Sandra

10 Goals for the Week

September 29, 2014 by Sandra 8 Comments

Because I added my goals to my Google Calendar last week, I was able to cross almost everything off my list.

The only thing I didn’t do well was get up before my children, but I have excuses. See below. 😉

Here’s what I accomplished last week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. ~~Continue to work on memorizing two verses of scripture as a family~~ — We’re working on Proverbs 20:11 and Exodus 20:12.

2. ~~Plan a fun Family Day~~

Personal Goals:

3. ~~Do resistance band exercises 3x~~

4. ~~Walk a total of 70 minutes on the treadmill~~

5. ~~Read 20 pages of The Hobbit (affiliate link) by J.R.R. Tolkein~~

6. Get up by 6:00am every morning — Once again, I didn’t do well in this area. I woke up at 6:00am ONE DAY last week. That is all. To throw in a few excuses…we’ve been sick with what seems to be two separate illnesses, and my three youngest kids have been hanging out/sleeping in my bed in the morning, which makes it harder to get up and start my day. 😉

Home Management Goals:

7. ~~Sew button~~

8. ~~Clean bathrooms~~

Business Goals:

9. ~~Film a DIY video~~

10. ~~Finish blog post recapping David’s Make-A-Wish trip!~~

Here are my goals for this week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Continue to work on memorizing two verses of scripture as a family

2. Make cookies with Nathan

Personal Goals:

3. Do resistance band exercises 3x

4. Walk a total of 75 minutes on the treadmill

5. Read 20 pages of The Hobbit (affiliate link) by J.R.R. Tolkein

6. Get up by 6:00am every morning — I’m not giving up!

Home Management Goals:

7. Finish editing Disney photos and order an archive CD — Another blessing of David’s wish trip is that we get a free CD of all the PhotoPass photos taken on our trip.

8. Move photos and videos from my computer to an external hard drive

Business Goals:

9. Edit, upload, and post DIY video

10. Make and photograph a recipe to share in an upcoming blog post

What are your goals for this week?

David’s Story: Make-A-Wish Trip Recap

September 25, 2014 by Sandra 9 Comments

Shortly before David was scheduled to go into the hospital for his bone marrow transplant last year, we found out that he was going to be granted a wish through the Make-A-Wish organization.

While we were thankful, at the time, we were incredibly concerned with David’s health and the outcome of his impending transplant. We’d been riding an unpredictable roller coaster every day since his diagnosis in August 2013, and we knew things were going to get much worse for our son before they’d get better.

But knowing that something good (in addition to the AMAZING gift of new bone marrow that a man we don’t yet know would give to David) was coming after all of the heartache and pain, encouraged us to look forward to happier, healthier days.

And as you can tell from the pictures, those days are finally here! 🙂

David’s Wish

As you probably already know, David wished to go to Disney World! We’ve been to Disney in the past, but every time is a new experience. And Make-A-Wish truly went above and beyond to make David’s wish awesome and unforgettable for our entire family.

From the limo ride to and from the airport, to the accommodations at the very special resort for kids with life-threatening illnesses, Give Kids the World Village, there were so many special surprises planned along with David’s wish that we weren’t expecting, but we’re so grateful for!

Give Kids the World Village

The villa we stayed in at Give Kids the World was large enough for eight people, and it had everything we needed. Every meal at the Village was free, and honestly, there were so many fun things to do at Give Kids the World that David and his older brother and buddy, Isaac, would have been content to stay there most days and not visit the parks at all.

But alas, we did leave the Village every day to venture out and pack in a whole lot of fun! 🙂

A favorite ride at Give Kids the World Village was definitely the carousel. The best part is that you don’t have to get off when it’s over. You can simply keep riding it over and over, or until your mother says four times in a row is enough. 🙂

The kids also loved the pool, which happened to be close to our villa.

And Mickey comes to you at Give Kids the World! He visits twice a week (I believe) along with other characters.

It was fun getting family pictures with our favorite mouse and with Scooby Doo. David ended up getting in LOTS of pictures with the minions at Universal Studios, which we were also given free passes to on David’s trip!

You may be able to tell from most of the pictures of David that he’s just a little bit fond of minions. 😉

Side note: David first saw the movie “Despicable Me” during one of his many hospital admissions. The rest is history, and we are now the proud owners of 1,543,798 minion toys.

A Special Star for a Special Boy

One very unique way that Give Kids the World made David’s wish extra special is by giving him a star that he was able to personalize before it was placed in the “sky” at the Castle of Miracles.

David’s star will always be here, and anytime we visit Florida we can come back to visit Give Kids the World and look for David’s star in the sky.

The Ice Cream Palace

We ate a lot of our meals at the Ice Cream Palace in GKTW Village. They offered an express breakfast, which we’d eat before we left for the parks almost every day. We also ordered lunch from the pick-up window at Katie’s Kitchen a couple of times, and enjoyed it in the air conditioning of the Ice Cream Palace versus eating outside or taking lunch back to the villa.

And, of course, one must eat ice cream when visiting the Ice Cream Palace. That happened, too. 🙂

At the Parks

For David’s wish, we received passes to spend three days at Disney World parks and two days at Universal Studios. We also received passes for SeaWorld, but we decided not to use those.

