October Goals

-Throw Canaan's Family Birthday Party tomorrow
-Have home professionally deep cleaned
-Keep home clean ha!
-Squeeze in one more date night with the Husband if possible
-complete the finishing touches of little girl's room
-Have few last outings with just Canaan : Pumpkin Patch, Spaghetti Warehouse Trolley, etc
-Oh and ..... HAVE A BABY GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's about it:) SO DANG EXCITED about how laid back this month is going to be and soaking up time with my family. September was crazy busy with a bajillion sessions, trips, and events. I'm so so so excited that this month I get to focus on my little ones and becoming a family of four. So worth all the craziness last month!

September Goals

First things first, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I've completely forgotten to blog my July and August goals. But oh well. I did get so so so so much done over those two months. Some goals I completed during those two months:

-Kept working out consistently!
-I made a ton of progress on Willow's room. Not done yet, but it's more than halfway there. I completed painting, curtains, finding furniture, and several DIY projects.
-Pushed myself creatively by opening my Etsy and learning to make Weaves.
-Kept our family dates and date nights on track
-Read a total of 4-5 books during those months!

September goals:

-Consistent quiet time with my chronological bible study
-Completely finish W's nursery and all the projects that go along with it
-Make one weave, hopefully two. but most likely only one.
-Conquer all the sessions I have booked and get them all completely edited before Oct 1. This will be a struggle. I'm booked solid. And all the editing alone could keep me from completing all these other goals. yikes!
-Plan C's birthday party. It will be super small, like family only, but I wanted to get a cute cake!
-Get more items crossed off my "To Do around the House before Willow Comes" list.

So there we go. It's the first week of September. I can do it! Next month's goal... HAVE A BABY!!!

pretend i posted this earlier

so it's near the end of june and i realized today I never posted my goals for this month... oops.

This month didn't quite go the route I exptected. We were hit with a virus (all three of us) the beginning of the month and this week we were hit with another. So, most days have been spent at home nursing us back to health.

We have played outside more, which was a goal I had for this month. We've LOVED our pool we bought at walmart for $25 bucks, and we went to the splash park once with friends.

my goals for the remaining two weeks of June are:

-sell more items on FB so I can purchase decorative things for Willow's nursery. So much I want to buy, so little little little money haha.
-paint Willow's room.
-purchase supplies to complete one DIY project for her room, and start on it. I've already decided I will save most of the projects for August since July is going to be a crazy busy month for us. It will give me something to look forward too once we get back from vacation in July.
-Have more friends over for dinner or play dates. We've actually done a great job of this so far this month. We've been to friends and had friends over so many times. C has gotten in bed most nights around 10, but I don't even care because we've had so much fun. Hope to keep this up these next few weeks. Something about playing late in a back yard or park with the sunset heat just feels so good.
-Finish two books of the bible. I've gotten behind on my chronological daily readings and need to catch up. And I'd like to even get ahead if possible. I'm thinking one book a week.
-Family date (Our romantic date already happened, and I'll blog about that later)
-maybe squeeze in a ladies night with my main gals.

May Goals

A look back at how April goals went:

- we had our family date and romantic date
- I'm working out every MWF like planned and actually crave this time.
- made about 60% of the garland. whoop!
- Announced our pregnancy
- Deep cleaned most of the house
- And I blogged a bit more consistently! yay!

Alright for May....

-Spend more time in the Word. By this I mean extend my quiet times to be longer than 30 mins most days.
-Shoot my brother's wedding & get most if not all edited
-Go on our romantic date (family date already happened beginning of this month)
-continue "reading and prayer time" with C. more on that later
-read one book. suggestions?
-FIND OUT GENDER on the 30th:)!!!!! this isn't really a goal, I'm just super excited it's happening.
-do one random act of kindness for a friend.

This month is jam packed with wedding activities and photo sessions. Hoping for several slow nights at home and out with friends. It's been a while since I've been able to meet friends for coffee or go to dinner with a group because we've been so busy or out of town or our nights have been booked with church events. I need a girls night out. Bad:)

April Goals a little late

So I really thought I published this post days ago, but I obviously didn't (opps) so here it is almost the middle of the month & I'm posting my goals for this month. Oh well.

