My 2011 (and Beyond) Goals

These are my GOALS!! I do not need to have everything on here accomplished by December of 2011. The list is way too long. Goals are something to work towards, not something that must be completed. I will re-evaluate these goals to make sure I’m on track during the months of March, June, September and December. As long as I accomplish at least 2 or 3 items from each category by December, then I will have met my goals for the year.

• Spend more time in God’s Word.
• Complete 30 minutes of daily personal Bible Study. Don’t rush through it! 
• Have daily prayer time. Pray specifically using my prayer idea lists and my prayer requests from my spiritual journal. Don’t rush through it!
• Continue weekly family Bible study time and family meeting time. Add more variety and include the family goals, memory verse and new word for the week.
• Have weekly couple Bible study time.
• Now that we’re closer, attend Sunday school and church every Sunday morning, unless there is an illness or bad weather.
• Lead the Yahoo group “Bibles, Brooms and Breadsticks” so that we can read and study the whole Bible in a year. Don’t quit. Make it through the whole year.
• Spend more quality time with my immediate family.
• Re-institute Family Fun Day on Saturdays.
• Re-institute Family Game Day on Sundays.
• Have a Date Night with John once a week, even if it’s at home.
• Spend at least 30 minutes a week with each child doing something they enjoy.
• Make our house feel like a home.
• Have all the moving boxes emptied and have only organized items and labeled plastic totes in logical storage areas.
• Continue de-cluttering. Find at least 3 things each weekday to purge.
• Organize, straighten and make sure everything has a place.
• Complete monthly cleaning using my focused cleaning checklists.
• Complete seasonal checklists of cleaning, repair and preparations.
• Decorate so that John and my interests are a part of the house.
• Decorate the children’s rooms according to their interests.
• Make home a place we can rest, relax and be refreshed.
• Enhance the homeschooling and public schooling of our children.
• Keep a consistent routine and schedule for Breanna and her work.
• Do something fun and educational for all the children on our weekends or weeks during the summer. They all want to be included in homeschooling. This might be a field trip, science experiment or a project that relates to something Breanna is studying.
• Continue to attend most of the PTO meetings and other activities at the public school.
• Continue to volunteer to assist the public school in anyway I can, whether in the classroom or at school functions.
• Encourage my family and myself to be healthier.
• Exercise 30 minutes five times a week.
• Get the family doing some movement together, whether it’s walking, swimming or running around the yard together at least once a week.
• Encourage Breanna to do her exercise/movement each day of the school week. It needs to include strength, cardio, endurance and balance on alternating days so it will be varied.
• Make appointments to doctors, dentists and specialists as needed. Don’t procrastinate.
• Get everyone to their doctor and the dentist and specialist appointments, as required.
• Start using the Once a Month cooking idea regularly for food that will be ready in the freezer at a moment’s notice so we don’t have to eat out on the busy nights.
• Serve a healthy and filling breakfast by keeping the choices offered available. (See Momma’s Coffee Shop Menu for choices)
• Include a fruit of the day with breakfast.
• Plan a healthy lunch menu weekly so that those taking lunches (not just the ones at home) can also have something decent.
• Include a vegetable of the day with lunch.
• Serve the healthy lunches that are planned.
• Plan a healthy supper menu at the beginning of each month, or when Angel Food boxes are received.
• Serve the suppers that are planned.
• Eat at least three fruits/vegetables a day.
• Drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
• Communicate more frequently with people outside our household, using both technology and “old-fashioned” means.
• Make an entry to my blog at least three times a week. Possibilities to include Sunday Shutterbug, Menu Plan Monday, The Simple Woman’s Daybook, Ultimate Gratituesday, Toot Your Horn Tuesday, Works for Me Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, Finer Things Friday, and Frugal Friday.
• Have John teach me how to use our server and how to input data on it so I can get our family webpage up and going.
• Invite friends or extended family over for Pizza and Movie Night once a month.
• Re-institute Tuesday as letter writing, card sending and phone calling day.
• Write thank-you notes when needed. Have the children write them also.
• Use up store-bought cards and start making cards for various occasions throughout the year.
• Have Breanna call each of her grandparents once a week.
• Create a genealogy website for the Hayes family. Get the information from Aunt Paula and figure out how to put everything online so that all the family can access it. When this is done, move on to the Hamilton and Yarman families.
• Minister to others through church and various organizations, where ever God leads.
• Tithe 5% of our monthly income to a church and/or Christian organization.
• Tithe 5% of my time to a local ministry. There are 168 hours in a week. 5% of that is 8.4 hours of service a week.
• Become better organized in thoughts and actions.
• Start and/or complete my journals.
• Home Control Journal
• Information-Encouragement
• Christmas
• Other Holidays
• Once a Month Cooking
• Home Spa
•  Home Office
• Use my control journals; don’t just have them on the bookshelf.
• Write in my personal journal daily.
• Complete Daily Routines regularly.
• Keep track of PCC points daily and meet my goals.
• Do something for myself.
• Have a mini spa treatment, watch a chick flick, or visit the coffee shop, or do something else to take care of me once a week.
• Practice playing piano again now that I have my grandma’s piano. I want to be able to play and not be embarrassed if others hear me.
•  Find ways to earn money and save money so John can come home and we both can work from home.
• Work on starting our business.
• Consider buying and renting out more houses, in the future.
• Plan, think and discuss before making any major purchases.
• Create a budget. Update as needed.
• Finish Financial Freedom University, even if it’s on our own, and get the workbook and all forms complete.
• Pay the bills on time every time and document payments.
• Use coupons and sales regularly for all purchases, if possible.
• Save 5% of income each month to eventually have 6 months of income in savings for emergencies.
• Save $50 a month for Christmas and Birthdays. It’s not enough yet, but it’s a start.
• Increase savings and investments for retirement.
• Become more self-sufficient and prepared for emergencies.
• We now have a large garden area. In the spring, plant ¼ of it to get into the swing of gardening and to learn what grows well in this area.
• Learn how to use the generator and the compost pile to get the most effective use from them.
• Determine what food we have growing on the land. Plant more patches and fruit trees, etc. Figure out how to the food that is growing effectively.
• Find other things that we can do to become self-sufficient on our land.
• Store 1 month’s worth of food and supplies.
• Prepare 72 hour kits for each family member.
• Learn more techniques for preparing for any emergency.

