Category: Yearly Goals

Wow.  Here we are with only five days left in the year.  It’s humbling and exciting at the same time.  I feel so grateful for the journey that this One Step goal has taken me on throughout 2010.  Never before have I kept my New Year’s goals at the forefront like I was able to do this year, and blogging about it weekly was the number one factor in accomplishing that.


Because my weekly report has been so beneficial to me personally, I’ve decided to incorporate it into my goals for the coming year.  I see no reason to do away with a good habit.  SO, I’ll introduce my 2011 plan on New Year’s Day, and be back next Sunday for my final One Step Report, which will run through the 31st.  I’m excited to spend some time this week reading through my lists from 2010 to see what sticks out in my mind as I prepare a final summary for next week.  The following Sunday will be my first report for the 2011 theme.

With that out of the way, here’s my report for the week.  Total steps:  97 Highlights:

1.  We loved celebrating our daughter’s third birthday on Monday.  She is my angel.

2.  I left my house messier than I’ve ever done before, but we made it out the door to spend Christmas in Denver.

3.  On our way out of town we stopped at the Doctor’s office to confirm that my teenager had, indeed, broken his wrist.  Lovely.

4.  We made it to Denver safely.  I was more stressed about the roads than I can say, but we experienced a parting of the sea in our own small way, with a starry sky overhead and passable roads.  I felt humbled and grateful for the Lord’s awareness of us.  And for the record, I’d forgotten how much I love the winter constellations because the clouds have obscured them for so long in Utah!

5.  We’ve spent a busy four days with this group of kids, nineteen in all.


6.  As often happens when large families gather, I’ve witnessed some moments of tension, but also some moments of reconciliation that really tugged at my heart.

7.  Our one year old woke up vomiting at 1:00 a.m. on Christmas morning.  She threw up all night long.  We survived.

8.  I managed Christmas dinner for 34 people.  I was so grateful for my husband, who held the sick baby all day long so I could do it, and for helping hands in the form of my sisters and sisters in law.

9.  I have thoroughly enjoyed some wonderful conversations with extended family members.  I’ve loved talking to my mom, to my brother and his wife, and particularly with my sister-in-law Kate.  It’s such a blessing to be related to amazing people.  Being around everyone has shown me so many talents and strengths they all have.  I want to be a better person.

10.  My mom had knee replacement surgery the week before we all came to town.  My heart aches for her pain and discomfort as she tries to recover.  It’s been a privilege to spend a little bit of time talking with her.  I love her so much and am so thankful that she let us come for this holiday in spite of the stress it created for she and my Dad.

And so Christmas has now come and gone, leaving clutter everywhere in its wake.  I feel blessed to have celebrated this holiday with my family, something we haven’t done in eight years.

I hope this week, your last week of 2010, is a meaningful one!

Jennifer

The lights are dim and hymns of praise float through the house.  Pillows and Christmas quilts lay strewn on the floor, evidence of tonight’s story time.  With the pressure of school schedules lifted for a while, my husband and I took turns reading to the children.  One by one, heads nodded until three of them were slumped on our laps and shoulders, fast asleep.  Oh, there is much for me to do, but I take a deep breath and blink away the tears stinging my eyes.

This is Christmas.



I hardly know what to say about this week.  It was both wonderful and stressful, rejuvenating and exhausting.  I’ve felt so many different feelings, done so many different things.  I guess the best way to sum it up is simply to say, “It’s December.”

Total steps recorded:  98.
Highlights:

1.  I was able to visit a dear friend and see her precious new baby this week.  She let me hold her little Claire and we had the best talk.   It was just what my heart needed.  Thanks Robyn!

2.  We took our family to see an impressive display of gingerbread houses.  I love looking at them.  The creative use of different candy and other edible supplies is inspiring.  I would really love to make one of my own some year.

3.  I didn’t have time for this, but I had to do it.  I’m running low on chicken in my freezer so I’ve been watching for a good sale.  (You can find more about how I shop for food here .)  It went on sale a few weeks ago at one grocery store, and for some reason I just spaced it and didn’t buy any.  I’ve been praying for another opportunity to buy chicken at that price and it came.  I can’t think of a week when I had less desire to spend time or money on a bunch of chicken, but I prayed for it so what was I to do?  When I prayed for the sale I sort of committed myself to take advantage of it.  I spent an evening chopping up 50 pounds of chicken for the freezer.


4.  I had a breakfast at my home on Wednesday morning to celebrate the birthday of a friend.  A series of small things put me in a position where I could provide either a meal to eat or a clean house, but not both.  I chose the food, and invited my guests into a family room that made me cringe.  It wasn’t easy, but I took a deep breath and decided to ignore the mess instead of dwelling on it.  We had the most wonderful visit and I learned some good lessons.

5.  We attended a piano recital for our four children who take lessons.  I felt pleased with their progress and happy that we’re pressing forward with better practicing habits.

6.  I attended a cookie exchange with many friends from my old neighborhood.  It was nice to see them.

7.  Early Saturday morning I drove to the Salt Lake Temple to attend the marriage sealing for these two impressive young people.  It was an honor to be there.


8. Circumstances were such that I had some quiet time alone while at the temple.  I got to wander a bit, thinking, observing, noticing things.  In the marriage waiting room I also had time to read the scriptures since I knew no one, and I learned some things from the Spirit.  It was good to be still.


