Still Goin’? (2014 Goals)

It’s time again to check in with my online accountability group on our goals for this year. How did February go? Anyone is welcome to join in, sharing their goals and progress either on her own blog or in the comments section here. Here are my original 2014 goals, and below are just my “SMART” February goals with comments on how they went–or not. Then I’ll add my incremental goals for March!

Ministry

1. I made a list of women to contact or visit and scheduled one or two per week for the whole year. I planned to simply text message or phone 4 ladies in February. Well, I ended up making another home visit this month to a former church member. Please pray for her. I can’t list her name, but we would like to see her return to Christ. I got some heavy news regarding three other teen girls in our church this month, and so my schedule for contacting certain women didn’t work, as I concentrated on those girls instead. Nevertheless, I exceeded the goal again this month! So in March, I would like to simply text or phone 4 ladies (same goal).
2. Next week, I will check with some companies to see if they have opened yet after their holiday break to order materials to make lip balm. First week of Feb–email the seller of the package I should have received in the mail. Second week of Feb–order lip balm pots from whichever company is cheapest. Third and fourth weeks–if pots come in, experiment with making some lip balm. I did get some ingredients I had ordered, and I tried to order the pots but am still waiting on the company that sells them! They’re taking forever. I do know that I’m down to one possible company (from two). Ita vita African. This month–complete that order! If it comes in by the last week of March, start trying to make the recipe!
3. I made a flexible weekly schedule to prioritize translating my children’s Sunday School lesson every week and see when I could fit in preparation for the women’s lessons. This Sunday, ask the ladies for their support. If they still want to meet, try for Feb. 15 as our first meeting. We had our first meeting! Yay! It was not attended well, but this month will be better. Schedule the ladies’ group for March 15 if possible and begin preparing the lesson this week.
4. Host white friends from town once a month or bimonthly. Call or write to encourage white friends in Johannesburg area. Call the remaining “missing” phone number. Invite a family over. Didn’t happen. I did try to get together twice with other families, but both opportunities didn’t happen in the end. I have a family scheduled already for March. Still need to call that other phone number…

Marriage

Be more consistent in helping my husband through prayer, affirmation, initiative, thoughtfulness, gratitude, a teachable spirit, reading and investigating subjects he loves, and thinking about how to meet his needs. Practically, there are several points I can improve in and will elaborate more specifically later. I came up with a list of 23 practical things I can do to be more loving and communicate respect to my husband. I’ll do one a day! If you have any ideas, please send them my way! Try harder. 🙂 Maybe plan them on my homeschool app–with me as the student? haha. No, didn’t happen. Not sure how to improve this, unless like I said I be more proactive in scheduling certain items from the list.

Children

1. Be more consistent in discipline and prayer for them.
2. Be willing to leave the computer (and “me time”) for them.
3. Do the “fun stuff” and play more games with them.

This year, I put down one day a month where we try as a family to go out of the village on an activity or “field trip” (as much as can be done in Africa!) Well…I have another dental appointment this month, so that may be the catalyst for another trip to town! Yes, I did take just the boys out to eat after my dentist appointment, and our family went to visit an elderly Bible translator in the mountains once. Carson got totally knocked down by their dogs! This month I’d like to take a day off of homeschooling and go on a picnic.

Look at that scratched face and torn fingernail, poor kid!

Homeschooling

1. I need to finish daily schedules and subjects. In my “free” time, keep entering subjects in the new homeschool planning app. Try to chart at least the science projects and lapbook and art projects in there. Didn’t do this. I did chart a couple of things, but the listed subjects are kinda tricky and time-consuming to do.
2. Revisit my philosophy of education to remind myself of my ultimate goals; think through how this year can help me get there. Evaluate last year. Hmm, I’ll re-read it one more time. Yes, did it.

Personal

1. Be consistent in daily Bible reading. I want to read one chapter a day plus study notes. This month, I missed more days than last month, I would guess about 6. 😦 In March, I want to read every day.
2. Pray more for the children, my husband, and our people. When I do my daily “show-love-item” for my husband, I’ll pray for him as well. I forgot. I will make a short prayer list and put it in a few places to remind me.
3. Try to exercise at least three times a week. Log my daily diet regularly online. Failed on the daily logging online. I sometimes exercised 3 times a week, but sometimes only twice. Get back to the logging online! Go to bed earlier.
   
4. OK, I made a list of all the clutter spots, and will clean one every Saturday. This is doable! I did this! I finished Carson’s room, and after learning about the classification system in science, I made Caleb “classify” a drawer that rolls under his bed that holds shoes, socks, and underclothes for him and his brother. Same goal for March–one area per weekend.
5. Ground my emotions in Scripture. Know who I am and what I’m gifted to do for God. Be content with that knowledge, and praise others for their strengths. This is hard to measure, and I will have to consistently work at meekness and initiative in this area.
6. Keep up current correspondence (mostly through blogging, which I would like to write 3-4 times per week), and initiate with 1-3 other ladies. I did well on blogging regularly (maybe too well this last week?), 🙂 but I did not initiate friendship by writing other ladies that I do not currently correspond with. Initiate with one lady this month.

Self-Education

Here’s my tentative reading list for 2014.  Finish Quest for Meekness and Betrayal this month. I did this! My (long!) review of The Betrayal is here, and I finished Meekness just last night. It was great. Unfortunately I kept falling asleep while reading it towards the end. I had to concentrate since it wasn’t a novel, but a deeper Puritan. 😉 This month: Read the first 4 chapters of The Well-Educated Mind, and make an accompanying literature list to try to get through personally for the rest of the year. Also listen to the author’s lecture on literature analysis for children. Check CHOLL and see what kind of children’s lit they have analyzed already and if I’d like to use it in the future. If I would like to do a simpler format to prepare for logic stage literature discussions ala The Well-Trained Mind, make a list of children’s lit to read and write down info per chapter to prepare for those. If I have time, read a Christian fiction novel by Tamara Alexander, From a Distance. 

Thanks for enduring to the end, if you read all this!