New Year, New Plan: Five-a-Month

A friend of mine has a monthly goal section on her blog. She sets her goals and then reports back as things get done, or don't get done. I like that idea. But she has multiple sections and multiple goals under each section, and is vastly more organized about it than I intend to be (I think she's awesome to do it... I just know myself, and I can do organization in small portions. Too much, and I throw it all out.).

So here's the plan:

• Every month, I will start out the month by posting a list of five goals for that month.
• I will try to be specific, or make them measurable in some way.
• At the end of the month, I will report back about how & if I met those five goals.

If you'd like to join me, I welcome that.

By the way, have I shared with you all the beautiful view we have from our balcony? We live on the 12th floor, and very occasionally, we get a morning like this one a few months ago:

Tonight, we saw some great fireworks shows, and didn't pay a nickle! :)

So, anyway, back to the matter at hand, for January 2011, here are my Five-a-Month goals:

1. I will read or listen to Scripture every day.
2. I will visit two neighbors and get back in the groove of speaking Turkish more frequently.
3. I will read one book about pattern making/clothing design (something I've been wanting to learn about, but haven't made time to read the books yet...).
4. I will continue faithfully doing the "No S Diet".
5. I will take the kids to at least one cultural/arts activity (I'm currently trying to decide between an art exhibit and a classical music concert...) during this month.

I'm going to write these out and clip them to my mirror. If you think this sort of system would be helpful for you, please join me. If not, no pressure! For those bloggers who will participate, here's a way to link up to your post and we can all be in this together. (If you don't blog, but still want to participate, feel free to leave your goals in the comments and then report back with me at the end of the month.)

Blessings to you, and Happy New Year 2011! :)

Like a Newborn Baby...

While listening to 1 Timothy this morning, a phrase I've heard dozens of times stuck out to me:

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

When I think back to those early days with a new baby, there is an amazing amount of sweetness, combined with a complete, dependent neediness on the part of the baby. Some of you may remember that I blogged about my nursing experiences with Moses, our most recent son. The first post, describing the first week of nearly non-stop eating, seemed to strike a chord with a lot of people. It is so easy to forget that early neediness, where at times the only thing that satisfies that sweet little person is drinking more milk.

LIKE NEWBORN BABIES

But this morning, it made me think, have I ever been that dependent on the Word of God? And even if there was such a time, am I still growing in my maturity of intake? Because sometimes I stagnate.

If, in real life, I went without food as often as I sometimes go without God's Word, I would not be healthy.

That's a frightening reality. I don't love God's Word enough; I am not dependent enough upon it. Though at times I have spent time and energy eagerly feeding myself on God's Word, at other times, I treat it as dessert, or as a delicacy. In other words, as if it's optional.

One commentary notes:

Reading, studying and assimilating the Word of God is the most essential part of our spiritual life. There will be no sign of spiritual growth unless our spirit is stimulated, formed and built up by this Word.

Do I treat Scripture as essential? There have been many times in my life when I have, but I have to confess that in recent months, I have not treated God's Word as essential. At times, it's been something I've reached for in desperation, but if I am honestly assessing my intake over the past few months, I am spiritually malnourished.

Even if there have been times when I wanted to read 8-12 times a day, those times won't carry me along NOW. I still need to be regularly intaking God's Word. Not just the "milk" meant for spiritual newborns, but chewing through the meat that's available in His Word as well. Just like the classic "busy mom" who has to make sure she's eating healthy and taking care of herself, so that she can more capably love and care for the people in her home, perhaps now more than ever, I need to be feeding myself a healthy "diet" of Scripture.

This is just an open confession, I suppose. It could serve as well as a word of encouragement for any other moms out there who have been doing what I've been doing-- shuffling along through spiritual life without that regular, dependent, eager intake of God's Word. Let's get back to it. Let's keep on diving deeper into Scripture. Let's chew on the difficult parts and delight in the sweet portions.

Anything you'd like to share or add?

7 Quick Takes Friday - #9

OK, now for this week's 7 Quick Takes... and it's gonna be quick.

1. We made over 300 Christmas cookies this week, and today, just now in fact, we delivered them all to neighbors. I'm trying not to eat them, cause technically, I shouldn't until tomorrow and Sunday, but man, they're good. And cute too.
   
