Preparing for the New Year: Day 2

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Tuesday: Relationships

 

This is a fun one.  I am thinking about how I would like to tell my friends and family I love and appreciate them this year.  Part of that for me is getting a birthday calendar together and buying all my cards for the year, stamping and filing them ready to send on time.  I will also stock sympathy, get well, wedding and baby cards so I’m never left unprepared again.  This can get expensive, but I’ve found a good selection of $.50 cards at various stores around town and I’ll be snagging the best of those.  If you or your children enjoy making cards, go for it!   For more articles on creating a greeting card file try here and here.

I’m also thinking about my children and how I’d like to be more engaged with them this year.  One of the best ways to curb rebellion and dishonesty is to have a strong relationship with my children.  We are together all day, but my mind is often far away.  I want to change that.

I’m grateful that my husband and I get to have a date twice a month, since we trade babysitting with DHs cousins.  But I  am thinking of other ways I can let him know that I appreciate him and how to encourage him.  I think I will start by packing his lunch again (I’ve fallen out of that habit lately.)  Then I can slip a note in now and then or a special treat just for him.

I’m also thinking about my grandma who lives in a nursing home.  It is hard for us to get out, but I want to make a new routine to visit her frequently.

I’d love to hear your ideas for building closer relationships this year!

Preparing for the New Year: Day 1

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I love new beginnings!  And I am determined to take full advantage of this one.  Would you like to join me?  We will be setting goals and making plans in 5 steps, each day addressing a different area of life.  Here’s a brief overview for the week:

Monday:  Spiritual

Tuesday:  Relationships

Wednesday:  Professional

Thursday:  Physical

Friday:  Financial

Each day you are going to need a spiral notebook and a 2011 calendar.  For Monday I will also need my scriptures, a purse size spiral notebook (for my new prayer journal), and a hymn book.

Monday:  Spiritual

 

Today is the day I deeply consider my relationship with Jesus Christ and how I will deepen and broaden it over the year.  I will set goals for daily scripture study, prepare a new prayer journal, and develop a plan for what I will teach my children in our daily devotions this year.  I will also write a calendar of prayers to pray for my husband as the spiritual leader and head of our home and make a list of 12 books that I will read, one a month.  I hope to memorize a weekly scripture with my children and learn all the verses to one hymn a month.  I will choose these today also, as having a plan is half the battle to executing it.

Although my goals will be specific, they will be small.  Anything that I do will be an improvement over last year!  And I realize that if I reach too high I will become discouraged and not change anything at all.