9.  On Saturday night I had the assignment to put together the food table for the wedding reception.  I hauled all of my awesome silver platters and cake stands, along with my twelve year old daughter who saved the day, and went to work.  I feel like I did a good job of executing the presentation of the food.  It was beautiful and I heard a lot of good things as I restocked the table throughout the evening.  My daughter and I had a great time.  I was so proud of her work ethic and enjoyed spending the night with her.  We went home exhausted but happy for the chance to serve.


10.  Tonight we took our children to Tithing Settlement with the Bishop.  It was a great opportunity for our family, a way to reinforce true principles for our children, and a way to provide a bit of cheap entertainment for our bishop.  Our youngest two were real charmers while we were there.  (At least they weren’t screaming!)

As I end the week my heart is full.  Life is good.  We are richly blessed.

HH

Ouch.  It was hard to type that number.

Earlier in the year I felt excited as my report numbers got higher, feeling a little bit amazed at myself for not missing a single week. The last month or so has been different, for I feel unprepared to have the year end.  In many ways I have accomplished a lot, but there is so much more I had hoped to do in 2010.

This week’s report should really be titled “Adventures in Mothering”, for that pretty much sums things up.  Every one of my children have thrown some curve balls this week.  First came the boy who said he was sick when it was time to go to school (but who, of course, wasn’t.  How did I forget the rule we have for him that you only stay home from school if you’re running a fever or have already thrown up?).  There really isn’t a way to add up time spent holding an ornery, teething baby or the number of minutes spent in the bathroom with a charming two year old.  You’ve heard about Little Mister Mischief , who was at it again today with homemade play dough colored with red kool aid smashed into my carpet.  His generous sister, who received it at Church, didn’t think about what would happen when she shared it.  We’ve had an eight year old in almost constant emotional meltdown and a six year old in eternal whining mode.    We’ve had light bulbs smashed, a free-standing chalk board (which I love) destroyed, glass broken,  messes made, falls down stairs, fights, lost shoes, you name it.  It’s been a wild week.  I’m not even going to start on the hours of headaches brought on by my very-frustrating-right-now-but-full-of-long-term-potential-if-I-don’t-kill-him-first teenager.  (Did you like that one?)  And just in case you think I’m exaggerating, my husband will confirm the truth of the list.

I am exhausted.
And all this while I’m supposed to be getting a million things done.

The first week of December felt so full of the spirit and my heart was so optimistic for the month.  This week has squashed it somewhat.  My children have made so many withdrawals without many moments of peace and calm that I’m feeling like a well that’s gone dry.  You have NO IDEA how sincerely I am CRAVING SOME QUIET.  I’m going to find a way to make the coming week better, much better, than this has been.

And so here we are.  Because we’re traveling for Christmas, have another birthday to celebrate before we go and a wedding I’m helping with this weekend, I feel like my drop-dead day for Christmas, and even for the year, is Friday.  Many things have already been dropped from my list, but some I can’t bear to let go of yet.  Man oh man, I’ve got a lot to do!  I’m praying (quite earnestly) for children who aren’t in pain, aren’t interested in playing with powder, and who aren’t in the mood to fight.  Hmmm, I wonder what my chances are on that one.

And so here we go.  This week’s total:  101 steps recorded.  I’m not going to go back and count how many of them were cleaning up broken, stained or powder-covered things.  I’m pretty sure I’ll cry if I do.

Highlights:

1.  I’m not at all responsible for this, but my baby learned how to crawl down the stairs this week.  Hooray for her!  All too often she will follow the big kids upstairs only to have them all parade back down a few minutes later.  If no one notices she wants to come down, she simply finds things she can carry and starts dropping them from the upstairs landing down into the entry way.  The items get bigger and heavier until she gets someone’s attention.  Early in the week she found a piece of a revolver that Grandpa Harrison had engraved and given to my oldest, which she promptly dropped.  Oh, were we glad that no one was near when that one came down!  Both she and her Mommy are happy that she can now just follow the kids back down to join the party.  No more raining random items from upstairs!

2.  Somehow, in spite of moments like this, the house is relatively clean.  Because pretty much all I did this week was clean up random messes.


3.  I found some cool glass dishes at the thrift store.  I’m excited to use them, but I think I’d better quit going there, because I really don’t need any more dishes.  Even if they’re vintage, and beautiful, and super cheap.  Yep, I’d better quit.  But I did pick up another dictionary which will be put to good use.

4.  Thanks to the convenience of ebay, I was able to find a replacement Mary for this nativity .

5.  On Thursday I picked up a few hundred pounds of food and many boxes of #10 cans for a dry pack canning activity I was responsible for on Saturday morning (because December isn’t busy enough?!).  My space shuttle van was totally packed with stuff.




6.  I’ve been kind of a slacker in the breakfast department for a while, so this week I did a better job of cooking breakfasts that my family really like  (egg, ham & cheese on bagels being one of the school day favorites).

7.  This was a week when 90 percent of the things I did were addressed, not because I wanted to do them, but because it was my duty to do them.    I wanted to be working on other things, like Christmas preparations.  Because I felt so buried in daily life I battled discouragement a lot this week.  I cried a few times, and once I locked myself in my office so I wouldn’t light into a child I was pretty upset with.  But there were also many times when I blinked back the tears and went to work.  I didn’t get to anything that was important to me personally, but I kept my word and met my obligations.  At least I can feel good about that.

8.  Tonight I climbed in bed with my twelve year old (who was totally annoyed with me and not afraid to show it) and we talked. I helped her with some things and we ended up laughing really hard together.  It felt good.

And so the week is done.  I am grateful for my Heavenly Father who gave us the gift of his Son.  There might be hope for me yet, thanks to Him.

Have a great week!
Jennifer