 A look back at March Goals:

- Continue to have my quiet time and pray for husband consistently : CHECK
- Keep working out : not as consistent as I wanted to be but I did!
- Second shoot a wedding : CHECK. This was a great learning experience for me. It's been a while since I helped shoot a wedding, and since I'll be shooting my brother's wedding, I really needed the refresher
- Read one book : CHECK I reread the last book in the Hunger Game series to refresh my memory
- GET OUTSIDE MORE. CHECK
- Family date and Romantic date : CHECK see last two posts
- Start on C's new room : Nope. I'm so undecided here on what I want to do, shocker!
- one social media free weekend : somewhat of a check, I went a week without posting, but I did check it some.
 - Start biking : CHECK kinda. I got my brother's bike but had to do some repairs. So, I technically just started biking
 -photoshoot with C : CHECK!(see last post)


 March was overall a success. I know I say this every month, but I'm really enjoying setting some goals. I obviously don't post everything I want to get accomplished that month, but setting some smaller ones (and sometimes bigger ones) really helps me be accountable to doing them.




- consistently have my quiet time & pray for husband
- family date & romantic date
- Bike more often/Use my sister's elliptical every MWF.
- prepare and practice to shoot my brother's wedding in May. I don't do weddings and I never will, but obviously since the groom is my brother, I'm totally up for shooting their wedding and excited. This will be a major challenge creatively for me in sooooo many ways. I'm excited and super nervous. And I desperately need to prepare.
- Make all the garlands for my brother's wedding. My future sister to be asked me to make these garlansds and I LOVE doing DIY crafts like this. I want to finish them all this month so come May, I won't be rushing to finish.
- Complete a super exciting project. More details to come on this one:)
- Have more friends over for dinner. We host community group every Sunday night and a class every Monday night, so our home is filled those two nights with friends from our church, but I really want to get back into the routine of having people over for dinner during the week and opening up our home.
- Deep clean bathrooms, our closet, and my office.
-Throw two showers!
-Blog a little more consistently

March Goals

How in the world is it March already? Seriously, I always forget how fast February rolls by, but this year seems like it really was a blink. Feb brought along with it some fantasticness. I can't wait to share about some new things coming to this blog in the next couple of weeks!

A look back at Feb goals:
- my quiet times remained consistent:)
- I totally didn't get back up to 3 miles of running. In fact, I barely ran at all. And most for health reasons. BUT, I did work out 6 times a week.
- I'm now halfway through our family year book!
- Serving on Vday was a blast
- We took our family date and romantic date
- And I was able to take on a photography shoot that got me out of my comfort zone.
- I only got to read one book, but simply because I couldn't find a second book I really wanted to read.

So, all in all, I'm pretty well pleased with my goals in feb!

- Continue to have my quiet time and pray for husband consistently
- Keep working out
- Second shoot a wedding (really excited about this one. I haven't done that in a while, so I'm excited to see how it will push me)
- Read one book
- GET OUTSIDE MORE. This totally depends on the weather but gosh I'm so ready for spring!!!
- Family date and Romantic date
- Start on C's new room. Get it painted!!
- one social media free weekend.
- Start biking. Since I can no longer run for health reasons, I really want to start biking!
-photoshoot with C. It's been a while since I've taken pictures of him with my for realz camera. 

March, please bring health, warm weather, and lots of time outside!

February Goals & A look back at January's goals.

^^my favorite images from this past month's posts.

Let's just all take a moment and praise the Lord that January is FINALLY over. Every. single. year. this month seems to last an eternity. (you teachers know what I'm saying). So I'd like to take a moment of silence in celebration of this being the very last day of the longest month of the year.


Okay, now onward. So this is the first year I'm attempting monthly goals. And I gotta admit, I'm already in love with the idea. I got so much done in January and every time I almost slacked off or got lazy, I'd remember that I was going to have to write this post and I wanted to be able to complete them all, so obviously it held me majorly accountable. Yay accountability!

So before we take a look at my February goals, let's see how I did in January:

1. Spend time in the Word everyday: Praise be to the Lord, I totally did this!!!! I started my chronological Bible reading a few days before the new year and I'm pumped to say I've done 5 straight weeks. Please don't mistake this for boasting. I'm just really thankful I've been this consistent.

2. Run 3 times a week & work back up to 5 miles. hahahaha. this totally didn't happen. The first of the month brought lots of rain, then I was sick, then freezing temps. It's been dayssssss maybe even weeks since my last run. I miss it more than I thought I would and I'm so so ready to start running again. Boo mother nature this month!

3. Start AND finish our 2012-2013 Family yearbook. again, hahahahahaha. What was I thinking? I had no idea how time consuming this task would be. I can say that I got completely through the 3 months of 2012 that I wanted to include. So, I did start, but I'm no where near finished.

