Significant Summer: An Update- Spiritual Goals

Summer consists of inconsistency for me. Can you tell? Every year I determine that we're going to get so much accomplished and every year, the enemy whispers that I've failed. Well, it may seem that way, but I have not! Here are just a few of the things we've been doing....

....Okay, could someone please remind me how to hook up my camera to the computer to share pictures? Good grief! Has it really been that long???!!!!

Seriously. That's never a good sign.

Well, one of my spiritual goals was to have a family devotion all together every day. This is a challenge because Bear sometimes leaves at 4:30 a.m. and sometimes he's here until 9:00 and we never know what the next day will be like. I once read in Beth Moore's Feathers From My Nest how she used index cards to help with her family's devotions. The Scripture for the day would be there and each family member signed his/her name both acknowledging that they had accomplished their quiet time for the day but also promising to live it out. If it can work for Beth I figured it could work for us, right? After all, you  know we're tight...Beth and I.

[Crazy thing- I actually wrote this post last week but forgot to schedule it to post up on the blog. Beth wrote about her index cards on her blog yesterday! Crazy, huh? What are the odds? I'm taking it as a little pat on the back from God...and encouragment to keep it up.]
I started with this-

I love related Scripture and could follow a bunny trail forever but apparently, four year olds don't cross-reference. (This was from the day/week/month that we worked on our attitudes and I got my SSMT verse.) So I thought I'd use all of these Scriptures for our entire week. You know, one per day. Nothing huge. Um, not gonna happen. I've now settled on this approach-

One verse.

One illustration for those non-readers in our house...and I'm not necessarily talking about those under 30 either.

One topic.

Many weeks. This one we began about two weeks ago. It came from my study that I'm doing with some mother/daughter pairs from our youth group.....loving that. Jonah and I have been talking about how we're God's treasured possession so we should our behavior should reflect that. I'm about to move on with this concept and talk about treasuring what He treasures. Any Scripture suggestions would be greatly appreciated! :)

So far, this has worked really well. It's posted up on our fridge so I can refer to it constantly throughout our day. I'm thinking our next verse we're going to memorize with hand motions. Yeah. Definitely.

Another spiritual goal of our's was to help serve lunches to kids in our community with the Fish4Kids program once a week. That has been my absolute favorite part of this summer! We've been up there several times each week handing out about 175 lunches each day.

Jonah loves to go door-to-door. He knocks on each one and instead of yelling "Fish4Kids!" he hollers, "This is for kids!" I tried to let him know that we're not passing out Trix cereal and that we're actually saying "Fish4Kids" so that the people will know who's at the door. I got the oh-so-frequent-mom-doesn't-have-a-clue look and he responded, "Yeah. This (holding up the lunch) is for kids."

Is anyone else's four-year-old getting a little too big for his britches lately? I think that's all I do around here. Anyways.....

We haven't had any family theme nights yet. I worked out a deal with our neighbors of us watching each other's kids on Thursdays and alternating every other week for free babysitting/date nights. I was going to do our theme night when Carter and Riley Kate could join us but we haven't been able to get it together yet. I thought it would keep the kids entertained while they're over here. Once we finally get that together I'll post pictures of how it went.

How's your "Significant Summer" going?

Significant Summer: An Update- Relational Goals

Okay, okay. I know what you're thinking.

"Wasn't one of her relational goals to post here at least three times a week?"

Yes.

"Wasn't her last post dated June 5?"

Yes.

"Isn't this June 22?"

Yes.

But I've really been having a significant summer! I've got all the details written and saved so you can read about them as they post this week. I decided to start with my area that needs the most improvement.

Relational goals.

I am not a phone person. I've tried and tried to be but I'm just not. Some of my friends know this about me and gladly accept it as part of my flawed, quirky self and love me anyways. But when it comes to new people, they occasionally get their feelings hurt if I don't call and check up on them from time to time.

My husband? Great phone person. I used to think that girls were the phone hoarders but he does an exceptional job holding members of our small group accountable, catching up with friends we have living all over the country, etc. Of course, he's in a truck all day long driving around Metro-Atlanta and has banned radio from his truck so he needs something to do.

I'm relieved that he's started calling people because he used to use that time to memorize Scripture. He would have about 10-20 index cards filled with verses all across his speedometer, dash, and lower windshield. At one point, he was memorizing John.

Yes, John.

The book.

I can just picture that conversation with the police officer now. "Um, yes. Officer? The reason I plowed into the back of ___________ was because...well, you see....I'm memorizing the eigth chapter of John. If you could just hold this Bible for me and double-check, I'll show you how far I've gotten." Yeah....

