Eat Pray Love

So. Been gone for a while from my little blog. I've been reading a lot: The Help, Northanger Abbey, Eat Pray Love, The Potter and the Clay, The Glass Castle, and I'm currently reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I haven't been blogging-I've been reading instead!

But what better time to do some writing than at the beginning of the year?  Of course I have some new goals, but first I want to review last year. My goals are here.  And how did I do?  Well, let me tell ya!

Attend the temple every month. I didn't make it every month, but I did better than the year before.

Earn my honor bee. Well, I did all the work for it, but now that I'm not in Young Women's any more, I don't know if I'll get the official token. But it's nice to know that I did the work to earn it.

Be more financially fit. Done and done.  I still haven't done any investing on my own, but we've been a lot better with our money.

Laser eye surgery. Read about my experience here.

Exercise. Again, a little hit and miss with this. But trying is the thing, right?

Learn to play a new instrument. Nope. Right now I just don't think I have the time to take lessons. This might have to go on a future goals list or something.

Last year my motto was "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul!"

This year's motto is....drum roll please...

Eat Pray Love

Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

I mentioned reading the book Eat Pray Love.  I really enjoyed reading it, and there were some things that resonated with me.  No, I'm not going to go travel the world. But these are three areas in which I need to work.  And here is my plan.

First, EAT.  To be honest, I eat...not like I should eat. I love me some chocolate, and Coke! A couple of months ago some ladies in my ward did a health challenge, and I thought it sounded really great. So my family and I are going to do this, starting tomorrow.  Here are the things in the challenge: sleep for 7 hours each night, eat 3 servings each of fruits and veggies every day, exercise for at least a half hour every day, no sugar, drink 64 oz. of water every day, and no eating after 8 p.m. It's a point system, and whoever wins (1st, 2nd, 3rd place) at the end of 6 weeks gets the kitty.

For exercise, I've been doing yoga a bit, which I really enjoy.  I also got another exercise video, and a jump rope.  And I go mall-walking with my mom.  So that should keep things mixed up for me exercise-wise.

I'm really excited to do this. It's something that I really need to work on, and maybe I'll get some money out of it, too. It will be nice to do it with other people-I think that will keep me going.  And after 6 weeks, it should become a habit, right?

Next, PRAY. Yes, I pray, but sometimes I just mumble something up to heaven, and get on with my day.  In that book, the author talked about meditating a lot, as in communicating with God. I talk to God, but I don't really take the time to listen afterwards.  So I'm going to work on my prayers, making sure they are sincere, and making sure I take the time to listen to my Heavenly Father's responses.

Also in this category I'm putting my scripture study. Last time I read my scriptures, I did it fast, which was nice because the story really flowed.  The time before, I read a chapter at a time, and wrote down any thoughts that I had about that chapter, or a scripture that stuck out to me.  Both ways, I've gotten things out of reading The Book of Mormon.

As a family we just barely finished reading, where mostly it was me reading to my kids, which was okay, but not the greatest. This time around as a family, we are taking turns reading.  Jakob and Brock split a column of scripture, then I read a column, and then Pete does too. So we'll go a little bit faster, but it will be good for my kids to read out loud and get used to the way the scriptures sound.  And as Troy gets to be a better reader, we'll include him in the rotation.

For myself, I decided I would read my scriptures along with the Gospel Doctrine manual.  That way I can have ready-made questions at my disposal.  And since I teach every 4th lesson, I might as well have it be part of my personal reading.

And last, LOVE. This one is a little bit harder to define into specific goals.  I just want to love more.  I want to give more service.  I want to be kinder.  I want to spend more quality time with my children.  I want to be more patient with them.  I guess if I can do one nice thing every day that I wouldn't ordinarily do, then that's what I could do to develop more love.

So, yeah.  There you go.

I feel bad that I didn't post about Christmas. Christmas night my kids decided that they wanted to take pictures of their toys, so they borrowed my camera, and -surprise surprise- it broke.  Luckily, I had a warranty on it, so we'll see if they can fix it or whatever, but I won't get it back for a couple of weeks.  So my pictures are stuck in limbo for a while.  Our Christmas was fabulous, though.  Not only were we blessed materially, but it always makes me realize how much we are spiritually and physically blessed.  I think some of my kids' favorite new toys have been their pillow pets that Santa brought, although Brock's made him break out in hives.  We washed them, though, and now it's all good.

Well, wish me luck tomorrow, being chocolate and Coke free!  I'm sure I'll need it!