbye to Survival Mode.

Later, I found Ruth Sukup, from Living Well, Spending Less. She has a whole planner system and her Crushing It Central that I really love. She inspires her readers to Think Big. Here is a link to her website. Living Well, Spending Less.

I just finished her 6 Day Bootcamp to help me start working on my 2019 goals. I dont use her planner, but I do use some of her pages. I created my own goal sheet to set up my goals and I really like it. (below)

Really, my system is a mesh of both gals. I took Crystal’s method of breaking down the goals, but Ruth’s method of choosing just 3 Big Goals and a few other “wishlist” goals.

So here are my Big Goals for 2019:

  1. Build our 3-6 month emergency fund. Last year, we had to use up our emergency fund, so this year my big goal is to build it back up. Everyone is different in how much they need to save. I wrote a barebones budget for a month and then multiplied it by 3 and then 6. I then averaged it out to get my savings goal.
  2. Spend more quality time with my family. Okay, this one seems vague, but I have written specific “goals” on my goal sheet like Date Nights, Game Night, etc.
  3. Grow my tutoring business. For 5 years I have been tutoring children with dyslexia in my home. This year, I want to learn to be a remote tutor. Along with that, I need to build a second website for that business. To draw traffic, I need to become certified through Barton Reading and Spelling. This is the program I use to tutor. So I have three goals within this goal: Build website, learn remote tutoring, and get certified.

There you have it my 3 Big Goals. I have several little goals that I am still working on accomplishing, but these are my three big goals.

Here are my little goals:

-Read the 24 books on my reading list

-Be a spiritual mentor for my niece

-Do the Decluttering Diet this year

-Start saving for our European Trip with my daughter in 2021 when she turns 21.

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Here is my worksheet that I created. It’s not fancy or anything, but it works for me.

Ligia

Four Seasons of Christmas: A Look at Fall

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For the last three weeks I have been writing about the blessing of the four seasons leading up to Christmas. Here is the first post.  This project was prompted by the reading of one of my favorite devotional books:  The Finishing Touch by Chuck Swindoll. 

This week I focus on the season of fall. I have been looking through my pictures to jog my memory. I found 7 things to be thankful for! 

  1. My son started 10th grade and my daughter started her first official year of college. She has been taking college classes for over a year and will be earning her AA by this upcoming spring. 
  2. I ran another 5k with my sister and niece. I had a better run time, not as fast as I wish, but I did it! 
  3. We visited Georgetown College again. We are actually considering moving to Kentucky. We really like the area and the pace of life. California life is so hectic.
  1. We visited the Creation Museum in Ohio. It was an awesome experience, we didn’t have time to go through the whole place so I am planning a return trip.
  2. I packed 20 Operation Christmas Child boxes! These boxes are due the week before Thanksgiving so I count it as a fall blessing. I am truly honored to be able to share the love of Christ through a shoebox.
  1. My daughter turned 18! 
  2. My “adopted” daughter through Compassion International also turned 18 and therefore graduated out of the program. It made me sad since I have “known” her since she was 8 or 9. I went ahead and “adopted” another little girl from Guatemala. She is 4 years old, so I will get to enjoy her for a long time. 

Ligia

Four Seasons of Christmas

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Merry Christmas!

Today starts the 2018 Advent. I have purchased 3 chocolate Advent calendars per the request of my daughter. We will start eating our one piece of chocolate today.

I will put out our Christmas Advent Candles for Sunday, the first day of the Christian Advent which is the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Day. I posted about this tradition here.

Today though, is about reflection. I was reading my devotional, the Finishing Touch by  Charles R. Swindoll.  I have had this devotional for years, decades even. I picked it up a few weeks ago and decided to finish off the year reading his daily devotional. Yesterday, he suggested something I have never considered.

He said there are four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas why not spend each of those weeks reflecting on the four seasons leading to Christmas. Starting with Spring, then Summer, Fall and Winter one should reflect on the blessings of the year. This seems like a New Years type of activity, but he makes a good point about why Thanksgiving is right before Christmas. He says, it is good to start the season being Thankful so that Christmas isn’t lost in the hustle and bustle. If each week we stop and consider the blessings of each season, we will come to the Manager with so much more thankfulness.

So, I decided to look through my Photos starting with March and found 10 things to be thankful for that happened this Spring:

1) My daughter was baptized in March. This was her own step of faith, as directed in the Bible. It was a beautiful ceremony.

2) Same daughter, received her Certificate of Merit for her piano playing. A great reward for all her hard work.

3) My son passed Level 10 in the Barton Reading and Spelling Program. He started this program in fifth grade when we found out he had dyslexia. This year he was finishing ninth. He did it! I did it without killing him or myself!!!

4) We had a wonderful trip to Hershey, PA, Philadelphia, PA, Gettsburg, PA, and Georgetown, KY. This trip was a result of a homeschool assignment. My daughter was assigned to read a biography and she chose Milton Hershey. After reading this book, she expressed her desire to visit the town he created. We wanted to take a vacation, but really had no destination in mind so we decided to take this mini cross country road trip.

5) We got to see the college my daughter will attend next year. It is a small private college called Georgetown College in Kentucky.

6)My son got to visit his best friend in Kentucky.

7) We saw the amazing Ark Encounter in Kentucky.

8) I ran a 5k with my sister. That was amazing! It challenged me. I have done one more after that.

9) My daughter graduated from homeschooling! It was a blessing to be able to graduate her.

10) My son and husband found out they have SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). (a blessing and a curse)

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at all the wonderful memories of the spring.

Next week, I will focus on Summer 2018.

 

Ligia