4. Blog for Tiny Prints. YAY! I did this one! And you can see my first post for TP here

5. Clean the entire house. I did all rooms but two. I just need to deep clean our guest bathroom and C's future room. all other rooms- DONE!

6. Take one different romantic date and family date! These two are probably my two favorite goals and we did both of them! Family date here. Husband and I's date here.

7. Brainstorm ideas for our master and C's future room. CHECK! Thank you pinterest!

8. Pray for Husband every single day! I'm almost 100% sure this happened every single day! I made it a point to always include this prayer in my quite time journals. For some reason though, I think I may have missed a day at some point, but the point isn't to be legalistic about it, but to simply make it more of a habit. And that was accomplished!

So overall, I feel pretty darn good about my January goals!

1. Continue to spend time in the word every single day & pray for my husband!
2. Get back into running and work back up to 3 miles.
3. Get halfway through our Family yearbook, if not close to finishing it!
4. Paint C's future room. (it's currently an ugly green, going for white) & hoping to post an inspiration board & updates along the way!
5. Take our different date & family date! (we already have our romantic date purchased and planned!)
6. Serve others using Valentines day... I'm tossing around a few ideas for this one.
7. Read two books. It wasn't a goal this past month, but I ended up reading three books. Next month may be a tad bit busier so I'm going to shoot for just two.
8. Workout in some form or fashion every single day this month. Maybe that's running, squats, a dvd, etc. Not working out or running this month really took it's toll on me. I was increasingly more tired and in a state of fog. Because of my hypothyroid, not working out can do some damage for me mentally and emotionally. My hormones and body literally needs those endorphins from working out to help everything balance out. I don't plan to workout to get skinner, but just to be more healthy all the way around.
9. Host a giveaway. I'm excited about this one. It won't be your typical type of giveaway!
10. Take on a photography shoot that is both challenging and out of my comfort zone, but also serving someone else. I have one lined up already, but I'm thinking of adding a second!

And my dream goal for this month that is completely out of my hands... become a mom for two. Here's to praying hard core a birth mom picks us this month! Please pray for us:)

That's a lot of goals for this month. Asking the Lord for discipline and guidance! What are your goals for this month? I'd love to see!

an essay on family dates

C is currently spreading yogurt all over his Tripp Trapp and self, possibly even my beloved geometric wall, all because I'm sitting here typing this and he's learning how to feed himself via big boy spoon. It's currently one of those moments I'm letting go of my neat freak wanna be self and letting him make a big fat mess because he's learning. And every time he gets his spoon in his mouth his eye brows shoot up like "bajinga! I'm a genius!" and the mess is instantly worth it.  but this isn't any essay on messy, genius toddlers teaching themselves how to use a spoon. So, I'll get to the point.

Family Dates. you mommas out there know what I mean by family dates. They are this magical day you dream up in your mind as being positively perfect in every way (as good ole Mary Poppins declares) and you think because you've bestowed it to be family date day that everything will tick tock on cue. The kids will hold your hand or ride in the stroller humming "oh, what a beautiful moooorrrrnnning" and giggle at nothing and everything. We mothers seem to think that because it's family date day all the stars will align in the world and the most beautiful day is ahead..... hahahahahahahahahahahaha. wishful thinking. Here's what a real family date day consist of outside our wishful dreams.

Little boy is really to young to enjoy most things so there is no point in paying big money for a family date. You realize you need to return a rented camera lens in a part of town you neeevverr travel too, so therefore, this will be the perfect time to explore that part of town, (or just go to its big giant mall and walk around and let your little boy ride the carousel because they are his most favorite things ever). Once arriving to the mall, a miracle happens and you get 15 minutes alone to shop some of your favorite stores while husband pushes baby around a book store. But because you actually have money to spend and time alone, NOT A SINGLE THING IN TWO STORES IS WORTH BUYING! #storyofmylife.

So by this time, your belly is full of food court grub, your christmas money is still safely tucked away in your bank account, and the carousel is completely empty. Just one problem. The $2 carousel only takes cash and you never carry cash. After finally breaking down the stickler of a husband, you convince him it's worth the ATM visit. SO, a $2 ride quickly becomes an $7 ride, but like I convinced husband, it was worth it. Because as sooooon as little boy sees that carousel, his world stops. He lights up, pretends to ride it before it even starts, and talks in baby gibberish you don't understand at all but are pretty sure he's saying "you're the best human on this whole earth and I'll love you till the day I die". He smiles the entire time the ride is going and constantly points to the other animals going up and down and up and down. And then, it stops. And you have to pry his little fingers off. And he starts crying and refuses to take a picture with you. And then the whole time you are trying to put him back in the stroller he arches his backs and reaches out to the carousel. Then you all pile up in the car, drive home, and little boy is asleep before you exit the parking lot.