   
2. OK, yeah, I hinted at it up there in #1, but I'm still doing the No S Diet, and loving it. I think I'm down a few pounds, but I don't have a scale to know for certain. But my clothes are looser and I'm happy. This is the most sensible "diet" I've ever heard of. Really, it's not a diet. It's just basically "Self Control and Common Sense 101". And yes, I think even with the occasional Christmas-cookie-slip-up, it's really reasonable for holiday times too.
   
   
3. My 4 year old daughter calls both Zaccheus AND Ikea "I-kee-us". I am fairly confident that she realizes that they are not the same thing, but nevertheless, both are "I-kee-us". Why you need to know this I have no idea, but there it is.
   
   
4. This year, we traded in our 2-foot-tall tabletop Christmas tree for a free-to-us (including multi-colored twinkle lights!!!--YAY!) proper 5-foot tree. But it started out very, very, uh, bare. Last week, (which we'll affectionately title, "every-single-person-in-our-family-got-the-croup-except-my-husband-wonder-how-he-avoided-it-must-be-those-GNC-vitamins-week") we watched a ton of movies and I made about thirty gazillion ornaments. Little squeezable soccer ball toys got covered with fabric and beads... leftover yarn from "Violet's" blanket became 4 star ornaments and 8 stuffed ball ornaments a la Attic24... I even felt like the origami queen there for a day or so. And I used old ribbon stashes to make a chain garland. And now we have quite the homespun tree... the kids are quite enamored with it.
   
   
5. Speaking of Ikea, we live close to one, and we occasionally stop in for a cheap and easy lunch: hot dogs. We joke that the kids will one day make it to adulthood and wonder why anyone would buy furniture from a place that sells hotdogs. Anyone else a fan of cheap food at Ikea?
   
   
6. I've done some reading this year, but not as much as in years past... I'm also in the middle (currently) of about 10 books or so... what about you? Any great books to recommend? I read some that were OK, some that weren't so great, and re-read quite a few this year. I'd love to hear from you about great things you're reading.
   
   
7. Just came across this video: What if Joseph and Mary were on Facebook?

Best wishes for a great Christmas holiday to you and your family. Here's hoping you avoid sickness and make some special memories with your family!

7 Quick Takes Friday - #8

Jumping right in...

1. It's beginning to look a lot like December, and I guess it really is. What in the world? I suppose this officially plants me in the "old lady" department, but I'm serious-- time is flying so fast.
   
   
   
2. Here's what we've got going, Christmas-wise: our older two boys made paper chains, now gracing our living room. We all made paper snowflakes and they're hanging from the ceilings this year (last year we taped them to windows-- shhh.... I think I liked that better.) Christmas tree & Christmas banner are up. Most presents have been purchased. We're planning to have a party to get to know the other people in our building better (language practice, here I come!).
   
   What about you? Are you ready for Christmas? Decorations up? Plans sorted out? Recipes chosen? Feel free to share in the comments.
   
   
3. Anyone travelled on Amtrak with a family? I'd be interested to hear about your experiences. Please e-mail me or share in the comments, thanks!
   
   
4. Little Moses is about 4 & 1/2 months old and he is up on all fours, rocking back and forth and scooting and rolling all across our floors. I remember Silas did similarly, but man, this seems too early! (That picture is from Halloween, where Moses dressed up as "Moses"... ya know, baby in a basket?-- he even had a Bible-style headdress and all, LOL.)
   
   
5. I made some Christmas ornaments this year, and I think they turned out nice. I'll try to share pictures next week once I get my flash card/external harddrive situation sorted out.
   
   
6. I'm ending week 1 of the No S Diet, and it's been enjoyable. I'm so impressed with how reasonable it is, and it feels sustainable, long-term. Dare I say I'm excited? (I'm also really glad it's Friday and that the next 2 days are "S" days-- click on the link to know what in the heck I'm talking about-- I am really looking forward to dessert tomorrow.)
   
   
7. Reading through Charles Sykes' book, 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School, I came across this quote and thought it is just really great for interacting with people, even within the church:
   

   "People are not easily divided into saints and sinners. Most of them are more complicated and more interesting, a mixture of strengths, weaknesses, insights, and blind spots. If you demand perfection, you'll be disappointed. If you decide to only listen to perfect people, you'll find that you are pretty much on your own."

So there are 7 things on my mind... if you also want to do a "7 Quick Takes", click here. As always, feel free to share your thoughts and responses in the comments- I love to hear from you guys.