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A Peek Into Our Lives Last Week (+ an update on my goals for 2018)

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Welcome to my weekly post I share a peek into our lives, talk about things I’m loving, share links to interesting articles or helpful ideas I’ve collected throughout the past week, and just talk about whatever is on my heart! ?

My sister and her family were driving from South Carolina to Kansas, so they stopped at our house to spend the night. The kids were SO excited and loved getting to have their cousins stay with us for the night.

Clayton is such a sweet boy and he and Kaitlynn hit it off!

We aren’t exactly sure when Quill’s birthday is, but Kaitlynn decided it was this past week and made a birthday hat for him. 🙂

I flew to Kansas with Silas on Tuesday afternoon and stayed until Thursday morning to celebrate my sister’s 40th birthday. You can see a peek into our visit here.

And then we drove to Arkansas this weekend for our annual vacation at the lake with all of my extended family.

My dad is an incredible water skiier!

Hanging out on the boat.

Kaitlynn just can’t get enough of Genevieve.

This was one of my most favorite pictures from the recent photo shoot.

From my heart…

I don’t know what kind of pain or hurt or heartache or sadness you are carrying today. I don’t know the loss you have suffered or the disappointments you’ve endured.

But today, I want to whisper this to you, “Don’t give up.”

As long as your heart is still beating, there is hope, there is a future, there are possibilities.

You are not alone. You are not forgotten. You are not a failure.

Keep going. Keep clinging to hope. Keep reaching out. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. Keep believing that there is going to be a beautiful ending to your story… don’t give up.

P.S. If you would love for someone to pray for you today, I would be honored to do so for you by name. Leave a comment or send me an email.

2018 Goals Update

Personal Goals

1. Read 100 non-self-help books that will build me up/encourage me/inspire me/recharge me. (Fiction/story-driven/biographies/inspirational living books/devotionals.) See the list of 44 books I plan to read this year.

**Progress: 39 books read so far this year

2. Read through the entire Bible.

**Progress: I’m using the Robert Murray M’Cheyne plan and am all caught up— yay!

3. Write one handwritten note to someone every week.

**Progress: 30 notes written so far this year

4. Run 500 miles.

**Progress: 281 miles run so far

Marriage Goal

5. Go on an overnight trip with Jesse without the kids.Jesse and I went to NYC together in January.

Family Goals

6. Read 10 books aloud with the kids.

**Progress: I’ve finished two books so far. (I have a plan for how we’re going to incorporate more reading into our schedule once school starts and we’re all driving in the car to school drop-offs every morning. For now, I’m just happy that we’re fitting in a little family reading a few times per week when we’re all in the car together driving to the pool or somewhere else. Something is better than nothing, right??)

7. Take the kids to South Africa. We took this trip in July. What a memorable experience!

8. Go on a family road trip.

**Progress: We’ve been researching some options for this and are hoping to make this happen over Fall Break. Stay tuned!

Financial Goals

9. Save up to pay cash to finish off an office for me and workout room for Jesse and me in the basement in our new house.

**Progress: The workout room is DONE and the office is getting close to being done!

10. Replenish our Emergency Fund (we dipped into it to replace my car when it got totaled because of the carpet beetle infestation.)

Business Goals

11. Increase our gross income from the business by 8%.

12. Launch 5 new courses.

**Progress: We launched 4 Weeks to a More Productive Life launched in January, Content Creation 101 in February, 4-Week Blog Coaching Program in March, Email List Setup 101 in March, Make Over Your Mornings LIVE in April, the Facebook Live Masterclass in May, and we launched Build Your List 101 in June!

Reader Interactions

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  1. Joan says

    Like Claire, I may also be too late. (Claire, I have prayed for you.) I would like prayer for my daughter, Audrey, age 11. We adopted her at age 2 – had very rough start to life in orphanage. I’m asking that you would pray that she surrender to our love and that she will believe that we will keep her safe. Diagnosed with PTSD, ADHD, ODD and RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder). She does everything “naughty” to try to make us NOT love her. It’s exhausting. It’s heartbreaking. Thank you, Crystal.

  2. Claire says

    I might be too late for this (I know this post is from yesterday), but I would love it if you could pray for me to become a better mother for my son.

  3. Tasha says

    Thanks, Crystal, for this post. I needed to hear it today. I need prayer for a family dispute between one of my parents and my brother and his wife. It is causing pain to some innocent little grandkids and tearing our family apart. It just breaks my heart. I would appreciate prayers from anyone reading this comment. Thanks.

  5. Melody says

    Crystal, You had mentioned awhile back about a book you read that inspired you to open your home to others. I am very interested in having folks over for dinner and etc. but that would be a little out of my comfort zone. I am hoping you can remind me of the book that you read.

    • Meg says

      Hi, Melody! The book is “Just Open the Door.” You can read more about it HERE. Hope that helps! 🙂 -Meg, MSM Team

  6. Laurie Floyd says

    Just what I needed. I believe in the power of prayer. Please pray for me (Laurie). I think my husband is choosing to end our marriage.

  7. Gayle says

    Please pray for my sister Kristie. In the last 2 years her baby died, her father in law died in a tragic accident, and her son was diagnosed with autism.
    Her marriage and kids are hurting and need prayers.

  8. Christine says

    Please pray for my thyroid disease to heal spontaneously on it’s own and please pray my children thrive in public school (they have been homeschooled for 8 years) and please pray for my marriage to grow stronger.

  9. Rose says

    i can use all the prayers i can get right now. had the first of 2 shoulder surgeries on july 25 and am not doing well at all. it being my dominant side has made things especially difficult, the 6-8 week recovery time has me so depressed, and also because im home alone with no help. am calling my oldest sis today to see if she can come. ty for praying

  10. Carole says

    Yes please would love you to
    Pray for me
    I had bowel cancer in 2015 and they got it. All and not spread and had 6 months chemo I can now go 2 years before my next scan but continue with 6 monthly bloods which ave been ok
    However not been feeling too good this weeks with pains in tummy and automatically think it’s back xx

  11. Nicole Seefried says

    I was wondering how you transitioned into loving exercise. I just started in the mornings and have to say, it’s not really my favorite! Also I was wondering if you had any tips on kids and attitudes, my kids are 8 6 4 3 and 10 months (no probs with the 10 month old:) we did recently move to another state so maybe thAt’s it? Also in addition to everything else my 6 yr old hates school (homeschool)

  12. Melissa Crawford says

    Your ‘From my heart’ post was what I needed to read today. I would really really appreciate it if you could put in a good word with God for me. Dealing with a lot of stuff right now. Not sure what’s going to happen.

  13. Megan says

    Thank you for your “from my heart” section today. I really needed to read those words more than I knew. I would appreciate your prayers. Going through some challenging personal and work issues. I will also be praying for all those who need it right now.

  14. Susan says

    Thank you from the “from my heart” at the your post. I needed that today. I would love prayer in dealing with heartbreak which has led to pretty significant depression with lots of work stress on top of it all.
    Thank you!