Accountability in 2020 – Day 2

Oh no! Everything I typed for the last 10 minutes vanished! Well, take 2 of day 2. This will make me be brief for sure!

1. Becoming emotionally healthy, holding love and tenderness in balance with boundaries. Going to call Dr. Brock today to set up my appointment. Along those lines I’m still reading the books mentioned below.

2. Reading two books a month and not grazing over 20 and never finishing a book. This month the books are “Try Softer” by Aundi Kolber and “Boundaries” by Dr. Henry Cloud. Several people have mentioned that they are going to be reading “Boundaries” or have just started it. Apparently the book is free on Kindle right now!

3. Staying on target with spending plans in time and money. Last night I updated my spending log with totals for the midway point of the month. Now I have a good idea of what we have to work with for the remaninder of January.

I was up at 6 a.m. for prayer/journaling, started typing this blog at 7 a.m. and am going to get fully dressed and put together before wake up time at 8 a.m. Still need to come up with a menu plan for the rest of the week. I’ve just been using what’s in the pantry and fridge or going to Subway (wink).

As for today’s schedule, we are going to do our Chemistry 101 course video with homeschool friends, need to mail a package, pick up my son’s suit from the tailor, and grab some books from the library for my middle daughter. Since I was up so early and getting things done I think we might be able to get it all done today!

Hope your day is off to an empowering start! These verses spoke to me today. I wonder what encouraged you this morning?

I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the Lord.

Psalm 40:1 – 3

Baby it’s cold outside!!!
-15F when this picture was taken last week. Now it’s up to a balmy +0F

Accountability in 2020

A wise woman builds her home,

but a foolish woman tears it down with

her own hands.

Proverbs 14:1

Since the beginning of the year I’ve felt nudges to start an accountability journal – a daily journal that I will post to remind myself of The Plan and the documentation of The Action. I’ve been struggling year after year with great intnetions at the beginning of the year followed by the emotional currents of: “I don’t feel like it, I’m too tired, it doesn’t really matter”. Specifically I’m working on:

1. Becoming emotionally healthy, holding love and tenderness in balance with boundaries.

2. Reading two books a month and not grazing over 20 and never finishing a book. This month the books are “Try Softer” by Aundi Kolber and “Boundaries” by Dr. Henry Cloud.

3. Staying on target with spending plans in time and money. We have had a budget for years and I imagine staying in those borders. I also have a lovely schedule of rhythms for the day but have not set down a specific time to start all those lovely rhythms. And I cannot forget to mention how I get side tracked by beautiful distractions and savoring quiet mornings alone.

So I could get all tied up trying to find the perfect format, perfect place, perfect time but that never seemed to work. So I’ll just show up as I am, here, quietly typing away but feeling a sense of “I can do this and you can too!”

In addition, I’d like to give a shout out to two women – both named Cindy – who have taken the time to mentor women across the world. So these two ladies have been obedient to pray, listen to God and trust Him with their ministries. I’m inspired by their faithfulness and joy in the Lord.

Cindy Rushton is championing a Jumpstart 2020 challenge to get women engaged with their missions in life. It’s time to step out, stretch, challenge ourselves to be fully expectant that God will dream impossible dreams for us and lead us into those paths.

Cindy Rollins is mentoring a group of women through her Patreon site and encourages us with her Saturdays with Cindy sessions as well as educational practices based on the Charlotte Mason approach. We are reading through beautiful poetry and books that help to educate the mom’s heart and mind. Cindy Rollins is also leading a group of ladies to an educational retreat in Ambleside, England in April, which miraculously and through the grace of God I will be able to attend. (God answers prayers – especially the ones He places in our hearts before we even made any plans.) My family will also be joining me and we will turn it into a European vacation. Thank you Father!

Now that I’ve procrastinated long enough, this is the part where I start to squirm – stating what I have done in alignment with the plan. (See how I love to plan but the putting into action has become sticky?)

Wake up and pray/journal: 6 a.m. (I woke up at 7 a.m.)

Start breakfast and start morning time with kids: 8:30 a.m. (It’s already 9!)

Keep a daily log of all expenditures: I’ve done this each day this month and only need to add up the columns. I tried doing this online with excel but going to paper is much eaier for me and I don’t liek the idea of putting my financialy into on a budgeting service site.

Menu plan for the week: I still need to do this and will this evening with my husband and kids.

Becoming emotionally healthy: Well this is a lifelong process but I will be calling to set up an appointment with my counselor, Dr. Brock, and will continue to read the two books on my focused list.

Whew! Well that wasn’t too painful. I think I can do this! And you can too. I wonder what you’d like to plan and take action on this month?

Here is my Vision Board for 2020. My work for the year is Tenderness.

Surprises Along The Way

We are entering into year 10 of our homeschool journey. I wish I could say that we have been forging ahead on a laser-focused path. It seems we homeschool the way I do life – hopping from one idea to another, looking for the next best thing in an attempt to make the work of homeschooling feel more like play. I tend to experiment with one method or another and end the year with a desire to do better the next year.

In years past, my prayers were too small and short-sighted. This year, 2019 – 2020, I pray for Light and the Power of the Holy Spirit to flood our hearts with His Truth so we walk in deep-seeded belief.

” I have come into the world as light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” John 12:46

Shall I tell you the next best thing I found? Ha! I have to laugh because I’ve done this every summer. I spend three months relaxing in Alaskan summers, foraging for ideas, searching for answers. Then I take that research and turn it into a year of big dreams and visions of reinventing my children and our family. Well – I did learn a lot this summer and I do have big dreams. But instead of trying to find a method that “works” for each of my children I’ve been encouraged to read from wisdom. I do this not to find a guarantee or ensure success in our lives but because I truly do believe The Word contains Truth and Life. The outcome of our lives I trust to Our Father. I’ve not stumbled upon anything new. Just as G. K. Chesterton felt he found a New Thing but stumbled upon something ancient, I’ve found the ancient and feel it’s a New Thing.

So thank you to a woman from Ambleside, England for her life’s work to teach us that “children are born persons” and that “education is a science of relations”. Thank you to all the other sojourners who have taken a similar path and let their Light shine before men, therefore bringing glory to our Father. Thank you to a homeschool mom who mentored other moms this summer and invited us to live more fully alive. Thank you Father for providing surprise funding so my family can take a capstone trip to England this Spring after studying about the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation. Your fingerprints are everywhere.

Hiking. They pull way ahead of us now, both ascending and descending. This is Mt. Baldy above Eagle River.

A stellar summer in Anchorage with record-breaking heat resulting in a bumper crop of tomatoes.