That's the reality of family dates. They don't always go perfectly, heck they probably never do. The little ones pretty much always ended up crying over something. And, you forget cash. But at the end of it, the little ones are passed out in the back seat because they've had a blast and you get to hold the husband's hand on the drive home. It was a perfect day.

One of my goals this year is to have one different family day each month. Do something we wouldn't normally do for a family date. And although it was just a simple date at a mall, riding a carousel, it's something we never find time to do. The mall is almost an hour from our home, so we never go. Some months I imagine we will spend more money or do something "extravagant". But this month it was just the mall. And it was positively, perfect in every way. kind of.

How I Stay Organized and a Glittery DIY

 I like to consider myself as a very organized person, husband begs to differ on account of our always, messy bathroom and closet. But shouldn't he know that's just the way it's going to be with women? So besides those two tornado pits, I love me some organization. It's the tick to my tock so to speak. And none of it would be possible without my Erin Condren planner. My sister gave me one last year for a mother's day present, and it c h a n g e d my life. seriously. it did.

I used that sucker to organize in ways Mrs. Erin probably never dreamed imaginable. Okay, well it's probably exactly what she dreamed it up for, but you get my drift. It's perfect for organizing. I just had one issue.... where to put it? I mean, it came with me places constantly- to the grocery, to adoption meetings, etc. But, once I got home, it had no place to rest. So for months, I just let it lay on our counter. BIG MISTAKE. There is stuff dried on my old one that I don't even remember cooking, gross. Now that I have a brand new shiny one that I ordered off of Tiny Prints (totalllly recommend doing, it came it way faster than ordering from Erin's site), I want to keep it off the counters, but still in my kitchen. Thus the solution:

 AND VOILA. The most perfect and adorable planner stand. Or ipad stand when I cook, or to hold a print, etc.

(WARNING!! use some gloves when spraying that adhesive. It is no joke and will not come off of your hands no matter what you do. I mean, I'm speaking for a friend here.... of course iiiiiiii used gloves......)

Stand, glitter, spray adhesive can all be found at your local crafts store! Just spray, sprinkle glitter, and let set. I think I did go over it with some Mod-Podge just so it wouldn't shed as bad.

Isn't it darling?? I'm in love. It now sits on that sparkly, little stand all while showing it's bad self off, all while not getting gross on the counter. whoop! And, it's still totally accessible for organizing or grabbing as I walk out the door.

so, about organization, did I mention I like to organize?

 I ordered the Weekly Life Planner from Tiny Prints because I love that it breaks down each day into morning, noon, and night, as well as, shows the entire month on one spread. (if you order the Monthly Notebook, you will not have the date broken down, it's just the monthly spread) On the monthly spread, I list out events or activities we have planned for that month, duh. I also use the side column to list out my monthly goals. I love love love love really love listing my goals here. I can't tell you how accountable it's made me to finishing them.

 As much as I love the monthly spread, it's the daily break down pages that are my jam. I use the morning box to list out my daily chores and workout days, since I try to do them both in the morning first thing. Get um done and over with!

 The "day" box is for my errands, what crafts I need to complete, what sessions need editing, etc.

 And I use the "night" box as our dinner menu. I may not always fix exactly what I have scheduled for that night, but I love listing it out at the beginning of the month (yes, I shop for the entire month at one time) because it helps me see what nights I need to cook and what nights we will be eating out or going to an event.

 Then wayyy down at the bottom, I use this little space to remind me to blog certain posts. I have to be honest, I didn't do this last year, and I don't want to be a stickler about it this year, but sometimes I get overwhelmed with posts I want to write, but since I don't write them down I forget about them totally. I think this will help me this year remember to write certain posts. BUT I'm not going to live and die by it. Geez that all just sounds like one big contradictory mess.

I've used cheap little planners from various places in the past, but I just have to tell you, this planner is worth the investment. For one thing, it's like waaayyyyyyy prettier & you can customize it on Tiny Prints. Not to mention, TP is always having discounts and offers on other fun, personalized gifts! And two, most planners you find won't have near as much "extras" as this planner. For example, there's a notes section (my one from last year is filled with adoption notes and will forever hold a special place in my heart), a contacts section, pages and pages of stickers both premade and tons extra for you to customize (like I did for my monthly goals column), a cute folder for stray paper,  a ruler, a clear pocket, adorable birthday or happy stickers, and a place for special dates in the front. Told ya, this baby is the Rolls Royce of planners. 

