Category: Yearly Goals

Well, here I am again with my weekly report.  To those who read my blog and are tired of these little lists of small things I’ve done each week, I apologize.  I confess that this week I’ve felt a bit tired of it too, as the little things have certainly not added up to solve any of the big things we’re facing, BUT I made a commitment to myself.  If I do nothing else this year, I will finish this.  It is my act of faith in God’s ability to make me equal to the task of raising my children at a time in my life when I feel so inadequate.  To anyone who wonders what on earth this list is for, you can read my explanation here .

This week:  88 steps.  I was surprised by this so I went back and read through them more closely than I sometimes do.  It interested me to note how many times I recorded the experience of having feelings of frustration or discouragement boil to the surface, filling my eyes with tears, then pausing to close my eyes and pray for strength to carry on.  I have mixed feelings about this pattern.  On one hand I feel happy that I’m learning to go directly from the feeling to the solution, to recognize that God is my strength, and to seek it instantly.  On the other hand, it’s a little disturbing to have a record of just how often those feelings rise to the surface.  Can I be getting worse and better at the same time?  I’m not sure I want to think too much about that one tonight.

A few highlights:

I managed an effective positive reinforcement campaign with the kindergarten carpool this week.  They’re putting on their seat belts and keeping them on much more cheerfully.

Mr. Wonderful’s aunt was in town this week.  She came over on Tuesday night for dinner (pizza).  She is single and has no children, and this was the first time she has EVER witnessed our family in real life mode.  She has only seen us in vacation mode.  Bless her heart!  The night she came over we had different children committed for activities at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, 6:30, 6:45 and 7:00.  I’d love to be a fly on the wall and hear how she described it to someone from her perspective.  We did manage to snap a photo at one point in the evening with whoever was there at the moment.  Can you tell that some of them were a little wound up?


One of the activities going on during the above mentioned evening was taking my oldest daughter to New Beginnings, a special activity each year for young women ages 12-17 and their parents.  We were invited because my daughter is (gulp) turning 12 later this year and she was being presented.  Wow.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be ok with the transition because her birthday isn’t until November and she talks about it at least twice a day, but this activity caught me off guard.  It ended up being a wonderful night, and I was very grateful for the chance to attend.  Here we are together before leaving, and she’s still a little wound up.


This week I tried to enjoy my time spent in the kitchen.  I put more effort into our meals, and also into having the children help with the dishes.

I spent lots of time marveling at my littlest one.  She’s so mobile now, rolling and scooting and army crawling all over the place.  She’s experimenting with the hard floors, and ALMOST doing the full-on crawl.  One night in particular I kept her up later than the other children and the two of us snuggled and giggled and gave lots of kisses and smiles.  Truly magical.  I love her so much it hurts.


I did a little rearranging of things in my bedroom and I’m pleased with the results.

I started binding a quilt.  This one I’m doing by hand because it’s a scalloped edge (my first try) and I hope it turns out.

We tried hard to listen more carefully to our oldest and do lots of building so that the little requests for improvement will hopefully be taken better.  This whole world of communicating with teenagers is tricky, but we’re hoping to get good at it!

We spent lots of time talking with our children about some of their cousins and the things going on in their lives.  One little cousin had a surprise surgery this week, and another newborn cousin is still in NICU with some serious things to work out.  The lives of two other cousins will be decided by a judge in a custody ruling.  It is precious to hear your children pray for other children.

Last night my husband turned around and saw this hysterical commentary on the local collegiate rivalry.  Our 7 year old daughter had come up with it completely on her own.  I hope you can read it.  Let me know if you need any spelling translations.  I can’t stop laughing at her list of compliments and insults.


With that, I’ll wrap up this report and wish you a wonderful week.  May all your steps be good ones!
Hopeful Homemaker

Another week gone, another month ended.  Wow!  How did that happen?  I don’t know if your life is like mine, but it sure seems like the last week of the month ends up being especially busy, no matter how I try to make it otherwise.

