Last week was full and there were some hard days (I have a blog post coming later today on those!), but the weekend ended on a high note, so that was a blessing.
Saturday morning and afternoon was pretty packed — I had two coffee dates, Silas had his first baseball game, and we had to go get a bunch of supplies for our church’s café.
{Silas at his first baseball game. His little 5-year-old heart couldn’t be happier. After talking about it for months and counting down the days for weeks, the day of his first baseball game finally arrived. My mama heart wanted to burst seeing his joy, passion, enthusiasm, and focus at bat and on the field.}
Jesse and I were planning to have our date night on Saturday night and had childcare lined up for it, but a few hours before, we decided to cancel so that we could get to bed early instead. We had a very full day on Sunday and needed to all be at church early and then would be gone most of the day.
While we were sad to miss our date, we both feel like it was a good decision because it allowed us to be able to have a relaxing family evening and then a calm Sunday morning. And the fact that we all showed up at church by 8:20 a.m. with all the supplies we needed to bring for the café and everyone with teeth brushed and hair fixed is pretty much a Christmas miracle. {Those of you who know our family and our “issues” with getting out the door — especially early in the morning! — will be able to appreciate that even more!}
Next week, we get to put our early Sunday morning skills to an even bigger test: our church is having 3 services for Easter — with the first one being at 8 a.m.! So that means we’ll all need to be out the door by around 7 a.m. with everyone dressed and presentable and all the supplies + extra supplies for the Easter crowd. It should be an adventure. 🙂
Here’s a run-down on how I did on my goals last week:
Marriage/Mothering/Homemaking Goals
1. Write notes of encouragement to all three kids.
2. Write a love note to Jesse.3. Have a date night with Jesse.
Personal Goals
4. Exercise at least 5 times.
5. Finish at least two books.
6. Work on the Cosy Posy Ear Warmer. {By the time I get this done, it’s going to be summer! I guess I can save it for next winter!}
Local Ministry/Hospitality/Friendship Goals
7. Clean out and organize all the cupboards at our church’s café.
8. Invite a family who just moved to Nashville to have a meal with us.Business Goals
9. Outline/write 3 substantive blog posts for next week.
10. Finish getting all the permissions for stories used in my manuscript.
Marriage/Mothering/Homemaking Goals
1. Decorate Easter eggs with the kids.
2. Write a love note to Jesse.
3. Continue working on developing the habit of obedience in our home (I attended the Laying Down the Rails workshop at the recent homeschool conference and it’s really motivated and inspired us in our parenting. We’re choosing the habit of obedience to implement in our home for the next 6-8 weeks. Just a week of working on this and it’s already made a big difference. Watch this video here for a snippet of the workshop.)
Personal Goals
4. Exercise at least 5 times.
5. Finish at least two books.
6. Listen to at least two inspiring audios/podcasts while working/driving (I’ve recently been challenged to do a better job of using those little cracks of time throughout the day to fill my mind up with good things and things that make me think and analyze life.)
Local Ministry/Hospitality/Friendship Goals
7. Research how to make the best coffee with the new commercial coffee machine we got for our church’s café.
8. Host a Dessert Night at our house.
Business Goals
9. Outline/write 3 substantive blog posts for next week.
10. Finish all final edits for the Makeover Your Mornings course.
How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives! You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.
Cari says
Wow, you did great even though it ended up being a hard week. I miss t- ball. The kids are so cute. But it wasn’t a good choice for us this year. Great job on getting out of the house on time on Sunday. We’re one of those families too:)
Kristi says
Hi there 🙂 I hope that this comment is taken as intended .. I notice in a lot of your writing you say that you have to or need to do this or that (for instance, you say your family NEEDS to be out the door 7am on Easter). Have you considered maybe shifting your perspective to thinking of those things in terms of what you want to do as opposed to what you need/have to do? I’m only suggesting it since it’s a huge shift I made almost a year ago .. I was constantly seeing things that I wanted to do as things that I had or needed to do. Truth is none of have to do anything if we don’t want to and there is little that we need to do as well .. but when we decide what we want to do, we can see things much differently .. I don’t have to fix dinner for my kids, I want to fix dinner for my kids because I want to take care of them and that’s one way I can do that. If I want to serve at a church, then I’ll want to get there in plenty of time to serve in the way that I want to serve. Again, it is not my intention to say that your life is full of things you feel you have/need to do .. I simply noticed it and am commenting.
