July and August were good months, albeit full. A few highlights:

• We took three different family road trips (Kansas City, Oklahoma, and Arkansas).
• I was blessed to get to go to Colorado for 5 days to spend time with Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson.
• We did swimming lessons for all three kids four days a week almost every week.
• We got together with a number of out-of-town and local friends and did lots of fun activities.
• Kaitlynn started gymnastics (she’s loving it!) & Kathrynne decided to continue swimming lessons during the school year & set a personal goal to make swim team within the next year (she has to complete 4 more levels — I’m so excited to see her enthusiasm and drive!).
• I finished all the big edits on my next book, developed the marketing plan with Thomas Nelson, worked on some new projects, and hired on some new team members (so very excited about what all is in the works & so thankful for my amazing team!)
• We had major storm damage and had to get a lot of work down on our house as a result (new roof, new garage door, some new windows/screens, and complete paint job — while it was a bit of inconvenience, it turned out to be a blessing because insurance covered every penny of all the home improvements!)
• We started back to homeschooling and it’s my first year to have three grades simultaneously (4th, 2nd, K — I’m really loving our homeschooling schedule/curriculum this year so far!)

Needless to say, summer wasn’t calm and quiet. In fact, I think we may have only had one day the entire summer that we stayed home all day! But it was a good change of pace and we made lots of memories.

However, I’m so thankful that we’re now back into our usual routine again… I just love the quiet at-home days. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’m an introvert who doesn’t like much spontaneity? (Well, I take that back, I do like spontaneity provided it is carefully planned! ;))

At any rate, I was thinking I probably didn’t accomplish anything much on my goals list with all the running around we did. But I was pleasantly surprised to realize that I did make some good progress on a number of different goals. And that I’m on track to complete almost all my goals for this year. Yay!

Here’s my list of 25 Goals for 2013 and an update on how I did in July & August:

Personal Goals

Read through the Bible in a year using this plan. {I’m on track with this so far.}
Run in at least one 5K race.
Complete the Couch to 10K program.
Memorize Romans 1 and 2 with Jesse. {I’ve made some really great progress on this in the past two months — yay!}
Wake up by 6 a.m. and exercise, shower, and dress by 8 a.m. every day. {I’ve done a lot better at this the past two months — it helps that I had to be out the door for swimming lessons pretty early in the morning!}
Read 150 books/ebooks {See my list of 48 books I’m for sure planning to read here — I’ve read 85 books/ebooks so far in 2013, so I’m on a good track to hit my goal!}

Marriage Goals

Read 3 marriage books.
Finish reading through the Psalms together as a couple.
Have overnight stay (sans children) at least every other month. {Done in August.}
Go on at least one date per month. {Done in August.}

Mothering Goals

Continue memorizing together from the Grace and Truth memory book.
Ice-skating lessons for all three children during the first quarter of 2013.
Swimming lessons for all three children during the summer. {We signed the kids up and they start next week.}
Finish at least 37 read-aloud books. {We’ve finished 30 books so far this year, so we’re on a good track here.}

Ministry/Friendships/Extended Family Goals

Weekly accountability meetings with a friend. {This has been SO helpful!}
Get together with friends for a playdate or lunch at least once a month. {Done multiple times in July & August.}
Continue being involved in our local church, couple’s group, and blogging accountability group. {Ongoing}
Continue with weekly get-togethers with both sides of our extended family. {Ongoing.}

Financial Goals

Use a portion of the proceeds from my next book project to fund a well project.
Fund our Child Survival Program for 2013. {Done — yay!}
Buy a new bedroom set.
Invest in another rental property.

Business/Blogging Goals

Release two new ebooks.
Attend one speaking conference. {I attended the She Speaks Intensive in January.}
Finish and submit the manuscript for my next book.

Did you set goals for 2013?

If so, tell us how you’re doing  in the comments or leave a link to your blog post update below. Let’s encourage one another to live lives of intention and purpose!