Zizzie Happenings

The start of a new year is a great time to reflect on the past and focus on the future.  Setting goals helps by providing focus.  I want my life to bring God glory! Spiritual Goals: read thru the Bible increase my time in prayer and pray more specifically develop a more intimate relationship with God Personal Goals: develop healthy personal disciplines  complete one unfinished project per month organize, de-clutter and decorate my bedroom send out cards of encouragement bless a different person/family each month Books to Read: Life Management for Busy Women Embracing God's Grace Loving God with All Your Mind Nurturing a Heart of Humility Financial Goals: track spending/expenses for budget give more sacrificially to missions Food Goals: drink 90 oz of water each day eat 4 fruits and veggies each day Crafting Goals: use a new stamp set each month make at least 20 cards per month How about you?  Have you identified goals for 2014? ...

After days of praying I've decided to continue blogging into 2014.  I hope to focus more time on my blog and less time in Facebook.  Time management is going to be key for me! Tomorrow, as we begin the year, I'll post my 2014 goals.  In the meantime, I thought I would share this list of resolutions that I found on the internet. New Years Resolutions We All Should Make 1.  Smile More 2.  Spend Less 3.  Stay Active 4.  Don't Worry 5.  Eat Smarter 6.  Pray Harder 7.  Hug Your Loved Ones 8.  Count Your Blessings 9.  Listen Before Speaking 10. Admit When You're Wrong

With the new year right around the corner I am taking some time to pray about what my focus should be for 2014.  I haven't been blogging much lately and I'm wondering if I just need to give it up all together. Originally when I started blogging I was a stay at home wife and wanted to share a glimpse of my life to family and friends as well as have a place to store favorite recipes, projects and memories. Now my life is very different and I find myself often feeling overwhelmed.  What I've been learning and realizing is that part of God's unique plan in a husband and wife relationship is balance.  Mike balanced me out, his strong points were my weaknesses, so we completed each other very well.  Each day that goes by without Mike in my life, I realize all the more how blessed I was to have him as my husband. Now that I am working full time and trying to learn something totally new at work I haven't really had the time or energy...

I've been thinking of what my focus, plans and goals will be for 2013.  God's been teaching me that true joy comes when my priorities and focus are on the right things.   When I was in middle school we had a guest speaker at chapel and several things he mentioned I wrote in the front of my Bible.  One of the things I wrote down was:    J esus     O thers Y ou I have learned that when my focus is upside down and my eyes are on me and my circumstances the joy in my life fades away. This coming year I want to be more intentional about focusing on others, showing love and blessing others. Matthew 22:37-39 ~ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Mark 12:30-31 ~ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all ...

Looking back at 2011 I am ashamed to say that I didn't follow through and stay consistent with the goals  I set at the beginning of the year.  To be honest,  I totally forgot about them.  I didn't set up reminders to blog progress updates and life took over and I just got so busy I forgot all about it.  Now I wasn't a complete failure, I did mail out letters and I did get some decluttering/organizing done .  However, I didn't track it and I wasn't as committed as I should have been. So now before me is a new year and I am sitting here deciding if I should set some goals or not.  Why set goals if I am not going to accomplish them.  At the beginning I stay on track with them because it's new and exciting but then it fades and I feel like a failure as I have to admit that I didn't complete my goals. Mike was always so good at setting a goal and keeping it no matter what.  When he made the decision to do something ...

This has been a BIG week for organizing, decluttering and changing things around. The two big reasons for such a successful week for me 1) I bought new bedroom furniture that gives me more storage 2) my Mom... if it weren't for her my room would have never gotten to look this good. Thanks Mom for all your hard work. So my next step is to go through all the "stuff" that was in my room and find a new place for it all. Thank you Organized Junkie for hosting.

This week I came across two challenges that I want to join. I am joining now and going forward you will see posts on how I am progressing on these projects. I'm An Organized Junkie is hosting 52 weeks of organization Can you imagine what the house is going to look like after 52 weeks of focusing on organizing something in the house? I am so excited! Mimi's Memories is hosting 52 Weeks, 52 Letters challenge . I totally agree with Mimi's statement "I feel like handwritten letters are a dying art". I probably mail out more cards than most people because of course I enjoy making cards and sending them out to friends and family. I look forward to blessing more people this year with hand made cards that have hand written messages in them.

Last year I set some goals for myself and I really liked going back and posting updates to make sure I was on track. Of course this only happened the first half of the year because after Mike's home going things unravelled for me. I am now gathering all the pieces and working on getting myself on a new schedule. I'm not sure what God has planned for me in 2011 but what I do know is that I want to bring Him glory. Personal Goals: Stay in closer contact with family and friends ~ I had this goal last year and I think now more than ever I want to make this a habit in my life. Decluttering ~ Now that I live with Paul and Kathy I may not be able to declutter everything but I want to atleast focus in the areas that I can - my bedroom and the craft room. If I can get these two areas of the house organized and declutterd I will be doing good! Food Goals: Try one new recipe a week ~ looking for recipes that Kathy, Paul and I all enjoy. Create a book ~ I would like to get organized ...