Now, excuse me while I go stare at it on my counter. It's just so pretty!

picture a fist. now picture it hitting the word goals. That's this post.

This whole goal setting by month is turning out to be a real genius move on my part. I'm constantly finding myself thinking about completing my goals for January and the ones I made for the overall year and how embarrassed I'll be once Feb 1 comes and I didn't do them. High five for accountability! Speaking of accountability, come back tomorrow, I'll be talking a lot about how I need it from you:)

Back to the story, so yeah, goal setting this month. One of my goals was to push myself creatively. That could be through photography or just any creative outlet. I've working through perfecting a new style of shooting and editing that is more MY style. Something that makes my work stand out and reflect more of me. I'm still in the process of figuring out what that looks like, but I'm having fun doing it. I took this images of C the other morning to test a few things, and I love how they turned out. Soft, warm, cozy, real, expressionitive (no that's not a word, I made it up). I then pushed myself again doing this lifestyle newborn session and shooting/editing it differently. I then pushed myself     a g a i n shooting promo shots for a band (more on that later), I then pushed myself again by writing a blog post for Tiny Prints (more on that later), and then I pushed myself, you guessed it, again by accepting a second shooter position for a wedding in March! (no, I don't want to get into wedding photography, this is just a way to push myself)  So BOOYAH goal of pushing myself creatively this year! Me and January know how to do. And I'm not even going to mention all my other monthly goals I'm plowing through, because then that would be bragging, and let's be real, that's a bit annoying.

How are you doing with your new year goals or you January goals? Kill it!

2014 Goals, January Goals, and THE word.

How can it seriously be a new year? I can honestly remember sitting here at the start of 2013, praying that the Lord would allow the year to finish better than it started. And it did. Because the Lord is good. And even if it hadn't, the Lord is still good. But by God's grace it did. Make sense?

I've been pondering for a couple of days what I wanted my New Year's resolutions to be. And then I started thinking that maybe I wouldn't make resolutions for the entire year, but do it month by month. It seemed that this way, I would be more accountable. It wouldn't be so overwhelming. So I started writing out the month of January goals and as I was doing so, goals for the year just kind of flowed out of that. 

 So, Overall Goals for 2014 in no particular order:

1. Serve others how I want to be served. I love when I get random letters in the mail, gift cards left in mail box, dinner unexpectedly, pies from a friend, a friend keeping C so we can have a night out, a simple coffee bought by a friend, a gift arriving in the mail that was picked off my pinterest list, husband having the entire house cleaned while I'm gone. These things speak to me. I guess my love language has evolved over the years and acts of service has climbed to the top. So this year, I want to love others the way I love to be loved. I want to serve them. Love them. This includes family, friends, and complete strangers. Each month I'll set a goal of serving someone unexpectedly. I crave a servants heart, but it's hard for me, if I'm being honest. So that's a major flaw I want fixed this year, and by God's grace alone, He can do that through me.

2. Complete the Chronological 1 Year reading through the bible plan. I started this just a few days before 2013 ended. I'm 6 days in. 6 consecutive days. My BIG goal is to never miss a single day ever, but my realistic goal is to just finish it by the end of 2014.

3. Run a Half Marathon or 2. This goal was supposed to be completed in 2013, but my race was cancelled due to bad weather. So this year, I want I will run it in December for St. Jude. I'd also love to run another one during the spring or summer. If not a second half then definitely run a 5k or 2. I seriously can't believe I just typed that paragraph. Who am I?

4. Become a mom of 2. This is totally out of my control. My main goal here is to learn to rest in the Lord's timing. I prayed and hoped that 2013 would bring our second child, but He clearly shut that door. Both biologically (our miscarriage) and through our adoption. But Lord willing by adoption or biologically, I will be a mom of 2 before this year is out. I need more babies.

5. Decorate our master bedroom and C's new room (clean out the entire house, declutter). Our master bedroom is the definition of ugh. It's real bad. I want to pain the walls, get new furniture, and decorate it. BUT, I don't want to be excessive about it. This means selling a lot of what I already have so I can have the money to do it without breaking our budget. Also, I'm planning to move C to our other downstairs bedroom that is currently empty. That way the new baby can move right into his room. I need furniture for his new room & a new crib for the baby. Again, I'll be selling a lot we already have to make this happen. I'm pretty excited about clearing out our garage. I made enough money last year at our garage sell to completely redecorate our dining room and foyer! I really don't feel like we have an excessive amount of stuff. We've done a great job about limiting our spending (I only bought myself one item from July to December, and this is mostly because we are on the tightest of budgets thanks to my frugal husband) and on a monthly basis clearing stuff out, but we can always do better.

