To be honest, April was a really hard month around here. There were a number of very unexpected, stressful things that happened that stretched Jesse and I far beyond what we felt capable of. It was exhausting, draining, and all around discouraging.
There were some bright spots in the month, though…
Like our trip to Maine with all of my extended family.
And getting our air conditioner fixed — finally! {It only took 3 repair visits and 3 weeks to get it taken care of!}
And getting all caught up on the laundry — and actually staying caught up (going on two and a half weeks and counting!!)
The past week, I’m incredibly grateful that things have started to really look up. We’ve seen some really discouraging situations completely turned around, we’ve experienced some huge answers to prayer, and there’s just been a boatload of encouraging things happening. I’m so grateful, because I was oh-so-ready for some good news! 
My 12 Goals for 2015
Marriage
- Read 1 book per month on marriage.
- Write at least 1 love note to Jesse each week.
- Done in January
- Done in February
- Done in March
- Done in April
Motherhood
- Read at least 1 book aloud to the kids per month.
- Write 1 love note to each child every month.
- Done in January.
- Done in February.
- Done in March.
- Done in April.
Myself
- Complete all She Reads Truth 2015 Bible Studies + memory work.
- Done in January — I absolutely loved the John study.
- Done in February — I really enjoyed the Esther study.
- Done in March — I'm almost finished with the Lent study — so, so good!
- Done in April — I’m loving the Timothy study!
- Read 1 fiction book per month.
MoneySavingMom.com
Hire a local personal assistant. - Done! And I'm so grateful! My new assistant, Ashley, is amazing!
- Launch 2 courses (we're planning one for spring and one for fall — stay tuned!)
- In April, we finalized all of the course materials and post-production. We’re now getting the finishing touches done, setting up the site for this product, and sending it out to a handful of folks to review. The launch is set for the first week of June. Look for more details soon!
- Launch our new product line (slated to soft launch in the summer).
- Release my third book (slated to come out November 2015).
- We finally landed on a cover design that we all love. We’re in the middle of gearing up for marketing and publicity. Can’t wait to tell you more about this book in the coming months!
Money
Increase last year's overall giving totals by 10% in 2015. - Part of my going to South Africa was to investigate the possibility of our family personally supporting the work of Take Action. After coming home, we both felt this was the direction we were supposed to take and our partnership with them will allow us to meet this goal. We're so thrilled with what God is doing there in South Africa and, for those who have joined us in this through the #TenDollarTribe.
- Finish funding our Rental House #3 Savings Account.
- Yay! We moved from 44% to 60% — thanks in huge part to ending up not having to pay as much in taxes as we thought we might have to (yay for deductions!) and being able to then put that tax savings money we’d set aside as a precaution into our rental house savings instead. So excited to see a lot of significant traction here this month!
How are you doing on YOUR goals for 2015?
If you set goals for this year, I'd love to hear how you are doing on them! Leave a comment telling us about your progress on them or leave the link over to your blog post about them. Here's to a year of living with purpose, intentional, impact, and meaning!
Good morning! I hope your day is off to a great start!
Jesse was gone on a business trip Thursday through Saturday morning and I got sick with what my kids had last week (congestion/fevers, etc.) right after he left. So, needless to say, I was very ready for him to walk in the door on Saturday morning!
I spent the weekend recuperating — mostly just resting, reading, writing, and watching a few movies. After many weeks of busyness, it was wonderful, despite the fact that I didn’t feel well.
I’m feeling quite a bit better today, but I’m planning to still take it pretty easy so that I’m fully recovered for Silas’s birthday and speaking at the Arlington Homeschool Conference later this week.
I only ended up getting to go through Kaitlynn’s clothes a few weeks ago, so today I’m tackling Silas and Kathrynne’s clothes — getting rid of things that no longer fit, organizing, and making sure they have plenty of clothes for Spring/Summer.
Here's my plan for this morning:
- Bible reading/journaling
- Blogging/business work
- Run/shower/dressed for the day I want to have
- Pick up my room/make my bed
- Start a load of laundry
- Breakfast
- Morning Time
- School with Silas
- Get kids started on chores/independent work/Daily Lists
- Quick pick up of the house/kitchen cleaned up
- Go through the Kathrynne and Silas’ clothes
- Write thank you note/notes to kids/Mother’s Day card
- Fold & put away all laundry
This evening (hopefully!), I'll share a post about how our day went and give you an update (with pictures) on my progress on our house and the kid’s clothes.
Need some motivation? Check out my post on 10 Ways to Make Cleaning More Fun.
Want to join me? Leave a comment to let us know you're participating! If you have time, tell us what your morning plan is, too.