Despite the heat and humidity, we had a BLAST at the parks!

Mickey’s Backyard BBQ

Back in August, as the time for David’s wish trip approached, his Wish Coordinator asked about his favorite Disney character and which character meal they could schedule for us. That was an exciting day!

David ended up deciding on Mickey’s Backyard BBQ, and the reservation was made. That particular day ended up being rainy, but it didn’t matter.

We threw on our ponchos and made our way to the food and fun! During the show portion, David even had the chance to hold Mickey’s hand and make a very special memory that I was able to capture on my camera. 🙂

A Little Extra Disney

We spent a total of ten days in Florida. Seven of those days were at Give Kids the World, and the final three days were spent at Disney’s Pop Century Resort. We’d prearranged with Make-A-Wish to extend our trip by a few days and so enjoyed the extra time at Disney World!

THANK YOU, MAKE-A-WISH!

It’s been a long, tough year for David and our whole family, but we’re thankful for all the people behind Make-A-Wish and Give Kids the World who offered us happy, joy-filled days after so many difficult ones.

With so much love…thank you!

And, David, we love you. 🙂

For more pictures and to follow David’s continuing journey, please visit his Facebook page. To read previous posts or watch videos about David’s journey so far, visit here.

10 Goals for the Week

September 22, 2014 by Sandra 6 Comments

Well, my plan to get up before all of my children every morning didn’t really work out the way I thought it would. I didn’t exactly help myself by going to bed late every night.

But it’s a new week, right? I’ve learned my lesson, and I’m ready to try again! 🙂

Here’s what I accomplished last week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. ~~Continue to work on memorizing two verses of scripture as a family~~

2. ~~Plan Breanna’s birthday celebration — We keep things low key, and it’ll just be our family of seven. But still…her birthday will feel a whole lot more special with a bit of planning ahead.~~

Personal Goals:

3. ~~Start a prayer journal~~

4. ~~Walk a total of 60 minutes on the treadmill~~

5. ~~Read 20 pages of The Hobbit (affiliate link) by J.R.R. Tolkein~~

6. Get up by 6:00am every morning — I went to bed too late most nights and completely failed at getting up by 6:00am each day. But I did end up making progress in my wakeup times by the end of the week. Setting a later “backup” alarm helped. 😉 This week, I’m going to focus on getting to bed by 11:00pm.

Home Management Goals:

7. ~~Sew my slipper~~

8. ~~Fill a bag with items to donate~~

Business Goals:

9. ~~Return emails~~

10. Write a blog post recapping David’s Make-A-Wish trip! — I’m about 70% done. This is a picture-rich post that required quite a bit of time in Photoshop.

Here are my goals for this week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Continue to work on memorizing two verses of scripture as a family

2. Plan a fun Family Day

Personal Goals:

3. Do resistance band exercises 3x

4. Walk a total of 70 minutes on the treadmill

5. Read 20 pages of The Hobbit (affiliate link) by J.R.R. Tolkein

6. Get up by 6:00am every morning

Home Management Goals:

7. Sew button

8. Clean bathrooms

Business Goals:

9. Film a DIY video

10. Finish blog post recapping David’s Make-A-Wish trip!

What are your goals for this week?

10 Goals for the Week

September 13, 2014 by Sandra 2 Comments

The past two weeks have been FULL in a very good way.

We actually started this week out at Magic Kingdom on Monday. We spent the day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Tuesday, then got up on Wednesday and drove to Animal Kingdom to squeeze in a few more hours of fun before flying home to Chicago on Wednesday night.

I’ll share more about our trip in another post, but we spent a total of ten days in Florida and loved every minute of it! Okay, we weren’t excited about the insane heat and humidity that greeted us every day, but other than that, it was a fantastic once-in-a-lifetime vacation!

make-a-wish-epcot

I decided not to set goals while we were away, because what’s the point? 🙂

Now that we’re back home, though, I need to get back into working on my weekly goals. And I need to pay particular attention to my goal of waking up BEFORE the children.

I slept in today, and, as a result, my morning didn’t feel very peaceful, if you know what I mean. It seemed like everyone either needed something or had a question to ask mama…through the bathroom door.

So, yes, after today, I’m definitely ready to get back in the saddle!

And here’s what I’m planning on tackling this week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Continue to work on memorizing two verses of scripture as a family

2. Plan Breanna’s birthday celebration — We keep things low key, and it’ll just be our family of seven. But still…her birthday will feel a whole lot more special with a bit of planning ahead.

Personal Goals:

3. Start a prayer journal

4. Walk a total of 60 minutes on the treadmill

5. Read 20 pages of The Hobbit (affiliate link) by J.R.R. Tolkein

6. Get up by 6:00am every morning

Home Management Goals:

7. Sew my slipper

8. Fill a bag with items to donate

Business Goals:

9. Return emails

10. Write a blog post recapping David’s Make-A-Wish trip!

What are your goals for this week?

Sandra

David’s Wish

Give Kids the World Village

A Special Star for a Special Boy

The Ice Cream Palace

At the Parks

Mickey’s Backyard BBQ

A Little Extra Disney

THANK YOU, MAKE-A-WISH!

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