May was a whirlwind.
Actually, May was a storm, a whirlwind and a blur.
Since this space provides only a snapshot of life lived, and I couldn’t possibly share the entire picture of our month (and it’s not always wise to do such things)…suffice it to say I’m so very grateful for a God who isn’t surprised by anything.
Amen?
He is fully aware, fully sees, fully knows and is fully present to our storms as they rage.
But May also delivered beauty and grace, tender mercies and steps forward.
When I shared my personal goals for the last month, I was super optimistic about reaching each and every one. I think my own words proved so true however…
“But overall, keeping a healthy perspective provides balance — life doesn’t always go as planned.” (from my May post)
May Personal Goals Update:
Overall, I didn’t do too shabby considering our month…
- Attend and enjoy the 2:1 Conference – DONE! Delayed flights and arriving later than planned was a bummer, but my time in Chicago offered fresh encouragement in many ways.
- Host our women’s retreat – DONE! The memories of that weekend will live close to my heart for a looong time. God’s demonstration of grace to me, my planning team and the women present surpassed my expectations. What an indefinitely faithful God…
- Wrap up our homeschooling year – DONE! While we ended a bit abruptly, most of our work for closing out the year was complete.
- Declutter kid’s closets/winter clothing – DONE! Yes. Yes. Yes. Need I say more? 🙂
- Plant annuals in pots – not done, going on to June’s goals
- Finish rewriting my ebook – not done, and I now plan to spread this out over both June and July.
Personal Goals for June 2014
May ushered in several changes – the biggest for me personally being more in-office hours to my church ministry work. This is a BIG shift and I’m still adjusting, so my June SMART goals will reflect this need to adapt.
❖ Maintain a steady meal planning routine: summer usually finds me taking a break and just going with the flow of whatever is found at farmers’ markets or on sale at the store. Time is limited, so I’m sticking to a {simple} plan for now!
❖ Plant annuals: hopefully to be completed this week! 🙂
❖ Get 7-9 hours of sleep every night: Yes, I actually need this much to function well. I can tell already the temptation to stay up late to get ‘just one more thing’ done creeps close, so a regular bedtime is priority.
❖ Create a NEW Sabbath rest routine: We often schedule family nights, date nights, vacations, rest time, etc. and I’m fairly regular at taking personal breaks as well.
Since I now have a completely different schedule than before, this month – in the next week! – I’ll establish new patterns for pausing daily (even if just for 20 minutes), weekly (a few hours away alone) and I’ll also plan for a solo retreat for 2 days (taken every summer).
❖ Establish our sitter’s routine with the children: we’ve hired help one day a week for our little ones, and my children are excited about this change for the summer….their Mama is grateful too!
❖ Declutter our homeschool shelves, books, curriculum (give away and/or sell): I’ll be honest, this goal may be a bit audacious for June. I’m still fairly tired from the last few weeks. But, I can start right? So, it may not be fully completed and that’s okay….as long as I make progress.
❖ Order our homeschool curriculum for next year: the good news is I know what we need! So, I’ll just double-check my ideas and then place our order.
And, that’s it! I’ll update in a month.
Any goals, ideas or plans for YOUR June?
“Life doesn’t always go as planned” could be the title of my memoir! Thankfully the Lords plans are so much better than ours, even if we can’t see it right away (or this side of heaven)!
My June goal is to spend as much time actively being with my family and less time cooking and cleaning. You mentioned a simple meal plan for this season, would you be willing to share it? Also, to get a small garden planted! Basically, I want to be outside as much as possible!
Thanks for your posts, they are such an encouragement to me!
Thank you Erika, and thanks too for sharing your goals! I’ll try to post my simple meal plan or at least my ideas. 🙂 Blessings today!
What a wise plan for rest. Thanks for giving an example of how to schedule it in major and minor cycles: daily, weekly, yearly. Kind of makes the volume of other things to do seem more manageable!