This week’s report:  63 steps.  I think that’s the most so far in a week.  I feel good about that, and find it so interesting that while I have so many “things” I’d like to accomplish, what really matters to me at the end of the day most often pertains to relationships.  This week was no different.

Highlights:

1.  Had a truly magical moment with this boy at his student-led Parent/Teacher Conference this week.  An experience I’ll not soon forget.  This is him standing next to a report he wrote… I should have taken a close-up of the paper.  His handwriting is INCREDIBLE, but that’s the least of the amazing things I heard from/about him that day.

2.  Had marvelous experiences with 3 others at their student-led Parent/Teacher Conferences as well.  There’s something pretty cool about your child greeting you with a handshake, walking you to their desk, pulling out a binder and walking you through all their work, giving you a summary of all their grades, inviting you to read their personal mission statement and personal goals, telling you what they love about school and about themselves, and then asking you if you have any questions.  Let’s see, do I have any questions?  Um, yeah.  Can I hug and kiss you right here in front of your teacher without embarrassing you too much?  Seriously, when was the last time you felt like crying for joy at a Parent/Teacher conference?  First time for me.

3.  Thanks to my amazing husband, I was able to complete a project WHILE THE SUN WAS SHINING so that I could get decent pictures.

4.  Had an emotional, difficult, but very revealing conversation with Mr. Wonderful about parenting, fears, hopes, etc. and came out of it a better person.  Really kind of a defining moment, I think.

5.  Finished a quilt.

6.  Celebrated George Washington’s birthday.

7.  In an effort to conquer my complete lack of desire to cook anything lately (something to do with feeding 10 people 4 or 5 or 6 times a day sort of makes me not want to be in my kitchen much), I made this lemon bundt cake today:


It tasted as good as it looks.  Isn’t it beautiful?

All in all, a good week.  Today also brings the close of another month, so the monthly summary for February is 228 steps, making 422 since January 1.   This month was a bit harder emotionally (isn’t it for everyone?  Who out there ISN’T sick of winter except for my snowboarding husband?) but I kept going.  All of my carpools this month fell through for various reasons (illness, vacation, etc.) so I spent a TON of time in the car.  Still, I feel like I was able to get some things done and make some small steps toward meeting goals.  I want to stay on target a little more, but all in all, I feel pretty good.  Ever forward, but slowly!

Have a great week!

Well, this week felt more like walking in quicksand than anything else,  but at least we’re trying?!?
This week’s total:  45 steps.

A few highlights from the week:

1.  This morning we had a surprise request for french braids.  I was grateful that only 3 of my 5 daughters have enough hair to do this, or we would have been late to church!


Still, it’s nice to make them happy.


2.  Thanks to the Olympics (which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed), I’ve finally finished binding my Rouenneries quilt.  I’ll share pictures tomorrow.  On a side note, though, how do people find time to watch TV?  I’m being quite serious, here.  We never watch it, but the Olympics are an exception.  We’ve only had it on for an hour or two on a few evenings, and I’m amazed at how STUPID most of the commercials are!  Much as I love the Olympics, it’s always reassuring to be reminded that we’re not missing anything by keeping the TV off.

3.  I spent some great time reading with my kindergartener this week.

4.  Yesterday we got the toy room clean.  Major accomplishment.  If you’re one of the privileged people whom we love and trust enough to let up there, you know what I mean.  The kids have been happily playing in there ever since.

5.  I found a tutorial for binding quilts on my machine, so I whipped up a super fast quilt-as-you-go strip quilt for the sole purpose of trying this method of binding.  I’ll share the results soon!

All in all, I suppose the week was fine, but can I just say that I am SICK SICK SICK of cloudy days?  I’m crossing my fingers for some sunshine this week.  I’ve got a lot to take care of, and it’s much easier to function cheerfully in the sun.  I’ve also got a birthday cake to bake for Mr. George Washington tomorrow…..

Hope your week is wonderful!

Jennifer