Update

Wow, three posts in one day has got to be a record.  I am avoiding laundry in my dryer and carpet that needs to be shampooed.  And evidently I am not doing as well as I would have hoped on #7

Here is an update on my goals.  I am not doing so hot.  Hopefully, a little reminder for myself as I go through them will help kick start some of them again.

1. Spend more time in prayer. I am a 'hail mary' type of prayer most of the time. I get in a sticky situation and send up a "Please help me, Lord" prayer, or have something great happen and shout out a quick, "Thanks, God, you're awesome." I start each of my quiet times with prayer, but I want more purposeful prayer time in my day. I want to spend time praying for specific people, things and guidance from the Lord. My goal is to have 3 good prayer times per day. One in the morning, one at my quiet time and one at night. (Not setting specific times, as you can see, because this would be too binding for me :) I am not doing as well as hoped on this one.  I am a bit closer to 2 times per day regularly, not counting the quick one-liners as I go through my day.  I started off pretty well, using teeth-brushing time as prayer time, but I got distracted and forgot.  Hopefully, I'll pick it up again.

2. Have at least 4 quiet times per week. Yes, I know this goal should really be 7, but I have young children, run a part-time, in-home daycare and sometimes it just doesn't happen. I don't want to set myself up for failure here, people. Four significant, sit-down, have-time-with-just-me-and-God times per week is what I know I can purpose to accomplish. I am actually doing very well in this because of necessity. I am doing 2 book studies that have me in the Word as well as trying to keep up with reading 1 Corinthians on my own. I have actually averaged closer to 5 per week and have even been convicted by the Holy Spirit to be better about doing my quiet times on the weekends as well. Score 1!

3. Do at least 5 devotions with my kids per week. We pray with them every night, we talk about God and Jesus every day in our house, but we haven't done too much to further their relationships and learning other than talking about what they learned in Sunday School and doing their AWANAs lessons. This isn't enough in my mind, so I have ordered a book I hope will help us spur more conversations with them about loving Jesus.  Epic fail on this one.  We probably only average one per week.  Again, hoping this reminder will kick start me again.

4. Memorize one Scripture passage per month. Yes, again a small goal, but doable and if I manage to do more than this I will just be more pleased with myself!  I am a couple weeks behind on this one, but not too bad.  I memorized Romans 12:12 for my 1st one : Be joyful in hope, faithful in affliction and steadfast in prayer.  (yippee did that from memory!) and am now working on Psalm 119:12, 18 - Blessed are you, O Lord...teach me your statutes.  Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things of your law.  I almost have this one down pat and then will be ready to move on to #3.

5. Purpose to ask my husband what I can do for him that day at least twice a week. His two main love languages are physical touch and acts of service. Just a way I can make sure I am keeping him feeling loved and honored. Doing fairly well in this one.  Might have backed off in the last few weeks, so another goof reminder.

6. Keep my closets organized. I have spent some time organizing my main closets the last few weeks and I want to make sure they stay that way.  Well, I organized my hanging clothes by category and color so that is one more closet on the clean list.  My others could use a bit of attention though.

7. Spend less time on the computer. I use it as my connection to the outside world and a source of communication with grown-ups when I am alone in a house with toddlers and preschoolers all day, but I have taken this too far and spend more time on it than with those toddlers some days and I really need to fix that.   I think I need an intervention on this one.  I have been purposing to do at least 1 fun thing with my kids each day, so it is improving.  Yesterday we had races down the hallway and did finger painting with colored sweetened condensed milk.  That was some sticky fun!  Still need to watch the total # of minutes I am staring at this screen though.

8. Run the Lincoln Half Marathon in less time than I did last year. My ultimate goal would be 2 hours, but that is setting the bar pretty high. I am hoping for 2:05.  Well, can't give an update on this until May, but my training times are improving and I am totally psyched to try out my new GPS running watch I just got in the  mail today!

9. Read this list at least once a month to remind myself of what I need to be doing to stay on track to accomplish my goals. Also, post a blog update on how I am doing. Accountability helps! As you can see it is the end of Feb. and this is my 1st update, so again, I have some work to do. 

And now I am sure you are bored - but you chose to keep reading.  ;)  Anyway, just trying to keep myself on track.  We'll see if I can improve in March?