Wednesday, October 12, 2011

October Forecast - Follow Up Part 1

It's October 12th and I haven't written an update on all my October Forecast Challenges yet!  Well, I'm happy to say that I've succeeded on A LOT more than I thought I would!  I'm surprised by this because I know myself, and even though I LOVE to plan and make lists, it's the follow through that I struggle with so VERY VERY much!  With that said, so far I've succeeded at 2 out of 3 of my "plans" for the month.

First off, my Hello Mornings! Challenge.  I'm SOOOO excited to report that I've succeeded at this one 100% of the time!  WOO HOO!!  This is a HUGE deal for me, to actually wake up by an alarm clock and before my boys wake up.  My alarm has gone off at 5:45am every Mon-Fri and I've been out of bed between 6-6:30 each of those mornings.  Even though I snooze, I still count it as a success because I am accomplishing my long term goal, which is to be up before the boys in order to have a quiet time and complete anything else I can before they wake up.  Granted, they have been waking up earlier off and on, and a couple days, I've been up at 6, and so have one or both of them, but overall, 95% of the time, I have a solid 30 minutes to myself, to pray, journal, read and study the Word before they are ready to get up.

Second was my cleaning schedule.  So, this was the one that I've failed at miserably, and if you were to walk in to my house right now, it would be very clear to you that I haven't done hardly anything in this department!  Don't get me wrong, we sleep on clean sheets, wear clean clothes, the dishes stay clean for the most part, and I do vacuum and dust, but other than that, not much has gotten done.

In lieu of cleaning, I have spent countless hours playing trains, reading books, coloring, playing playdoh, racing cars, playing Elefun and so many other things with my boys, and to me, that is far more important than having a spick and span home.  The time that they actually want me to play with them is so limited in the grand scheme of things, and I've decided that I am not going to feel guilty about forskaing cleaning to spend priceless time with my two little cuties!  I hope that if you do come over and see my home, in all disarray, that you will be slow to judge and quick to realize that messy homes = memories are being made!  Thanks in advance for giving me grace in this area!

Third, journaling for my boys.  I have succeeded 100% in this area as well and am pretty sure the Lord is teaching me much more through writing to them than I ever thought possible!  What joy it brings my heart to write down memories from that day as well as having the opportunity to write out my heartfelt prayers for them.  Something that I hope and pray they treasure for the rest of their lives!  I give all credit to the Lord for this, for giving me a passion to write.  It's not about me, it's not about them, it's about what the Lord wants to say to them and I'm humbled that He is using me!  Thank you Lord!

So, there's my update for the first part of the month!  I am so thankful that the Lord has been nudging my heart to change, even in the smallest of areas, and I pray that I will continue to allow Him in to every area of my life so that the change He brings, will only show more of Him and less of me.

Be Blessed and Encouraged!



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