January Goals

I made a list of goals that I would love to accomplish this month.  (I had more on the list at first, but I finished those in December.  The things I checked off were things like cleaning out the kitchen cabinets, organizing the laundry room cabinets and cleaning my bedroom.)

(I am such a list maker.)

1.  Read lots!  I started a new reading challenge on GoodReads, and that determined what this goal looked like.  I'd like to be realistic at the same time, so I'm setting a goal of one book a week for this month.  (I'm already on book two since January one.)  I have a couple nonfiction books that I want to read as well, and I already started one of them.  It's called Wherever The River Runs, and it's by Kelly Minter.  It's a book about her journey through the Amazon, and how she fell in love with the people there.  (Kelly Minter is a bible study author and teacher, and she sings.  Talk about talent!)  The second nonfiction book I want to read is Hoodwinked: Ten Myths Moms Believe and Why We Need To Knock It Off, and it's by Karen Ehman and Ruth Schwenk.

My author of choice for my pleasure reading so far this month is Debbie Macomber.

2.  Have at least one family game night.  I think this is pretty reasonable, as well.  I tried to have this night one night last week, but nobody would join me.  We are still playing a game that we learned from our friends, Tripoley, but I'm open to other game suggestions if you have any.  I'm sure Jonah and Noah would like to switch it up a little.  We also love Phase Ten and Skipbo.

3.  Have someone over for dinner.  I believe it was during this month last year that Todd went to the church one night and came home with a guest.  It was a young college aged man whom our family has come to know and love.  He came for a few minutes, supposedly, but ended up staying for about three hours.  I would really love to do that kind of thing more in the year 2016.

In the meantime, does this count?

I made a giant pot of vegetable beef stew yesterday and my entire family left me at dinner time.  Todd taught CPR for the sheriff's department, and all the boys went to Chick Fil A with a few of their friends.  This sweet friend didn't want me to eat alone, so she joined me!

4.  Have (at least) one date with my husband.  We are terrible at having date nights.  It's because he works so much.  With him gone a lot of nights, we don't love to spend time away from the boys.  I'm not even putting a time of day on the list, just some time alone at least once this month would be wonderful.

5.  Send a couple of cards or letters.  Who doesn't love getting mail?  I know that I love receiving this, and since I love to write and encourage people, I thought I might start doing this every month.

I don't know what will happen with this list by the end of this month, so I will re-evaluate and that will depend on whether or not this will become a monthly thing.  We shall see!  (Some of these are so easy for me to do because I stay home, and I like to keep busy while the boys are doing their school work.)

Love to all.