Time to Re-focus

I've been meaning to write for the last 9 months and I keep procrastinating. Tonight, I logged into my blog and re-read what I'd written. Oh my, am I embarrassed. I'd totally forgotten about my hopes and expectations for 2010, which I'd posted and my goals for 2010, which I never did post. I am long overdue for a review of the year, since I went through 3 quarters without one. This year has gone by so fast, I really can't figure out where all the time went. I know I haven't accomplished nearly what I wanted this year, but I also know that progress has been made. Really, that is all that I can ask for, isn't it? Anyway, I think the next several posts will be some reflection on those goals, hopes and expectations. That will help me to re-focus my moments so that I can once again start to think about them, finding the purpose and cherishing them all, just like I was trying to do in January.

My 2010 Hopes

• I hope to clean and de-clutter my house more regularly.
• I hope to serve God more by involving the family in more service projects.
• I hope to remember that everything I do, I do it for the Lord. I want to be His servant in all things.
  
• I hope that the children can learn to make the right decisions even now so their lives can be blessed in the future.
• I hope that each child can find at least one good friend that they can spend time with and share memories.
• I hope that John and I can make new friends so we have people to invite over.
• I hope to develop a more healthy lifestyle for our family-more exercise and better eating.
• I hope to share my life more often with more people through emails, blogs, phone calls and old-fashioned letter writing.
• I hope to re-start and maintain my routines so that life can run smoother.
• I hope to have our home, family and work under God’s direction and guidance so that it is easy to see what we are supposed to do.

AND FINALLY:

Most importantly, I expect and hope that everything we do, say and think pleases God and makes Him proud to have this family as His children.

My 2010 Expectations

• I expect to grow closer to God, by spending more time with Him and witnessing His actions around me.
• I expect to be a better servant and child of God.
• I expect to draw closer to my husband and to be even more in love with him by the end of the year.
• I expect John and I to teach our children to draw closer to God through family devotions and other learning opportunities.
• I expect our children to draw closer to each other so they can depend on their brothers and sisters and respect each other.
• I expect each child to mature and to grow and achieve things to the best of their ability, not more than their ability.
• I expect our home to be a welcoming and open place for anyone who wishes to come into it.
• I expect some wonderful, exciting, and happy times.
• I expect celebrations.
• I expect some sadness, trials and tribulations.
• I expect to know that God is with me, even when it doesn’t feel evident.
• I expect love, mercy and blessings from God.
• I expect great family times.
• I expect some tough family times, although I hope very limited.
• I expect days that go smoothly and days that don’t.
• I expect myself to grow as a person-spiritually and emotionally.
• I expect of myself to set the example, in all areas of life, for what I expect from my family.
• I expect myself to work to the best of my ability and to not waste as much time as I have in the past.
• I expect to find joy, contentment and a love for life every day in at least one small thing.