Goals

Last week, I set goals for the first six months of 2014.

I’m actually doing pretty well with those goals so far, except for the day last week when we unexpectedly had to take David to the hospital. It took almost two hours to drive to the hospital. We spent about two hours there, and then we drove back home in rush hour traffic and snow. It wasn’t a productive day, but that’s okay.

Anyway, I feel like I’m ready to start setting small weekly goals.

So here are my goals for this week…

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Read to my little ones 5 times

2. Schedule a Family Night

Personal Goals:

3. Juice 1x

4. Walk on the treadmill for 15 minutes every day this week

5. Continue reading Super Immunity by Dr. Joel Fuhrman

Home Management Goals:

6. Order photographs

7. Wipe down door handles with disinfectant wipes

Business Goals:

8. Listen to two webinar recordings

9. Work on a client project

10. Write 4 blog posts

What are your goals for this week?

I know it’s a little late to start setting goals for 2014, but life hasn’t exactly been normal these past six weeks. Because of that reality, I decided to wait to set 2014 goals until life started to feel a tiny bit more ordinary.

That day has finally arrived. Today we packed up the last of our things and left the Ronald McDonald House in Chicago. We stepped through the door of our home this afternoon, and I found myself smiling and thanking God again and again that we were home!

David, our four-year-old son, still has a long way to go before he’s considered fully recovered from his bone marrow transplant, but he’s doing so well that he only needs to have weekly appointments, which means we no longer need to live close to the hospital. We’ll just drive to Chicago once a week for David’s appointments.

And now for my goals…
I’m doing things a little differently this year. I’m going to set monthly goals with deadlines in the hopes that I’ll get most of them accomplished before the year is over. I’m also going to be very conservative and not overly ambitious with my goals, because we’re still dealing with David’s health challenges and working to get our family to a better, happier place.

The past six months have been so incredibly difficult. I’m going to try to write more about that later, but for now, I’ll focus on my goals.

My monthly goals for 2014:

January

Set a 15 minute timer every day from January 16th – January 30th and write during that time.

Set a 10 minute timer every day from January 16th – January 30th and edit or take photos during that time.

Walk on the treadmill for 15 minutes every day from January 16th – January 30th.

February

Set a 20 minute timer every day from February 1st – February 27th and write during that time.

Set a 10 minute timer every day from February 1st – February 27th and edit or take photos during that time.

Set my alarm clock to go off at 6:30am every morning.

Set an exercise goal for the month.

March

Read 1 book on marriage

Set a 20 minute timer every day from March 1st – March 29th and write during that time.

Set a 10 minute timer every day from March 1st – March 29th and edit or take photos during that time.

Set my alarm clock to go off at 6:00am every morning.

Set an exercise goal for the month.

April

Read 1 book on marriage

Set a 20 minute timer every day from April 1st – April 29th and write during that time.

Set a 10 minute timer every day from April 1st – April 29th and edit or take photos during that time.

Set my alarm clock to go off at 5:45am every morning.

Set an exercise goal for the month.

May

Read 1 book on marriage

Set a 20 minute timer every day from May 1st – May 29th and write during that time.

Set a 10 minute timer every day from May 1st – May 29th and edit or take photos during that time.

Set my alarm clock to go off at 5:30am every morning.

Set an exercise goal for the month.

June

Read 1 book on motherhood

Set a 20 minute timer every day from June 1st – June 29th and write during that time.

Set a 10 minute timer every day from June 1st – June 29th and edit or take photos during that time.

Set my alarm clock to go off at 5:00am every morning.

Set an exercise goal for the month.

I’ve decided to set goals for July through December sometime at the end of June. This will give me the opportunity to evaluate life at that time and set realistic goals from there. I know that we’ll be staying home a lot during the first part of 2014 (because we have to keep David out of public places as much as possible to minimize his exposure to nasty bacteria and viruses), so I think my current goals are realistic.

Those are my goals for the new year. Have you set goals for 2014?

I wasn’t able to cross everything off my list this week, mostly because I’d planned to get to work on some my goals on Sunday afternoon. I couldn’t do that because we ended up having to take David to the hospital late Saturday night. He was admitted, but thankfully only for a short while. There’s more that could be said about that, and if you’d like to read more about what happened and why we ended up there, feel free to visit his Facebook page.

Last week’s accomplishments:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Have a conversation with the kids about bone marrow transplants and discuss questions they might have.

2. Read to the little ones 4 times this week

Personal Goals:

3. Juice 2x this week

4. Walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes

5. Start journaling

Home Management Goals:

6. Go through Isaac’s clothes and take out the ones that no longer fit

7. Clean master bathroom

Business Goals:

8. Work on client project

9. Return emails

10. Write 4 blog posts

Here are my goals for this week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Make cookies with the kids

2. Have a conversation with the kids about how to avoid germs and keep from spreading them.

Personal Goals (I’m starting to feel a little down, so I’m going to focus on spiritual goals this week.):

3. Follow Bible reading plan

4. Start reading devotional book again

5. Journal

Home Management Goals:

6. Set aside school books/activities for the kids to work on while David is in the hospital

7. Plan our Thanksgiving menu

Business Goals:

8. Work on client project

9. Return emails

10. Write 5 blog posts

What are your goals for this week?

Woohoo! This past week was pretty uneventful week in terms of hospital/ER visits. Other than a trip to the infusion center for blood and platelets, David has been home, and we’re just waiting on a phone call from someone on the stem cell transplant team to update us with the ‘for sure’ date of his transplant next month.

I did still have to phone the on-call hematologist for an issue David’s having with his gums, and his home health nurse visits twice a week…but other than that, it’s been smooth sailing compared to the past six weeks or so.

I hope this week is as uneventful as last week — that would be wonderful. 😉

Here’s how I did with last week’s goals:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Go shopping for winter clothes/jackets/shoes for some of my children. We have one child who is still wearing sandals and shorts and two kids who don’t have winter jackets, so I really need to make this happen.

2. Read to the little ones 4 times this week — not quite but better than last week

Personal Goals:

3. Juice 2x this week

4. Walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes — I tried to make this happen a few times, but I only managed around 10 minutes because my almost-two-year-old baby girl constantly wants to get on with me.

5. Follow my Bible reading plan — I only missed one day.

Home Management Goals:

6. Go through David’s clothes and take out the ones that no longer fit

7. Wipe down sofas with disinfectant wipes

Business Goals:

8. Work on client project 

9. Return emails — still working on this

10. Write 4 blog posts

Here are my goals for this week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Have a conversation with the kids about bone marrow transplants and discuss questions they might have.

2. Read to the little ones 4 times this week

Personal Goals:

3. Juice 2x this week

4. Walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes

5. Start journaling

Home Management Goals:

6. Go through Isaac’s clothes and take out the ones that no longer fit

7. Clean master bathroom

Business Goals:

8. Work on client project

9. Return emails

10. Write 4 blog posts

What are your goals for this week?