Jan 1 to 7

1. Living to see another year
2. Getting to sleep extra this morning
3. Having a nice family day at home
4. Watching the kids play together
5. Having some one on one time with Reuben
6. Jamey responding well to correction
7. Seeing God's grace at work in all of us
8. Free e-books
9. Free planning printables (seriously they are every where! Not good for someone who wants to see all their options :) )
10. People who are a head of me in life that I can glean from
11. Hearing from a couple of friends in other countries
12. Getting some cleaning and straightening done
13. Jim getting stronger and able to wrestle with all the kids at the same time
14. Reading to Lillian
15. Snuggling with all my kids
16. Reuben giving kisses
17. Having a girls movie night with my sister while Jim went out with the guys
18. Getting a day of school done
19. Having kids who are eager to do school
20. Jim ending up with another day off of work
21. Women's prayer
22. Having one of our current workers at women's prayer
23. Getting to spend some time talking with Anastasia
24. Growing closer to precious sisters in Christ
25. Running a couple errands by myself
26. Feeling to Holy Spirit increasing in me again
27. Learning how to pray more for my husband and kids
28. Making it until 5pm without turning on the TV!
29. Learning to enjoy my kids more
30. Learning more grace with others and myself
31. Finding out Jim will be switching to a WOW position at work!!!!!
32. Getting to spend some time with Asmaa and Sarah
33. Free Pizzas!!!!!
34. A meeting for Sojourn artist and writers (very encouraging)
35. Meeting Jennifer and talking with her
36. Catching up with Shannon
37. Quills coffee
38. Being reminded that everything under the sun is meaningless without Christ
39. Being reminded that if God wants us to do something that it is meaningful if done for His glory
40. Jim getting up with the kids so I could sleep in!!!!!
41. Getting mostly organized this past week
42. Watching Jamey marvel at Gabriel
43. Jamey loving on his siblings
44. Lillian wanting to read
45. Left over food
46. Gathering with brothers and sisters to pray
47. Hearing God answer specific prayer requests
48. Being reminded that God loves His children and responds to our requests
49. Brownies, amazing chocolates and hot chocolate
50. Managing to get meal planning done before going to bed
51. Staying on task with the cleaning calendar this week
52. Getting the kids involved with cleaning
53. Reuben beginning to show some interest in Gabriel
54. Enjoying a snow day
55. Jamey making a snowman
56. Staying on my Bible reading plan
57. Being able to get some sleep even with kids getting up early
58. Having children who want to do puzzles
59. Having children who want to play together
60. Hearing God's voice

Women's Prayer

Today several women from Sojourn gathered to pray for our workers and the world. This time was such a blessing as we shared each others lives and things from the lives of those serving our God in the world. Not only did we pray for our workers but we prayed for Asia as we know the Holy Spirit is moving there. It was a pleasure to have one of our workers from Asia with us as well as a worker who is preparing to go and a Sojourn member who is from an Asian country.
If you are a woman at Sojourn let me encourage you to be a part of these meetings. Even if you do not know the workers, it means so much to them to know that we are lifting them up monthly together. God moves when His people pray!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

I cannot believe it is already 2013! How the time flies. I am thankful to begin the new year with a healthy family and am looking forward to getting back into a routine. I am excited to have some tangible goals for this year and some great resources to help me stay organized with a family of 7. The Lord has really been working on my heart to live the life He has called me to live and showing me that I need a plan to help me do that. I must be open to Him changing my plans at any moment, but I know He has called me to do certain things and has shown me areas where I need to grow and change for His glory. Will it be easy? Probably not, but I am excited to learn and grow this year.

So with that I would like to share some of my goals for this year as accountability and to hopefully encourage others who may be seeking to make goals but need some help in doing that. I am still growing in this area, but others writing about it has helped me, so hopefully me writing mine may help someone else.

At http://www.motherhoodonadime.com/living/30-day-challenge-finally-writing-my-mom-mission-statement/
I learned about writing a mom mission statement, which I attempted and want to share first.

My Mission:
To wholeheartedly follow Christ and bring Him glory by:

• Seeking Christ daily
• Loving, respecting and encouraging my husband
• Loving my children and teaching them the ways of the Lord
• Supporting those working for the Lord through prayer, encouragement, resources and talents
• Seeking to share Christ with those around me
• Encouraging and educating women
• Using my time talents and resources wisely

I went through a lot of questions that brought to light a lot of things I need to work on, but after already praying over goals for the year I decided to mostly stick with what I had already thought about as they are things that seem to be where the Lord is leading me right now. I also want attainable goals so I do not immediately get discouraged and give up. 

Spiritual

• Read through the entire Bible in a year following a chronological reading plan
• Memorize a verse a week (for full disclosure I am starting with verses that I have previously memorized but have lost full memory of)
• Spend 30 minutes daily concentrated on prayer and Bible reading
• Continue to record daily blessings to cultivate thankfulness (Goal is 10,000 things)
• Praying throughout the day for specified things (still developing lists and plan for this)

Personal

• Read a book a month apart from SWI matrerial
• Journal 5 days a week
• Write (working on books) 5 days a week
• Finish my first fiction book
• Write 3 blog posts a week
• Continue to meet once a month with writing group
• Have one day a month for personal retreat time to pray, read the Bible and write
• Complete Level 1 of Rosetta Stone Russian
• Begin working on a Christ-centered prenatal/delivery/postnatal education

Marriage

• Go on a date once a month
• Go on one overnight trip away
• Read together for 30 minutes once a week
• Discuss and plan the week to come on Sunday afternoon