6. Complete 2013 and 2014 Family Year Book. I have loved the idea of family year books for some time now. I want our images and stories throughout the year to be in a tangible book. So each year from now on, I'll be making a family year book. I've got to start and finish 2013. But for 2014, I want to complete each month at the end of each month or at least start it so that I'm not playing catch up at the end of the year.

7. Push myself creatively. I'm not sure what this means just yet. I know for sure I want to grow as a photographer. Step out of my comfort zone. And, I also want to learn to knit. And, I want to complete a DIY project I've always been to scared to do.

8. Read more books. I'm not going to put a limit to how many. Just to read. This will be a monthly goal. I'll take it month by month how much I'm going to read.

9. Complete an entire work out DVD. I've done 30 day shred more times than I can count. But this year, I want to complete like a 6 week DVD workout. Or something along that nature. Really, I want to join a gym, but we ain't got money for that. So along with running, this is my attempt at staying healthy. Not to mention it greatly helps with my thyroid.

10. Take 12 "Different" Dates & Family Dates. Once a month I want to take a date with Husband we normally wouldn't do (obviously we will take more than 1 date a month, but this one date has to be different than our standard dates). Batting cages, bowling, jump parks, etc. AND once a month I want to take "Different" family dates. Take C to a museum, circus, new park, etc. The standard date for us is dinner at a normal spot and a movie. I want to reallllly date my husband this year and get out of our normal standard date rut. 

11. Less social media. Because DUH. 

12. More Jesus. By this I mean, I'm more Jesus to my husband. More Jesus to C. More Jesus to loved ones. I want to shine more Jesus. Be a better wife. A better mother. A better friend. One that shines more Jesus in all those categories. Pray for my husband even more. serve and love C even more. I think this will show itself more in the month by month goal setting.

There. Those are my overall 2014 goals. Phew.

I think breaking these goals down every month will help me stay accountable to doing them, and make them more realistic. So here goes. 

1. Spend time in the word every.single.day
2. Run 3 times a week. work back up to a normal 5 miles a day. Currently at 3.
3. Start AND finish our family year book for 2013
4. Blog for Tiny Prints. (pushing myself creatively)
5. Clean the ENTIRE house. Every room. Inside and Out. Like Deep, deep clean. yuck.
6. Take our 1 different date and 1 family date.
7. Brain storm room ideas for our master and C's new big room (that eventually both boys will share). 
8. Pray for my husband every single day. I think in 2013 there were too many days that slipped by where I didn't pray for my husband. Gosh, that's awful. I want to lift him up every single day to the Lord this month.

Okay people. Here's to hoping this whole month by month goal setting thing works.

Last year, my word for the year was redemption.  I won't try to explain what that word meant to me throughout the year or how the Lord used it mightily in life. It's very personal. But, I loved meditating on that word throughout the year.

This year I'm choosing the word Contentment. I want to be content in Christ. I want to find my satisfaction, my fulfillment, my joy, my happiness in him. I want to be content with where the Lord has me now and in the every day. I don't mean for contentment to come across as stale or stagnant. I obviously want to challenge and push myself to grow in the Lord, to grow in my marriage, to grow as a person and a mother, but I mean that at the end of it all, my contentment is found only in Him. I want to be content. Not comparing, not looking towards future life changes, not jealous, not coveting. Just content. And you know what, this last week, every morning in my quiet time I've prayed that Lord would help me be content that day, and each day that passed a peace grew greater and greater. I stopped daydreaming about getting "The Call", I stopped trying to figure what "thing" I could do next or what I felt I was missing out on. I stopped checking our adoption profile online for "hits", I stopped checking social media as often & when I did check it, I wasn't prone to covet or compare. When the thoughts crept into my mind, I started praying against it and instead of wanting what someone had or wanting something I didn't have yet, I started praising the Lord for blessing other people and praising Him for where He has me NOW. And it's brought a peace. I plan to write this word somewhere where I will see it daily and constantly. Maybe make it my home screen on my phone.

I love reading other peoples resolutions and words for the year. Are you choosing a word for 2014? I want to hear it!

“Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”
― Jeremiah Burroughs