Hard to believe we are almost half way through the year. It's time to look back at my goals for this year and make sure I am on track. Family Goals: Stay in closer contact with family and friends ~ made calls, mailed cards and emailed but still think I can do better Create a photo prayer journal ~ I got some pictures printed but still haven't put this together Declutter the house...get rid of things we don't use and organize the things we do use ~ I have decluttered 358 items from the house and am still working on more. I am looking for a very well organized home as a result. Homemaking Goals: Try one new recipe a week ~ I got a little off track with this goal but if you have any good, healthy recipes to share with me I would love to try them. Financial Goals: Save 3 to 6 months expenses in savings ~ Mike is still on track Pay at least $5,000 extra on our mortgage ~ I am going to look into switching to a 15 year mortgage Personal Goals: Comment more on others blogs ~ try...

This year I wanted to do more looking back at the goals I set at the beginning of the year to make sure I stayed on track through out the year. I can't believe we are already in March. Now let's see how I'm doing with my Goals for 2010 ...have I gotten off track, am I sticking with it... do I need to modify any. Family Goals: Stay in closer contact with family and friends ~ mailed letters in Feb Create a photo prayer journal ~ haven't even started on this one... need to get organized Declutter the house...get rid of things we don't use and organize the things we do use ~ joined the declutter project which is keeping in somewhat on task... probably need to focus a little more on organizing what I am keeping Homemaking Goals: Try one new recipe a week ~ I have tried several new recipes but not sure I am on point for one a week. Financial Goals: Save 3 to 6 months expenses in savings ~ Mike is doing an excellent job at working on this goal Pay at least $5,000 extra on...

Since it's already the middle of January I decided I better get this posted. I've been praying and meditating on what my goals should be for 2010. For me the new year has always been a time to make a resolution to lose weight. Although I always started strong, it never lasted. This year I want to do things differently. I want to be sure I am in the Lord's will as I focus on my goals. As the saying goes, "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time." I don't want to waste a year of my life when I should be living for the Lord. I may not make all my goals, or I may change them along the way but I will be farther along than if I didn't set any goals at all. So with all of this in mind, I am setting these goals to accomplish by next year. Family Goals: Stay in closer contact with family and friends Create a photo prayer journal De-clutter the house...getting rid of things we don't use and organizing the things we do use Homemaking Goals: Try one n...

I was doing major blog surfing yestserday and found this free 8 week step-by-step for achieving your long-term goals being advertised on a blog. Sorry to say I don't remember what blog I found it on but I did pull up Darren Hardy's website to look into a little later. To be honest I have never heard of this guy before but I thought the idea of giving me little baby steps on achieving my goals sounded like a great idea... especially since it was free. So I am sharing this info with you in case you are interested in joining.

This year God has blessed us exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think. One of many blessings this year was paying off the truck. Yesterday Mike made the last payment on our truck. Praise the Lord after a little over a year of paying on the truck, I am happy to announce we are now DEBT FREE! We do still have our mortgage but Lord willing one day we will be able to say we have paid that off as well. Thank you God for the many blessings!

As Christmas comes to an end, it's time for me to look at how I did on my goals for 2009 and meditate on what God wants me to focus on next year. In looking at my 2009 goals, I realize that I have much room for improvement. Family Goals: Read through the Bible as a couple - we were on track for a long time but the last quarter of the year we got side tracked. Participate in the walk to support Whispering Hope Crisis Pregnancy Center - unfortunately this year the date of the walk didn't work out for us. Homemaking Goals: Bake homemade wheat bread more often - this will be much easier to accomplish in 2010 with the bread maker Mike bought for me. Plant at least 2 fruit or nut trees in our yard - we planted about 6 blueberry plants and 20 raspberry plants. Complete one special deep cleaning/organizing project a month - we did some deep cleaning projects but not one a month. Financial Goals: Open a Roth IRA for me and Mike - Completed Put at least $250 in each of our IRAs - We ...

For me the new year has always been a time to make a resolution to lose weight. Although I always started strong, it never lasted. This year I want to do things differently. I am setting goals of things to accomplish by next year. Family Goals: Read through the Bible as a couple Participate in the walk to support Whispering Hope Crisis Pregnancy Center Homemaking Goals: Bake homemade wheat bread more often Plant atleast 2 fruit or nut trees in our yard Complete one special deep cleaning/organizing project a month Financial Goals: Open a Roth IRA for me and Mike Put atleast $250 in each of our IRAs Pay off the truck in 2009 (Mike has been doing an excellent job on doubling up on payments but if we buckle down on our spending we can pay it off this year ~ I know we can) Make one extra payment this year on our mortgage. Personal Goals: Eat more fruits and veggies Drink more water Make healthier choices Stop saying What?, Huh? and Yeah! Spiritual Goals: Read a chapter from the Bible each d...