Happy New Year!
I love the New Year Holiday. I like feeling like I can have a new beginning. I love that it is a time to set goals. I am a goal setter by nature. I am not always a goal achiever...but I am definitely am a goal setter. :O) I am excited about some goals Stewart and I have set for this year and I wanted to share them because I am just so darn excited about them. So if you are interested here they are!
{Weekly Spousal Scripture Study}
I thought it would be fun each Sunday night to have each of us take a turn to pick a topic and then we spend a good long time together searching the scriptures, discussing, and pondering the principles. I think once a week is reasonable for us and I am so excited for this goal. I have been in primary for 6 years now and I have really missed adult gospel study and discussion. I think it will be so much fun, a great way to build our testimonies, help us be better teachers for our children, and strengthen our relationship with each other and our Savior and Heavenly Father. Could there be better outcomes then those?
{Twice a Year}
Stewart decided this one for himself and I thought I would jump on board. We are going to read on our own the Book of Mormon twice this year. I am so excited for this. I love reading the book of Mormon and the faster I read the more I seem to get out of it. I think this goal will make it so Stewart and I help motivate each other with a healthy dose of competition too. :){Monthly Temple Attendance}
This is a goal every year. I know some of you go much more often but for us once a month is quite a feat. Paying for a babysitter is a big sacrifice for us and we don't really have friends who are able to do children swaps. This will be a hard one to keep this year with Stewart's schedule being so crazy but I know visiting the temple brings protection and blessings that we certainly do not want to miss out on. Besides, it brings us closer to our Creator and is one of the greatest acts of service one can do. Why would we want to skip out on that?
{Regular Exercise}
Exercise along with daily scripture study is my anti-depression medication. The high I get from it is wonderful. I could be feeling like the biggest failure known to man and then I go on a run and a mile into it I am singing a different tune. I feel like I can concur anything. I feel so valuable, so excited about my daily life, and I often get inspiration. It seems I am close to the Spirit on my runs. Many of my best ideas have come on a long run. This is no new goal for me but for Stew it is. He has decided that he wants to find his own athletic high. He really likes playing sports or doing buddy stuff, like hitting the gym with a friend. So he is searching for something that will fit into his totally chaotic scheduled. Lets hope we can both get some great exercise habits.{Have Adventures}
We are going to have fun this year. Go camping, hiking, have picnics, build forts, go swimming, play ball, have slumber parties, make creative art works, get messy, dress up fancy, and just have plain old kid centered fun. Our kids are growing up and in a few short years they will be starting real school and be gone for much of the day and busy in their scholastic endeavors for many years subsequently. And by Golly, we are going to have sporadic, spontaneous, wacky fun while we still can!
{Cut Out the Excess}
I have a tendency to get carried away with some inspiration or idea I have and at times it makes me neglect the big stuff. I am very decisive and when I make a plan I have a hard time letting it go - for better or for worse! At times this past year I took on too much and unhappiness followed. I have decided that this year in all of my decision making I will ask myself if the goal in question is really going to help me achieve what I want most or simply distract me from my greater works. My sister sent this Julie Beck Quote to me and it is something I think I will have to rehearse to myself often. It is so true. You cant to it ALL and still do the most important things well.
"Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years."
Mothers Who Know Do Less
"Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years."
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