Crystal Paine says
Great thoughts. My viewpoint is this: In any choice in life, there are some parts that aren’t so fun. We’ve chosen to serve in this capacity and we’re so grateful for the opportunity and LOVE it, but it also comes with responsibility and that responsibility means that we sometimes do things that we don’t love to do (i.e. get everyone out the door at an early hour) because it allows us to do things we love to do (i.e. serve at church).
It’s the same for me with blogging or speaking. I choose to do it and love to do it, but I don’t love all of the parts of it. I don’t love staying up late to fix a website issue. I don’t love having to deal with difficult situations. I don’t love getting up at 5 a.m. to catch a flight. Those are things that I “need to do” in order to allow me the opportunity to do the “get to do” things. I don’t want to do anything of those things (and would honestly choose to avoid them if I can at all help it!), but they are worth doing because they enable me to be able to serve people through this website, through writing, and through speaking.
For me, this perspective helps me best… and it’s something that I often remind our kids of. There are no easy paths to success and with all commitments come responsibility and hard things. There are going to be things you don’t enjoy and don’t want to do. But it’s those commitments and that perseverance through the hard things that allow you to experience the amazing and wonderful opportunities, too. So in those times when I’m doing one of those hard “need to do things”, I remind myself that it’s worth powering through because the rewards will be worth it.
Thanks, again, for chiming in! I think it’s always interesting how different approaches and thought processes work for different people.
Sonya says
My family is horrible about getting out of the house too. I’m so glad we homeschool, because we would be late to school everyday. Getting out the house before 11am takes some special effort for us.
Jen says
Thanks for sharing your goals! I have a lot I hope to accomplish this week, and I’m also hoping to work out every day. I hope I stick to it!
Katie L says
I attended a Laying Down the Rails workshop a couple of years ago in Massachusetts! My husband and I still talk about it ALL THE TIME.
Jennifer says
there are few joys that compare to watching your son play baseball, here’s to a great season!
Ginger says
I’m going to check out the snippet from the conference – sounds intriguing! 🙂 Your post reminded me that I need to do Easter eggs with the boys, too! So glad the coffee ministry is going well – I knew you’d rock at it!
Victoria says
I squeezed in enough running miles last week to be just .25 miles away from my goal. I knocked that out this morning with a 6.25 mile run so that I could catch up a bit of the miles I missed in February. This week I am aiming to have all my blog posts for next week done by Friday so I can work on my ebook edits Saturday. I would also like to see the bottom of the laundry pile once this week.
Crystal Paine says
Way to go! And I’m still looking for the bottom of my laundry pile, too! 🙂
Jenny @ Women With Intention says
I love seeing the excite and thrill that new experiences bring to our kids. We are waiting for t-ball season to start with our own excited 5-year-old 🙂
Cheryl says
We also start baseball for my 10 year old here in Michigan today…so far sunny and 40. I’m really going to try hard to focus on my schedule now that I have a less busy week. I worked extra hours at work last week and got a little behind. We cooked a wonderful and simple early Easter dinner for my mom and our family of 4. Now we can enjoy the leftover ham. This Sunday we’ll be out the door at 6:15 a.m. for sunrise service at 7:00. Happy Easter Crystal! He is Risen!
Crystal Paine says
You win! 6:15 a.m. is crazy early! 🙂
Lana says
We don’t even have any kids at home and find it hard to get out the door at 9:15 on Sundays that we are on the greeter team. You did well!!
Crystal Paine says
I’m not sure what it is about Sunday mornings, but it seems it’s *always* harder to get out the door on Sundays!
Lana says
For me it is always the what to wear question that slows it all down. Starting next week I am going to start taking pics of my outfits and then I can just look at them for ideas instead of standing in the closet in the brain dead state. I think that will really help.
Crystal Paine says
Having a few complete outfits to choose from and then laying one of those out the night before has really helped me. We’ve also started having our kids do the same and that’s seemed to make a big difference, too!
Emily says
Baseball already? Here in Minnesota we are far from that. 🙂
I am excited for your Makeover Your Mornings course! (You are my motivation to get up early! And I am going backwards, so I could use a little more help!)
I don’t do weekly goals, but I do monthly goals. Hope it’s OK I’m linking them up! Here are my goals for the month of April: http://www.morningmotivatedmom.com/april-goals/
Crystal Paine says
It’s been in the 60’s and 70’s here, but of course, on Saturday, it was FREEZING! Okay, well, like 40 degrees and breezy — which was cold to be sitting out in. 🙂 We put on layers, brought blankets, and just made it through because I knew Silas was more than happy to brave a little cold in order to get to play BASEBALL!