Hello June!

Spring surprised me with a loaded schedule and an unexpected injury in the family. It started with the Toloha Water Walk, which was one of the most amazing events I’ve ever been a part of. (Read about it here at Toloha.org) . Next, came a bang in business as the weather has been gorgeous! Then… the you-know-what hit the fan. My husband, Josiah, tore his Achilles tendon (for the second time, except the other leg) which meant surgery, 6 weeks on crutches and 6 months of recovery. That night, he walked into the kitchen after playing basketball, and he was on crutches (the ones he got the last time this happened). He and our friend, Jake, told me what happened and I stifled a laugh – I thought it was a joke – an extremely mean one. It took about 2 minutes of them saying, “I’m not joking. It would be a good joke, but it’s not one…” etc. etc. and then I had to feel where the tendon once was. Then, I had to sit down because my vision was going white.

The thing is, when it happened, I was sure everything would come to a complete halt, like it did last time when we had a newborn and I was recovering from a C-section. But it didn’t. Life has kept moving. Family and friends have surrounded us, once again, and cared for us, which has allowed us to keep serving in areas we are passionate about and enjoy the tremendous blessings that have been revealed to us more and more each day. It is so humbling to be served. So. Humbling. I praise the Lord for how he has put the desire for community in our hearts. Being part of the body of Christ is by no means easy, but the lifetime rewards are innumerable. I pray that the love shown to us is evidence to the world of God’s grace and love. (John 13:34)

After Josiah’s injury, I thought it best to slow down business for a few weeks during the beginning of his recovery. It was just amazing how jam-packed April and the beginning of May were that allowed me to slow down and still meet my goals for the last two months. Again, I’m humbled at God showing his love for us with his attention to the details of our lives. Booking less portrait sessions has allowed me to spend more time with the kids and keep the house in some sort of order. We even went out one morning spontaneously to pick strawberries – just me and all three kids. Usually, I try to avoid outings by myself with all three crazies, but it was so wonderful. We had the strawberry patch all to ourselves – no one else was there – not even working the stand. Gotta love the honor system!

As we look ahead at the next month, I realize I need to be realistic about how much I can accomplish.  Over the past 6 years, the Lord has really been teaching me how to be more disciplined with my time, but I’m still learning about accomplishing my goals and maintaining them. I started posting my goals a few years ago after Nancy Ray inspired me to put them out there in the webosphere. It really makes them more concrete and gives accountability. It has been awhile since I’ve posted them, and this post by my friend, Kristy, and this post by my friend, Lara (I’ll say “Start Fresh June”), gave me the nudge I needed to get back to it!  Thank you, ladies!

Okay, here goes!

June Goals

(some of these repeat every month, the first 11 are specific to June)

1. Meet my new niece in Tennessee!!!
2. Order a large canvas for my office
3. Get 2 prints framed at Right Angle in Kinston – one of which is from our wedding and we just celebrated our 9^th anniversary, so… I think it’s time (sarcasm and blush).
4. Create a workflow board.
5. Brainstorm and meet with Fundraising Team for Toloha Partnership.
6. Set in concrete catering and venue for the  2^nd Annual Toloha Partnership Banquet for Water on October 25, 2014. Woohoo!
7. Get registered for Classical Conversations and a Classical Conversations Practicuum.
8. Big one! Transfer my website to WordPress. This one’s a doozie and may roll into July. But I’ve been wasting time, energy and resources where I am and it’s time to move. This entails a lot of other tasks that I will not post cuz I want to keep it a surprise!
9. Memorize Psalm 73:21-26
10. Grow something green indoors. I have a habit of driving my indoor plants to the point of death and then just at the last second bringing them back. I decided to try my hand at some succulents. Wish me luck!
11. Pare my wardrobe down to a capsule (read about what that is here).
12. Take at least two days to only organize for business stuff.
13. Use a budget – eek! I stink at this.
14. Go on at least 2 date nights with Josiah.
15. Take at least one day to do things that fire me up.

Below are all my goals that are repeated, daily, weekly or monthly.

Daily Goals

1. Wake up by 6am every morning (I’ve learned that this is essential to my sanity – even 15 minutes of solitude with Jesus starts my day with joy in my heart rather than frustration).
2. Go to bed by 11pm! That means lights out, phone off! (Also, essential to my health and sanity.)
3. Read one chapter of the New Testament each morning.
4. Pray throughout the whole day.
5. Eat more fruits and veggies.
6. Play with the kids – like really play, not sit outside on my phone and give them “mmmmhmmms” while they play in the backyard and tell me to watch them do things. 30 minutes of undivided attention – that is soooo doable. I want so much for them to remember me being present in their daily lives and it is in my power to do so – so I must.

Weekly Goals

1. Meal Plan. Meal Plan. Meal Plan! Using PlantoEat.com – awesome amazingly wonderful and smart website and app!
2. Exercise. Confession – I have not intentionally exercised (except going on a handful of walks) since… I don’t want to say when. Now… that being said, keeping up with a 5 year-old, 2.5 year-old and 9 month old is an active lifestyle so I feel pretty healthy, but I miss my Pilates and brisk walks. And I hope to take up swimming.
3. Take three days off from the biz per week.
4. Read 2 or more chapters of a book.
5. Blog at least once for Toloha.org, the Three Eleven Photography Blog and draft a blog for a new little somethin’ I’m planning.
6. Organize or deep clean one space.
7. Spend one on one time with each child.

Well, there they are. (Gulp!) We’ll see what happens. I would love to hear about your goals for June! If you post them somewhere, share a link in the comments below. Let’s cheer each other on this month!

See ya next year, May!

Here are some images from May!