Money Saving Mom®

Last week, we made some fun memories prepping for and celebrating Easter.

On Friday, our friend, Tam, invited us over to decorate eggs and have lunch with her.

As you can tell, the kids had SO much fun coming up with all sorts of creative ways to color their eggs and I felt incredibly grateful for the gift of friends who love my children like this. It’s a beautiful thing!

And then, Tam and her husband, Brent, invited us and some other dear friends over to celebrate Easter. She had made Easter baskets for all the kids and a special Easter egg hunt — complete with specially marked eggs for each child with notes they had written to each child, money, and candy.

I’m blown away by the way these families have loved us and welcomed us here in TN since we’ve moved. It’s humbling, heart-warming, and it teaches me so much how to be better friend and to love others well.

We were so blessed by attending our church’s Good Friday Service. You can read more about it here.

Then, Sunday dawned a beautiful day! Not only was it a time for celebrating the true meaning of Easter, but we also loved the opportunity to serve in our church’s café together. We had fun shopping for food and supplies on Saturday and then we all worked together to get up and around and out the door by 7:30 a.m. in order to be at church in time to serve at all three services.

We opted to go for use-what-you-already-have-in-your-closet Easter Dresses this year. (Kaitlynn wanted to wear her green dress, Kathrynne didn’t care, and I looked briefly but couldn’t find a dress that I liked enough to actually pay money for!) I didn’t even realize until we all got dressed that morning that all of us girls were wearing green and polka dots!

{I was kind of proud of the fact that I watched a YouTube tutorial for this Dutch Braided Bun hairstyle and actually pulled it off… As a girl who typically can never replicate anything from a YouTube video without a major fail, this is pretty epic!}

Here’s an update on how I did on my goals last week:

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 Make Over Your Mornings course.

This week’s goals:

Marriage/Mothering/Homemaking Goals

1. Take the kids on a field trip to the Nashville Zoo.

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. Have a lunch date with a friend.

8. Have friends from out of town over for dinner.

9. Finish reading a friend’s manuscript & writing an endorsement for it.

Business Goals

10. Outline/write 3 substantive blog posts for next week.

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.