currently, January 2022

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm linking up with Anne over at in residence for this monthly blog post. In this post, I'll be sharing what I'm currently anticipating, organizing, reading, resolving and scheduling. 

Anticipating:

I'm a creature of habit and anytime when I've been on an extended break or on a vacation, I always anticipate the return of a normal routine. I have myself on such a schedule and there are things I do each day that I crave when too many days go by when I don't have any alone time. For instance, I have learned to love the time in the day after my family leaves for work. I love to sit and soak in my Bible reading each morning, I love to write out Scripture of some sort (more about that in a minute) and I love to sit and just talk to Jesus. I do that throughout the day, actually, and feel like it's my own little personal retreat each day. 

As far as writing out Scripture, Shannon from swtblessings.com has stopped making writing plans in 2022. If this makes you sad, don't be! Click on her blog link above and find her plans with their printable versions there. There are so many topics to choose from! I may do this on my own this year and write out the books in the Bible we're studying to write on. If you want an actual plan, click here for a printable version. 

Organizing:

At this moment, I'm not organizing anything. I recently joined an email list from Clean Mama to help motivate me get the house in order. I say this like it's out of order, but it's really not. It's just that we still have people occupying all the rooms, and I don't mess with their rooms. That bothers me a little, knowing they're unorganized, but they're all grown too, so it's on them. I may work on getting our pantry organized at some point, because it's been all out of whack since before Christmas. 

I'm enjoying our home being a little more clean and put together since the holidays are over. 

Reading:

I'll do a bookish post at the end of this month to tell you what I'm reading, but I started reading the chronological Bible all over again. 

So, here's the thing about reading this again. I told my friend yesterday that because I've done this so much, my tendency is to go very quickly through each daily reading. I'm also a fast reader, so that just makes it even worse. My pastor shared some insight on this, though and that is to take each day slowly. This means that sometimes I'll actually read it and then read it again. The first time I read it, I will underline and maybe add a note in the margin of the Bible. (This one pictured above is a journaling Bible, which I love.) The second time I read or skim over it again, I'll make notes in my journal of the highlights of what I read, or I'll pick one takeaway from that day's reading. That's what I did on the day I took this picture, as you can see above. I don't always draw something to go along with it, but I did on this day. 

If you'd like more information on this Bible pictured, here is a link for the one my mom-in-love bought me for my birthday. To accompany reading through this again in 2022, my church is also offering a class on Wednesday nights, taught by three of my friends. I am making plans to attend that each week, because even though I've read through this on my own in years past, it's been ages since I faithfully attended the class each week. 

Resolving:

This involves a back story. There's a girl I follow on Instagram, Mel Larson, who started challenging people to take a step back and really evaluate what they spend money on. As someone who is very easily influenced, I noticed I spent too much money on Amazon last year on things people rave about on social media. I realized how dumb that is and I am resolving to change that bad habit this year. I am not including items that are considered necessities: personal hygiene items, makeup/skincare, and the replacement of clothing items as needed (for instance, if I rip my jeans).

This is something I haven't even mentioned to anyone until this very moment, so it's not like my husband asked me to cut back, which I would do again if he asked me as he has before. I don't work to contribute to our income, though and this may be something the Lord is working on in me as I've asked Him to help me to be a good steward of the money and time He has given to me. 

The hashtag is #12in2022 and I've not yet figured out if this will be something I reserve for Amazon, or if it's something in general. The girl I mentioned who does this applies this to her wardrobe, but I'm thinking I may need to apply this toward Amazon, since that's where I do most of my shopping these days. I've made my first purchase already, if that's the case, when the colored pens I love went on a lightning deal over the weekend. (I also purchased pillow covers, but those are to replace the ones I had to throw away before Christmas, so I'm not counting them.) 

I'm resolving to add some diversity to the books I read each month. I have a new reading journal that is helping me with this, since she has great options to add in to my to-be-read list. 

I'm resolving to do more things that make me smile. Just yesterday I did a few—I kept a candle burning most of the day, I sat and lingered in my quiet time a little longer, I cooked something yummy and healthy for my lunch, I let the clothes sit in the dryer a bit longer, I scheduled time in my day to work on blog things (like this post and some more that I started as drafts), I let myself relax and sit without feeling guilty. It's nothing earth shattering, but I'm resolving to lay aside the guilt I sometimes feel as I relish the phase of life I'm currently in.

What are you resolving in?

Scheduling:

I'm scheduling time to write. I have a writing deadline that I keep procrastinating about, but this is the week I'm starting to write again. I co-author Bible studies for women with four other friends from church and we're working on the one that will be published for us to take in the Fall semester of  this year. This one will be our fourth! As a team we've written on the books of Hosea, Philippians, Esther and now we're working on a combined study for the books of 1,2, 3 John and Jude. 

These are some VERY intimidating books in the Bible to write on! Feel free to pray for us all as we turn in the first portion of this at the end of this month. We were trying to write two a year, but realistically that just cannot happen. We have prayed about this and decided to make a change and do just one a year and doing another study already written in the Spring semester of each year.

I'd love to hear from you and some of what you're currently doing! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all. ❤