clean slate.

While everyone was getting pumped up about the new year, I was too, just in a more quiet fashion. This year I took a bit of time to sit and reflect and think -- what do I want 2014 to look like? Where do I want to grow? Change? How do I want our days to look? 

I made a huge list of goals for different areas of my life: Art & Self-Care, Books to read, Kids, Marriage, Health/Physical, and Spiritual. There was nothing magical about my list -- it's just what areas emerged when I started brainstorming areas of growth. 

And, of course, the year started out with a bang and a rush of movement and it has slowed. I have not failed or forgotten my goals, but I am moving more slowly through them, and I like that. 

As February moves in, I want to narrow in on a few goals, specifically for this month. My intentions for the month will come from my overall yearly goals, but I think having a keyed in focus will create new momentum. 
1. Begin memorizing Scripture with the little(s). I so desire for my kids to KNOW the Word of God in a tangible, it-is-part-of-me way. Like how I just KNOW words from Madonna songs from the 80s. But I am not sure the best way to do this. I know my girl can (she can learn a Daniel Tiger song after watching an episode just once or twice), but how to incorporate it into our day and make it fun and simple, I am not sure. But this month, all of that is a focus. 
2. Stay hydrated. I stopped drinking coffee for a few weeks in January and I was able to stay on top of drinking water really easily. Somehow adding coffee back in has also meant my bad habit of realizing at noon I have not had an ounce of water all day is back. 
3. Books to read (or finish reading): A Million Little Ways, The Unwired Mom, The Art of Neighboring. 
4. Continue weekly journal prompts. I did an exercise (an idea from a book I'm reading) of listing things that make you feel alive. Writing is one of those. I have started a writing notebook that I am working to make a key rhythm in my week. It clears out the mess happening in my brain.