Kids

• Take each child on a "date" once a month
• Spend individual time with each child at home once a week (at least 20 minutes)
• Work on memorizing Psalm 23 with Jamey and Lillian
• Finish current Pre-K curriculum with Jamey and Lillian
• Continue going to playgroup on Tuesdays
• (I need to develop more educational goals, so I guess a goal for this year will be learning to do this for next year)

Homemaking

• Begin a garden planting at least tomatoes (hoping to do more)
• Try 1 new recipe a month
• Keep up with cleaning calendar 
• Develop general cleaning schedule

Health and Fitness

• Exercise for at least 30 minutes 3 days a week
• Lose 30 lbs

Ministry

• Continue hosting Women's prayer once a month
• Email workers once a month
• Send 2 encouraging notes a month

And weaving through all of these areas is the goal of consistency. My desire is to be consistent in all I do for all of us. I can tell a huge difference in all of us when we are planned and know what's coming and the days are somewhat predictable. I know that God will bring whatever we need to bring Him glory and grow us in His ways. 

May God bless you in 2013 and make you more like Christ everyday!

December 24 to 31

I cannot believe I am already finishing my 2012 blessings. I am thankful that I have found well over 1000 things to be thankful for in less than half a year. With family in town I did not keep as good of a list as I have been the past couple of weeks. I know there are far more than this, but my brain is tired and unable to recall all of the great blessings of the week.

1041. Christmas Eve Service
1042. Buffalo Wild Wings
1043. Cake!
1044. Christmas Day!
1045. IHOP
1046. Enjoying a day of family being together
1047. Listening to the kids sing
1048. Lunch with Mom
1049. Medicines to help all of us feel better
1050. Having other people around to help with some of the early mornings
1051. Lunch with Dad
1052. Pie Kitchen!!!!!
1053. Seeing The Hobbit
1054. Blogs and free resources to help me organize and set goals for 2013 (more to come on this)
1055. Having some quiet time with Jim
1056. Gabriel growing well
1057. Snow
1058. The Lorincz family bringing us dinner
1059. The Freeman family bringing us dinner
1060. Getting some emails written (though still catching up)
1061. A great end of year message from Jonah
1062. Getting a family command center started for next year
1063. Working on a mission statement and goals for 2013
1064. Great calendar that is helping me stay on top of house cleaning!
1065. Ringing in the New Year with my hubby

1 Month

My little Gabriel is already one month old! How the time flies. Having family in town and celebrating the holidays does make time go faster. He has gained 2 pounds in 3 week now weighing in at 9lbs 5oz. And he is almost 22 inches long. I knew he was growing, but I did not think he had grown that much. That is such a blessing. He has become so alert and loves to look around. I am thankful that he is strong and already has some head control. He is currently going through a growth spurt so he is not sleeping as much, but he had been giving some 4-5 hour stretches at night.

Perhaps the best thing I have been learning (again) is how unique each person is. Having 4 kids it is easy to compare, but really you cannot compare. They are each different with their own personality, growth, look and learning curve. It's fun to see the similarities, but I realize I have to be careful. With my oldest being so into learning and being more "intellectual" if you will it is easy to treat them all like that. But they are not all like that. The third is more physical and a bit of a dare devil. I do not yet know his learning style, but it may be very hands on and may not be as interested in reading and writing. With Gabriel I definitely do not know yet, but I can already tell he is different too. In just 1 month I have learned this. How much more will the next 18 years hold?

December 17 to 23

991. All kids napping at the same time
992. Erin bringing Egyptian food for dinner
993. Jamey and Lillian working on a puzzle together
994. Reuben hugs and kisses
995. Gabriel doing tummy time well and getting stronger
996. Ladies from MOMsTogether bringing lunch and dinner
997. Getting some organizing done
998. Going out on a date
999. Free Red Box movie
1000. Fun evening at home
1001. Getting to sleep in a bit
1002. More organizing
1003. Getting diapers stripped and sorted for 2 wearers
1004. Angela bringing dinner
1005. My kids talking to me
1006. Singing all together
1007. Doing school
1008. Reuben joining in school and clapping to songs
1009. Getting most of the office organized
1010. Emers getting here!!!!!
1011. Watching my kids and their cousins play together
1012. Talking with my sisters
1013. Donuts!
1014. Getting to sleep in some this morning
1015. Sanity
1016. Low key day of fun
1017. Sweet moments
1018. Kylee snuggling with Jim
1019. Gabriel snuggling with Britney
1020. Brendon and Jamey playing together
1021. Dad and Mom getting here safely
1022. Pizza!
1023. Having the whole family in one room for the first time in 2 years!!!!!
1024. Gabriel lengthening his sleep time at night
1025. Having whole family pictures made
1026. Getting pictures made of Reuben
1027. Subway!
1028. Getting pictures and sorting them
1029. Christmas dinner
1030. Celebrating family Christmas together
1031. Pajama pictures (family tradition)

1032. Kyle playing with Reuben
1033. Jim getting to watch a Falcons game
1034. Jim and Kyle having male bonding time
1035. Getting Gabriel's stocking!
1036. Time to talk with Britney
1037. The whole family going to Sojourn together
1038. Great message from God's Word
1039. Lots of Free e-books
1040. Quiet Sunday afternoon

Reflection

I was driving to MOMsTogether Friday morning and looked in the rear view mirror to see Lillian scrunching her face up with her eyes closed. She looked so much like Pappy when he was in one of his silly moods. She let her face relax and I saw Gran and Grandmother Stines in her face. All of my grandparents are gone now. I had to remove Pappy's name from our Christmas card list. I have not been able to be near him for many holidays the past 4 years or so, but there is still something heart wrenching at the holiday season when you realize a whole generation of your family is gone. But at the same time because of DNA there are still pieces of that generation in us and they have left marks on us by being a part of our life.