Hopes for 2018

I love when a fresh new year begins.

I used to set goals / resolutions but I don’t do that much anymore. I like to let the year unfold a bit and as we journey through it to listen to those quiet nudges in my heart that urge me to work on an area.

I shared on instagram last summer that I had learned there are not great strides to accomplishing something, just tiny steps toward our goals or progress.

So these are my hopes for 2018.

Things I have either started taking steps towards improving or hope to start this next year.

….

My first hope is to be a more present mom.

With a world of distractions around us I know for me it is easy to be with my kids and feel like I am being present, but truly I am not. I am busy making dinner, texting a friend back and talking to all three of them at once.

This is a constant struggle for all mom’s I believe because motherhood comes at us so fast. But each day I want to take steps towards truly being present with each one of my kiddos.

For example, last night my daughter asked if I would play with her today. I asked what she wanted to play and she said “dress up”

She reminded me on the way to school this morning that we had a date to play together this afternoon and I realized how much it meant to her.

Last night one of my children wanted to talk about some things that had been tucked down in their heart for awhile about school and friends. When it came time to put everyone to bed in their feelings began to spill out.

I had stopped cleaning up the dishes from supper to tuck everyone in early because we were all so tired.

My first thought was to rush through and do just enough to make that child feel better and then move on to my chores and then I realized that the dishes needed to wait and I laid in their bed for forty five minutes while they shared their heart

and I listened.

That’s all.

I was present. My mind was focused and it felt so good, so real. Like that is the way we should approach people and relationships all the time.

……

My second hope is to be more intentional with my time.

This is something I have been working on for awhile, but everyday requires steps and discipline.

Pretty quick I realized that time on my phone was not being intentional.

At first it was a real struggle, but after some time it has gotten easier to not pick it up out of habit constantly.

I read somewhere that you should make a list of all the things you do everyday and then make a list of all the things you want to do everyday and compare the two.

Then proceed to take steps to get those list in line with one another.

I realized after doing this mentally for a bit that I spent a lot of time on food each day. Granted I need to (anyone else surprised by how much tiny humans consume daily)??

My weeks were spent with an entire day at the store and then several hours each day cooking up and cleaning up messes.

I started making little changes here and there and have come up with a pretty good system that frees up more time each day.

I bulk shop a the beginning of the month and bulk cook.

If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw how I bulk cooked on Monday. I started doing this on Sunday or Monday each week and it makes our week go so much smoother and when the kids get home from school I pop something in the oven and then have more time to play with them or read or just sit and listen to their stories about their day.

…….

My third hope is to be more of a finisher. This is something I started working on a few months ago too.

I am a creative soul and a master at starting fun projects and never finishing them.

I started getting frustrated with myself for never truly getting things accomplished so I started making little changes here and there.

For example. I wanted to do a new wall treatment with hooks in our entryway back in early December. I typically would start this, get about forty five percent and then begin putting up our tree and then months later be busy with something else and never really completing that project.

So this year I told myself I wasn’t going to let myself put the tree up until I had finished the entry way. At first it was hard not to bounce around and back and forth, but guess what the entry way is finished and our tree went up with plenty of time before Christmas!

….

And last but certainly not least is, to love well.

I never claim to be perfect and it is never my aim to be a perfect person at anything. But I do want to do things well. Especially love.

Our home is filled with the greatest gifts I have ever been given, but as most families go sometimes we are the worst to the ones we love the most.

The get the worst and the best of me.

I want to love them well.

For example my oldest gives me notes constantly thanking me for the yummy food I make for him. The way to his heart is definitely through his stomach.

Obviously my daughter’s is time.

I am still trying to figure out my littlest guys.

Loving well doesn’t just include my kids, but my husband as well.

We love date nights and I want to do better this year with  making sure we get at least one a month.

Also, he loves for me to just be outside with him when he is doing things with our cows or with the kids. I usually feel like I need to be doing things inside, but I want to do better about letting those things wait and tagging along to spend time with him.

I have one big hope for the barn this year.

I hope it continues to bless people.

I have a lot of ideas of things I want to add to our sales to make your time at the Broken Oak more enjoyable and memorable. I also hope to incorporate more events throughout the year.

That is it for me. Those are my hopes for this upcoming year! Do y’all have any hopes for the year ahead? I would love to hear them in the comments if you do.

I hope to be back soon with more fun things. Until then here’s to doing things well!

The sweet photos of my and my kiddos are from last spring by the amazing Lindsey Pantaleo