January Evaluation

Spiritual

• Spend at least 10 minutes praying daily- I've been able to do this most days
• Spend at least 10 minutes reading and reflecting on the Bible daily- Been able to do this most days
• Memorize verses with the kids - working on this during school time
• Have extended prayer times 4 times during the year- Have not done this yet, need to get on planning these
• Read Christian books (Jim- 1 (not school related), Emmie- 3)- Have not started any yet

Marriage

• Pray together daily- YES! This is huge!
• Go out for a date once a week- We have averaged this
• Go on a night away once this year- Need to plan this
• Read 3 books together this year (read one day a week)- This did not happen
• Discuss plan weekly on Saturday afternoon- Did 2 weeks, got off on the others

Kids

• Spend 15 minutes of one on one time with each child every week- I need a good way to gauge this. I think as a whole we did this, but I am really not sure
• Special Outing Alone twice during the year with each child- Did not get one of these done this month, need to get on planning these as well
• Family fun activity once a month- Had a game night and dance time
• Write in individual journals at least 3 times this year- Behind on this already! 
• Finish Jamey's 1st year Scrapbook- No work was done on this

Homemaking

• Keep up with cleaning schedule- NO!
• Keep up with my calendar- Sort of
• Being fully present when with my family- Struggled to do this this month
• Try 12 new recipes this year- Don't think we tried one this month, so behind on this
• No TV 2 days a week (watching)- 2 weeks I know we did this, but the last 2 have been challenging, maybe just 1 day without
• Begin gardening in the spring

Ministry

• Continue sending out Prayer List- Yes

Personal

• Read a book a month for myself- Read "Running with Scissors" and started 2 classics 
• Jim read one fiction book- not yet, this month has all been school
• Journal 5 days a week- Yes! God is gracious
• Jim Journal 3 days a week- Did 2 days a week
• Edit novel to prepare for publishing- No work on this
• Book Club once a month- Yes! Love these Sisters
• Continue to meet once a month with writing group- Yes! Love these Sisters too
• Blog 1-2 days a week- Averaged 1 a week

Health

• Mild Exercise twice a week- No!
• Maintain weight until birth- Gained a little but not too bad
• Lose weight after giving birth- 

Seriously, where did January go????? It feels like it's not even been a week since the new year started. But here we are at the end of January, realizing how quickly time goes by. One thing I learned looking over this list is I must plan better! The second is that sometimes things happen that we weren't expecting and life gets turned upside down so things don't happen that you really intended to do. We found out at Christmas that we are having our 7th baby, which was very much a surprise but kept me from doing things that I really wanted to do because of fatigue and nausea. 

Does this mean I failed this month? No, I did what needed to be done for my family at the given moment. By God's grace, I will be able to do more next month as I pray I will have more energy and less nausea, and be able to do more of the things I want to do with my husband and kids.

How was your January?