Category: Cultivating What Matters

Yay, it’s May! Every month that is closer to Baby Goodwill’s birthday is cause to celebrate. While I don’t feel like I’ve had a super difficult pregnancy by any means, being pregnant still isn’t my idea of a good time. I’m so looking forward to her just being here and being her mom. Each month just moves us closer, and so I’m very excited about my May tending list. 

I find blogging about my goals really helpful in keeping me accountable. It helps me get into the why behind what I’m doing. And knowing that I have to publicly report on what I’ve done that month gives me extra motivation.

April Recap:

Monthly Goals: 

Study Philippians even more: Yes! I am really thrilled with the dilligence I’ve had in studying the Bible. This is definitely the Lord working in me, and not me.

15 complete posts on blog: Done! My next goal is to get to twenty-five.

Unveiled Wife devotional: I did this about half the month. The devotional had some good thoughts, but it wasn’t particularly profound. I’m undecided if I’ll finish it.

Create a newsletter opt-in: Done! If you’d like a rose gold wedding planner, you can get it (free!) here!

Get haircut/highlight hair at home: Complete! If only I could style it like the hairstylist does 🙁

Make dentist appt/go to dentist: Nope. This WILL happen in May.

Go on Babymoon: Yes!! You can read all about it here.

Plan babymoon: Yup!

Register for childbirth classes/infant cpr: Nope. This month for sure. Trying to avoid having to take the one that’s a week before her due date!

 

Weekly Goals:

RM Abide Study 2x: Most weeks I only did the sheets once. I’m aiming for 2x a week again in May.

Post on Instagram: Yes, ⅘ weeks. I’m trying to be both intentional but natural with this.

Write the Word: Psalms: Yes! I am still loving my Write the Word journal. It’s one of my favorite resources right now.

Face mask: I’m in the routine of doing this now, so I won’t be putting it on my powersheets but I’ll still be doing it.

Go to church: Needs work.

Workout video: So I crossed this off, then I readded it again. I’m a mess. This is now a daily goal of mine.

 

Daily Goals:

Root in the Word: Again, so grateful that this has been growing.

Blog stuff: Most days I managed to do something, though honestly some days it was just checking Google Analytics.

Skincare: Going well! Going to keep this as a daily goal for another month until it becomes second nature.

Wife devotional: I was very inconsistent with this.

 

May Goals

Monthly Goals:

Finish Studying Philippians: Philippians has been a wonderful study for me. I’m looking forward to finishing it this month.

Go to dentist: Moved to almost the top of the list 😉

Take hospital tour: There’s only one date we can do this so I’m hoping it works out with our work ! I’m eager to see where baby will be born.

Turn journal into a WTW journal: My friend Christie gave me the cutest pink & rose gold journal the other day. I have a list of verses I’d like to meditate on during the rest of my pregnancy, and so I’m going to write them & then follow the same Write the Word format.

Read two books

Go to beach: It’s 84 degrees. North Carolina has no chill.

Write 10,000 words: It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the aspects of blogging. But ultimately it comes down to producing content that people want to read. I need to be writing, so I made a goal of 10,000 words this month.

Buy the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit: Speaking of being overwhelmed, the Ultimate Blogger’s Toolkit comes out for a limited release this month. I passed on the homemaking toolkit (even though it looked awesome AND included a Cultivate What Matters gift card) because I really want some new courses & ebooks. Also, my husband has been getting into blogging which is awesome because we can share anything that I buy 🙂

 

Weekly Goals:

Publish 2 blog posts

Meal Plan + Follow: NEED to get back on this.

Outdoor activity: The best part of our babymoon for me was getting out in nature. I want to spend a decent amount of time outside this month before it gets 10,000 degrees with 1,000 precent humidity.

Post on Insta

Worship + pray aloud: Trying to incorporate more/new spiritual disciplines.

RM study x2

 

Daily Goals:

Root in the Word

Breakfast & lunch from home

<150 net carbs

Workout

Skincare

 

February flewwww by! Theo’s birthday was the day after Superbowl Sunday, then we had Valentine’s Day (he planned the cutest surprise, all the heart eyes), we found out Baby is A GIRL, and then it was time to make my March tending list! February was a delightful month full of joy, but if I just looked at my tending list for the month it looks like the month was a complete loss. I ate a ton of fast food, wasn’t faithful in studying the Bible, didn’t launch my blog, and never followed a meal plan. But it’s okay! March is a new month to get back on my goals, and I can leave February thinking of all the fun celebrating we did instead of lamenting the tasks that didn’t get done.

 

I found my encouraging words for March this morning during my Bible reading–“Return to your rest my soul, for the Lord has been good to you” Psalm 116:7. Going back to my word for the year, I find my roots in the Word of God, and rest pours out of that. Real soulful rest does not come from Netflix, scrolling through Insta, or eating half a bag of Starburst jelly beans while watching Netflix and catching up on Instagram….not that I have done that recently!

Monthly Goals:

Study Philippians: March is going to find me studying Philippians by using the Risen Motherhood study sheets as well as my Write the Word journal. This is essential to making progress in my #1 goal of becoming a woman who is rooted in the Word of God.

Hang spice rack, calendar, redo kitchen: Very straightforward. A few tasks that would really help with the organization of our home but that keep not getting done.

Have family over for dinner/have friends over: Another item to help with my goal of maintaining a lifegiving home. Being hospitable is an easy way to grow our relationships, and has the bonus of forcing er..inspiring us to get the house nice and shiny for company

Follow meal plan all month: I’m going to do a monthly meal plan again this month. It was so effective in January at helping us eat at home and reduce costs/waste. This month I want to incorporate more healthful meals, specifically some healthy rice bowls.

Get our taxes done: I still need to track down one W2 from last year, and then we need to file as a married couple for the first time! Yay!

Make blog public: Not sure how I’m going to do this exactly yet but it’s almost ready! Sub goal is to get set up with Amazon Affiliates.

Read two books: In January I did really well at reading one book a week, but I don’t think that’s sustainable for me. So I’ll aim for two this month 🙂

 

Weekly Goals:

Use my RM sheets to study Philippians: I’m aiming to do this twice a week. Ideally I would do this daily, but I need to start with small manageable goals and work my way up.

Write the Word journal: I actually chose Philippians to study this month because of how many passages there are in my Write the Word journal. I got this journal two Christmases ago and while I do like it, I have never been consistent in using it. I think this will be a good supplement to my study sheets.

Two blog posts: I’d like to write and post two complete blog posts a week. I know I can definitely write two, but compiling good photos and doing a final edit are things I tend to procrastinate on.

Go to church: Consistently attending a church has been a struggle. There’s a lot of excuses as to why we haven’t been consistent, which mostly center on pregnancy exhaustion and conflicting work schedules. But we love our church and want to get rooted in the community, and to do that we kinda need to be there.

 

Daily Goals:

Get in the Word: again, my most important goal. Even if I’m not studying or writing I still want to be reading daily.

Tidy for 10 in 2: This is something I used to do last year. Basically I set a timer for ten minutes and tidy one room for just ten minutes. Sometimes I’ll feel more motivated and keep going, but even if I don’t ten minutes is enough to at least get clothes put away, a few dishes loaded, counters wiped, etc. I STRUGGLE with keeping a clean house and it can get really discouraging so I’m just trying to improve every month (and am totally open and would LOVE suggestions).

Breakfast from home: ie not breakfast from Chick fil A, McDonalds, or Bojangles. Obviously fast food is a big weakness of mine and all those breakfasts and lunches add up. I’m going to make  frozen breakfast burritos again as well as give overnight oats a chance.

So that’s it for March!