Five a Month

Rather than making big and long-term goals this New Year's I'm going to join Jess at Making Home, and set five measurable goals per month. I'm blogging about them, for my own accountability and to encourage you all to make goals and join me! So after talking with Matt, these are my top January priorities...

1. Maintain a DAILY time of Bible reading... First, I'm going to wake up at a consistently early time every morning, hopefully before little Moriah does (she's been pretty inconsistent lately in her mornings), so that I can read. I'm planning to use the ESV Study Bible's "read through the Bible in a year" plan, but I'll be cutting it in half for a more realistic goal this year. I'm especially excited about the way it's organized... the Old Testament readings from Chronicles through the Prophets is organized chronologically which will help me as I understand the history of the Bible, something that I'm always fascinated by. We were able to visit Clifton Baptist Church last weekend since we stayed in Louisville for Christmas and our little Turner's Station Church service was cancelled. Dr. Schriener's sermon was very exhorting along these lines, check it out here! (just so you're not confused, it hasn't been uploaded yet from what I can tell-I bet it will be soon and would certainly be worth waiting for!)

2. Pray for Matt and Moriah strategically... I've chosen to pray with these calendars (praying for children & praying for your husband) from the Inspired to Action web-site - there are many like these, but these are brief and focused which is what I need right now. I'm going to pray as I drive to and/or from work each day.

3. Accomplish one bit of home keeping work each evening so that our weekends are more open for fun! We're constantly doing laundry these days... so that's going to occupy about two weeknights. On the others I will clean the kitchen, clean the bathroom, and vacuum.

4. Practice playing the keyboard twice a week. I really loved the class I took here at the Seminary which taught Seminary Wives to play the piano/keyboard. Since then, Matt insisted that we buy a keyboard so that I could continue to practice. I also have my music stand situated so now I'm really ready. While I haven't forgotten everything I learned last Spring, I need to revisit it all, before I can hope to add any more. So twice a week would be great for me!

5. Follow our newly revamped and updated budget "to a t" this month. The more closely we stick with it, the more we'll be able to see if it needs any tweaking as we start the new year. We've been blessed to make much progress over the last year financially and hope to continue the trend, so we're back into the swing of our cash envelopes and a written and specific plan. Grocery shopping with cash is always more frugal for me than not!

These are my goals... I'd be thankful for your prayers as I rely on God's grace to accomplish them in my life for my godliness and His glory.