Anyways- I digress. So blogging for me has been better than the phone. I just don't want it to get like my phone habits because there's something so special about our little world here, you know? The encouragement and connectivity I get from living out your lives via pictures and stories is priceless. Knowing that I'm not the only mom who doesn't have it all together keeps me going. Knowing that there are other women out there who love Christ with everything they have yet struggle with worldly desires inspires me to battle on. Even though I may not be writing, I sure am reading. Whether it be a quick scan of pictures or reading on my phone while filling up with gas, I'm there. So I hope y'all don't quit posting! :)

On to my next two goals:

1. Calling my sister every other day.

This has lengthened to a few times a week but I'm very proud of myself on this one. (See above.) I try not to call her earlier than 9:00 and be her daily alarm. I also try not to dominate every conversation with my hair. (For those of you who don't know, Katie is a crazy-gifted hair stylist and cuts my hair. She also is crazy-gifted with make-up, coloring hair, and all things trendy. And she's stuck with me: a 30-year-old "Old Soul", as she's labled me, who has an education background and struggles with the love of appliqued sweaters and wooden teacher jewelry. Just imagine the dynamics there.)

2. Date night with Bear twice a month.

Hmmmmmm....yeah. Um, does the Free Friday Concerts in Downtown Monroe count? With kids? And Katie and Cobb? And our neighbors? And their kids? And the entire rest of the town? Then, yes! We've had one.

Actually, I had a free babysitting scheme planned with our neighbors. They watch our kids one Thursday and we'll take theirs the next. Sounds great, right? Apparently, us and the Hodges have extremely demanding social calendars. We just can't get our Thursday nights....or any nights for that matter....together! Hopefully, this week is it. Oh, wait. That's tomorrow. Well, maybe. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Becky, who started this whole Significant Summer for me, asked for updates a while back on her blog. Here are her posts. What are y'all doing for your Significant Summer?

SSMT #10

I have no idea how this happened but I have 11 verses in my Scripture spiral. According to Beth, this is verse #10. Hmmm.....I always knew I was gifted. :)

"Fools vent their anger but the wise quietly hold it back." Proverbs 29:11 (NLT)

This verse was our first family worship time to kick-off our Significant Summer. I chose it for our devotional because Esther Grace is having biting issues and Jonah is struggling to tolerate it. I thought it would be good for them. During our morning, Jonah's face lit up and he proudly exclaimed,
    
"Oh, Mommy! This verse is really good for you to not lose your temperature!"

Yep. Temperature.

So naturally, if my four-year-old clearly recognizes the need for this in my life, I've got to memorize it.

Our Signifcant Summer's off to a great start!

A Significant Summer

This past Wednesday, we wrapped up our BSF study of Isaiah with Sharing Day. Oh, what a wrap up it was! So many women testified to what God had done in their lives through this study and I soaked it all in. We sang "To God Be The Glory" and it's true...great things He hath done.

The last chapter in Isaiah describes what Isaiah's been describing all year: a future of promise or peril, judgement or hope, reconciliation or retribution. For those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, their future is one of productivity and fruitfulness. For those who reject Him as Lord, eternity is dismal. In our last lecture of the year, we were challenged to not allow our lives to end as abruptly as the book of Isaiah does but rather to persist in our growth with Christ. My mind drifted to this summer and how I desire a time of productivity and fruitfulness for my family.

Yes, many pool days.
Yes, many naps.
But also purpose.

Becky, who writes one of my FAVORITE blogs that I follow, is doing just this with her summer. I've never met her in person but we are sisters in Him. :) I struggle with organization and the Lord knew exactly what kind of structure I needed when he led her to write her most recent posts. I've now got three topics to help organize my intentions. Here are my personal goals for a significant summer:

Spiritual Goals:

1. Have a family theme night twice a month. (Sort of like a mini-VBS. I found some great ideas to get me started here. Maybe I'll venture out and plan my own by August.)

2. Start each day with morning worship and a devotional as an entire family. (I've got some ideas on how to include everyone since Bear's day sometimes starts at 5:00 a.m.)

3. Help serve lunches to needy children in our community through our church's outreach program, Fish4Kids, once a week.

Physical Goals

1. Run twice a week. (I'm not sure exactly how far, how long, or even where...but running none the less.)

2. Complete at least one segment of my kickboxing video twice a week. (Probably not the same days as the running....)

3. Clean out the closets in our house. (We have GOT to get some organization down somewhere!)

Relational Goals:

1. Have a date night with Bear twice a month. (This may sound very limited but it's better than what we've been doing! I've also got a scheme going to try and get free babysitting.)

2. Call my sister at least every other day. (Crazy as it sounds, before the twins sometimes we went weeks/months without talking! I have LOVED spending time with her while she stays at our parents' house. She went back home yesterday and I already miss her. I figured every day may overwhelm her and I don't want to spoil my chances of her moving out here so I'm going to try to restrain myself.)

3. Blog at least twice a week. (I've missed y'all too!)

Who's with me? Anyone else want a fruitful and productive summer? Tell me what you're planning!