The Journey of Parenthood…

Goals for 2016

I am a very goal-oriented person. Something I love about Zach is that he’s the same way. We both pride ourselves in being people who set goals and then achieve them. We aren’t dreamers, we are doers. While not all goals are always achievable, I find value in having both short term and long term goals to strive towards. At the start of each year I make a list of goals for the coming year. These are “shorter term” goals as they are usually things I try to achieve within that set year and short term goals lead to achieving many of the long term ones too 🙂

Here’s my list for 2016 (in random order):

  1. Continue to devote the first 30 min of nap time to spending time with God…work on pouring into my Bible during this time.
  2. Devote 30 min a week to our marriage by watching Marriage 365 webinars. Also go on monthly dates and focus on being intimate often (give Zach love according to his love language)
  3. Have our 6 month living expenses in savings and then invest: max out roth IRA’s for each of us and invest additional funds to save for kids futures as well as paying off our home early.
  4. Be a good listener, ask questions, engage in conversations!
  5. Convince Zach to let me take Kye on a solo trip similar to Britt’s with me last year…soak up that time with him as all-too-soon he won’t wanna spend quality time with his mama!
  6. Have a conclusion to wreck situation, decide best path to use whatever funds may result from the outcome of it. 
  7. Make time to spend with my friends and doing FUN things together!
  8. Be prayerful in deciding the path for completing our family and make whatever arrangements need to be made towards whatever path we decide together. For us to both have open hearts and be understanding of what the other feels is best for our family.
  9. Encourage Zach in taking proper care of his back: physical therapy, exercises, epidurals etc
  10. Call my dad more often, continue to make efforts to visit with them!
  11. Read the devo and bible with the girls daily at lunch time and encourage Zach to lead family bible study in the evenings 
  12. Spend smart, go over on budget less and save more
  13. Show appreciation to everyone in my life from my kids to Zach to friends to family, I’m blessed because of them!
  14. Have a realistic exercise routine. Aim for at least 2-3 times a week!
  15. Help ensure that Kye’s educational needs are met both inside and outside of school, help him as he pursues interests and figures out what things he enjoys outside of school
  16. Reach out to a mentor and seek out those who I may be able to mentor as well
  17. House goals: new porch railings, paint white trim inside, pressure wash white trim (or repaint it) outside, make plans for outdoor kitchen, make plans for finishing last room upstairs, make plans for renovations to master bedroom/bathroom, trim on kitchen cabinets or change lighting, decide when to replace carpet throughout, plant area by corner of house, refinish kitchen table. 
  18. Continue to blog regularly and have posts scheduled in advance. Goal is to be more “caught up” to real life and post at least 5 times a week!
  19. Read for 15-20 min before going to sleep, alternating between “pleasure” books and “self-help” books
  20. Get a good wrinkle prevention cream and use it religiously! Continue to find new ways in applying makeup for my aging face 😉
  21. Go through kids stuff in storage with a fine tooth comb and sell as much as possible at kids sales to start saving funds for future!
  22. Organize and de-clutter my desk area…have it be a more calming, inviting environment for me
  23. Raise my children through the filter of Christ. Aim to encourage them in all areas in doing Gods will. Especially in discipline, bring them to the WORD and do not scold!
  24. Continue to make my foot a priority and have preventative care for it while also pushing it further in activity/shoe choices
  25. Get completely caught up on ALL blog books
  26. Continue to keep the house “picked up” at all times. Do a better job in deep cleaning. Do a better job at inviting people over on a whim. 
  27. Invest in “me time.” Continue to take one night a week to myself!
  28. Have more playdates for Tess! Enjoy the days before she begins school and use the time when she is in school to really take care of appointments I need to have handled (eye dr, esthetician, etc)
  29. Help encourage Zach with work and all the changes that have taken place
  30. Step out in faith more, trust God and trust the path he may put on my heart in certain circumstances. Don’t hesitate when it comes to his will in my life.
  31. Continue to use Dave Ramsey’s plan for financial freedom for our family, especially with kids and doing their weekly chores for income
  32. Be thoughtful. Especially with Zach. He’s so thoughtful for me and I want to do better at doing little things to remind him how much I love him!
  33. Give back more to our community, be involved with Soup Kitchen, take kids to nursing home, find other ways to help people
  34. Clean out my closet and purge stuff I’m not going to wear anymore (being goal weight comes first, obviously!)
  35. Continue to invest in our church family. Seek out families to form stronger bonds with and be more active in church activities especially now that Tess is more flexible.
  36. Pray together with Zach before bed each night
  37. Get under my pre-pregnancy weight. Focus on eating healthy 6 days a week (one day a week of a cheat day). Have confidence!
  38. Use my tongue to speak in kindness, respond in kindness, speak uplifting words to others. 
  39. Continue to utilize blog Facebook page but also pin all posts on Pinterest and post more often on other forms of social media (Twitter and IG).
  40. Focus on having another AMAZING holiday season with my family
  41. Get in the habit of making my bed daily (or at least pulling up the covers!)
  42. Discipline Tess consistently. Easier said than done!
  43. Finally get my tabs on the blog completed and updated
  44. Invest in new friendships, work on fostering those that have potential to be more than just acquaintances. Especially focusing on couples that Zach and I could both befriend.
  45. Balance my plate: keeping it full but not overly full
  46. Feel 100% comfortable with my conceal and carry gun and get in a good routine of carrying it safely (try not to shoot any dude that looks at me in a creepy way)
  47. “Unplug” more often. Work on really being present in the moment with the kids as well as with Zach!
  48. Have a home Zach wants to come home to each night. Greet him with a kiss and remind him how appreciative I am of how hard he works for our family.
  49. Plan an A-MAZING trip for our 10th wedding anniversary!

I feel like I have been accomplishing so much lately that I’m really focusing on building on those goals this year!

Emily Parker
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