Starting the New Year Right

At the end of the day, I feel like I have not done much because we have been home more. When I think back to all that we have done though, I see I am accomplishing a lot of my personal goals. Although they are not happening quickly, they are happening. I am viewing that as success. I don't think I have written my goals for 2016 yet, so I will write them down so that I can look back and remember what I was trying to accomplish.

1. Reading 2-3 books a month.
2. Waking up earlier so that I have 1/2 hour-1 hour to read my Bible and pray for my family.
3. Organizing and Minimizing my life
4. Spending less money and giving more money/help/encouragement/things
5. Reading a Bible story to Cora every day or talking about God to Cora every day. 
6. Blogging life and lessons :) 

I finished The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and began my journey of tidying. As the author suggests, I started with my clothing, shoes and accessories. I was able to get rid of 2 1/2 bags of items. It felt good. What felt even better was that I could pass them along to a girl at my church. She was so thankful and had fun going through the items. There were a few things I was nervous to get rid of because they were gifts people gave me. I tried to stay strong and remember what Marie said. If it is just sitting in your closet and not bringing joy, there is no since to keep it. Remember the moment it was given to you and the thrill it gave to you then and move on. So I did. Today I move on to jewelry and bathroom items that build up (toiletries, lotions, soaps, etc...). I am hoping to conquer paper and office items tomorrow. My goals is to having my yearly tidying done by next Friday. I am not completing the process as fast as the author recommends to her readers, but I only have short intervals of time in which I am able to tackle these tasks. 

I finally woke up early today and was able to get some time to pray and be in the Word. It was WONDERFUL. I am reading through the prophet books which is kind of hard, but it has been interesting. 

I started two new books a few days ago and once I am close to finishing, I will do some book reviews on them. The first book is The Fringe Hours and the second book is The Spy. I will give more details in a later post. 

Thankful for the time I have at home so that I can try and accomplish these goals. I am most thankful though for God and his grace, which is ultimately why I can get anything done.