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Category Archives: Personal

52 weeks:: Week 2

So this week was really a struggle to take photos of my kids.  Two extremely cold days, Kevin traveling (making me the full time parent) and busy schedules made it hard to even take out the phone for photos!  I am also finding that my time is more limited in being around my kids, posing less opportunities to take the photos.  *Sigh* It was bound to happen, I know and finding I must make a more concerted effort to get their photo when I can!

Some highlights of our week:
Snow (and lots of it!)
Taking down our Christmas tree
Inside because of cold temps
Gifts from good friends
Elise’s Review of Choose Your Own Adventure book

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    Friday and 52 weeks… again.

    The past few days have been all about goals and resolutions, but today is Friday.

    Cue in balloons.  And cheering. And those of us living in Minnesota, sweaters ( and hats and mittens and cozy socks, and anything to keep us warm with these frigid temps) And coffee, lots of coffee.

    Friday’s this year on the blog I will be introducing myself through randomness and through a personal project that I have been trying to do for the past couple years (and failing miserably at) …52 weeks. Through this personal project I hope to finally start putting photos of my family (either taken with my pro camera or phone!) and putting them together in a big book for us at the end of the year.

    Because this week was really the very first week, I have to be honest that I drew from the very last week of the year when we had the week off for winter break.  It was so relaxing to be able to take off some time and really invest it into our family.  We spent Christmas at home and were together a lot.  Swimming, building snowmen, a trip to the Mall of America, making cookies, paying with friends and ringing in the new year by banging pots and pans at midnight while playing broom ball and being with friends was all part of the week. Also this week is MN in pretty frigid (like today was -12 as I drove the kids to school).  As much as I love the beauty of winter, the frigid temps just about do me in.  More to come as the weeks continue.  Happy Friday to you!

     

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      I love a checklist

      I do have them and actually love them: goals.  And I love crossing things off.

      Both personal and work related.  Yesterday I was able to share some goals that I am working toward in my business for the 2017 year, but I am also sharing today what I goals I am working toward in my personal life.  Kevin and I always take a day to really focus and hone in on the goals and ideas that we want to accomplish throughout the year both for our family as well as personal.  These goals and ideas range from what we want to do for vacation, financial goals, the activities we envision for our kids, to putting work events on the calendar.  We then go into deeper goals like how we want to invest into our marriage, how we want to invest into our kids and into our church, and what our mission statement for the year will be. As you can imagine, this takes lots of time and it is something that we plan for.  Typically we cover the first half of the year, and then re-acess mid summer when we have a vacation and other late summer and fall events on the calendar.

      We typically go somewhere and do this, but this year we spent the day in our PJ’s with calendars spread across the kitchen table while an ice storm hit and let our kids basically run the house (which now days actually looks pretty calm as they are all old enough to be by themselves! When they were little we would have a baby-sitter watch them during the day while we went away to a coffee shop or just plan an night after they went to bed to really hash through these ideas.)  Some years we go deeper than other years, but either way, we try really hard to look at the entire calendar and get an idea of how we really want to use our time wisely!

      I won’t share all our family goals, but for me personally these are things I want to invest my time into:

      1. Taking our kids out one-on-one weekly
      2. Reading one book per month (see my list above, and as you can guess, I am not a reader!)
      3. Taking a day off , like really off. (Typically this is Monday.  Because Kevin is a pastor and I work all weekend, our weekends are crazy, Sunday just isn’t possible for us, so we continue to aim for Monday!)
      4. Connecting with family and friends, either by going out, or through texting/ e-mailing/ phone calls throughout the week
      5. Running another 1/2 marathon (probably spring time!)
      6. Doing a Bible Study/ quarter with other women
      7. Investing into self-care ( Why does this have to be a goal for so many women and moms?!) Through a massage, getting my nails done, leaving the house by myself for a few hours, getting my hair done, working out, once a week
      8. Date night with Kevin once every other week
      9. Create and print photo books of my family for the year
      10. Work on a personal photo project for myself (more of this to come in future weeks!)

      So there you have it.  And I am sure I will come back to this list as the weeks turn into months.  What will you do to invest personally into yourself this year?

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      • Annette

        love this!! we have a very similar book list.

      Grace for today

      This week!

      It is one of transition and crazy for me. Kids are home from school on summer break, activities are in full swing, I have sessions to edit and social calendars to manage. Let me be honest with you… I am just plain tired. I am behind in my editing and my house is needing a good clean. But friends let me tell you, if there is one thing that I am learning in this season of life, it is giving grace to myself, my calendar, and my kids. I don’t always have to have the picked up house, activities will slip through the cracks and I may not make the deadlines I create for my work life. But I am getting things done, loving on my kids, and am determined to enjoy each day to the fullest, even if it does last until 1 am!!
      So how are you doing today? Are you giving yourself grace?

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        Musings:: Direction

        Direction.

        Up, down, north, or south.  Life is full of them.  Thinking back on the last 24 months of my life, it is clearly safe to say that when I think I am headed one way, my course can be drastically changed in a matter of hours or even minutes.  Some of you know that in 2014, we went through a house fire and for the next 18 months our lives were completely re-directed. My Pollyana view of the world came crashing down when we quickly realized that it was arson. (Ask me about it in person some time and I can give you the crazy details!!) There were other events that happened including the death of a close friend, my grandfather and life circumstances that caused me to hold tight to the ONE who gives me direction while the compass of my life was swirling out of control.  These last few months I have felt the waters slowly calming down and I have been able to look around and evaluate the changes in my heart and life.  A renewed and clearer picture of who I am and what I want to focus on both in life and business are becoming clearer and clearer by the month.

        In the beginning of 2016 I decided this was the year of re-direction and re-discovery.  Re-discovering myself, who I am as a mom to pre-teens (wh-wha-what?!!), a wife to a pastor, what I like to do when I am not with my kids, the areas in business I want to re-discover, and how to help, love and serve others.  It is a weather vain that is ever-changing and though the directions may not always be clear I can be sure that it will be pointed in one direction and I can choose joy through each circumstance.

         

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          Happy Easter!! He has risen indeed!!
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