Post by a 3 month old

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Family Mission Statement in Progress

This past Sunday morning at church, I picked up a Home Life magazine to take home with me. I was looking through it after church, and saw this article.. blah blah blah.. basically it inspired me to write a mission statement for our family. 

When Brandon and I were engaged, we talked all the time about how "when we're married..." we'd do all sorts of things, like have monthly family meetings, and discuss goals and finances and etc all the time. Well, that never really happens in our home. So many day-to-day things get in the way of purposeful, intentional planning and discussion. But that's okay. We do talk frequently about what we desire most for our family and how we can glorify God through our family and personal lives. It's just not usually sit-down intentional. 

So when I proposed the idea that we go to lunch and discuss making a family mission statement, Brandon was definitely on board with the idea. We dropped Asher off at Brandon's mom's house, and away we went to Schlotzky's. I really enjoy their chicken pesto pizza. Sounds delicious now. Anyways...

We began by listing the purposes for which our family exists. They were:

• To glorify God (1 Peter 4:11, 1 Corinthians 10:31).
• To teach and train up our children in the way of the Lord (Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4).
• To create a home environment conducive to spiritual growth (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).
• To encourage one another and spur one another on toward God (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
• To keep one another accountable (Proverbs 27:17).
• To love, serve, and give to our community (Matthew 5:13-15).
• To share the love of God, the Gospel, with our family and community (Matthew 28:19-20).

We then listed out specific ways in which we can fulfill each of those goals. Some of those included:

• Family worship - setting aside time each day to read the Bible, pray, and sing praise to God as a family. We've been working on this one this week, and really enjoying it.
• Homeschooling - snicker if you want, but this is something we're truly passionate about and want very much for our family. We would love the opportunity to teach our children in our own home, in a Christ-centered environment. 
• Giving compliments freely and constructive criticism when necessary, in order to help one another grow.

We didn't get around to condensing it into a simple Family Mission Statement that day, but we got a lot done. I'm looking forward to finishing it up and maybe even posting it somewhere in our home to remind ourselves and others of the purpose of our lives. 

You can do the same! Here's how another family did it.

Goals for the Week

When Money Saving Mom started posting her "10 Weekly Goals" a while back, I was inspired. I even read the comments on her goals posts to see what other women were striving to do.

Patrick! Photo credit here

I've never been good at making goals, or following through with goals for that matter. As a new wife and mother, there's so much that needs to be done around the house, but I have so little motivation! However, the simple act of crossing something off a to-do list feels so good. And crossing everything off a to-do list? That feels... well... I wouldn't know. It probably feels pretty awesome. Maybe I'll find out some day.

Here are my goals for this week:

1. (Get and) Keep the kitchen clean. 
• I try to put the dishes away every night and get the kitchen clean so that it's manageable the next day. It works... sometimes.
2. Do a load of laundry from start to finish each day.
• I don't mind doing laundry. I hate folding laundry. I hate putting laundry away. 
3. Pick up the living areas 
• 5 minute pick up for each room: kitchen, dining room, living room [and bedroom if the Lord grants me such a blessng ;].
4. Keep Asher well fed, clean, and happy.
• This is my easy cross-off item. 
5. Tummy time for Asher 3X per day

• To strengthen his neck and back muscles. He doesn't like it, and gets mad, but he gets so close to trying to crawl (if he could only get his chunky belly off the ground!).
6. Read to him twice per day.
• Right now we're reading The Jesus Storybook Bible, and I highly recommend it. 
7. Have at least a 10 minute quiet time every day.
• This is the most important part of my day, yet it so easily gets pushed aside for more "urgent" items. 
8. Listen to 7 podcasts
• I'm going through all the T4G material that I missed. Today I listened to Simon Gathercole talk about the historical trustworthiness of the Gospels, and it was good (His accent was pretty cool too... ).
9. Read Chapter 19 of Systematic Theology before Thursday, read books for school.
• I procrastinate too much. 
10. [Sky-High Goal] Organize 2 closets
• I call this goal "sky-high" so that if I don't get to it, I won't feel bad. Might as well call them all sky-high... Hush, little voice! I will succeed!

I'll update about these goals next week... probably! :)

Vacation! ...sorta

Last week, Brandon, Asher, and I loaded up the car and took a mini-vacation.

Where did we go, you might ask? To a beautiful beach?

Or to Mexico to explore the Mayan ruins?

Or on a luxurious cruise?

Nope!

Obviously, there are a few things missing in the above pics (like a baby, and a belly which still shows the effects of aforementioned baby) and there are some things in the pictures which are no longer present (Brandon's long hair).

No, those pictures were from our honeymoon.

Our true destination for our mini-vacation was Louisville, KY. We went for a 3 day, (not-at-)all-inclusive stay in a city 2.5 hours away. For what reason, you say?

Together for the Gospel!

This is a conference I heard about online several months ago. It had half of my (and Brandon's) "Dream Team" of speakers and pastors, and we were soo excited about it. T4G is a pastors' conference (which I found out the day before we went), so the vast majority of the 8,000 or so people there were men. I felt a little out of place, but their messages applied to me as well, and to everyone who has any sort of ministry (which all believers should).

Another perk was that there was never a line for the women's bathroom! That actually was very helpful as we brought Asher with us and he needed to be fed quite often. As many people on Twitter pointed out, a pastor's conference is pretty much the only place you'll ever see a line for the men's bathroom but not the women's. It was pretty funny - they even designated half of the women's bathrooms for men.

Asher did quite well, for a 3 month old. There was some fussing and squirming (as would be expected), but there was also a whole lot of cooing and smiling at strangers friendly brothers and sisters in the Lord. We didn't take many pictures,  but here are a few from our trip:

It was a great time of encouragement as we talked in love with brothers and sisters who were otherwise strangers to us. Most of the conversation centered around Asher (babies are a great conversation starter:). There were 3 encounters in particular I want to remember:

• The man from Seattle. We talked with this man for just a few moments, and he shared with us that he and his wife had been married for quite a while - I don't remember exactly how long, but he did, and that's the important part - and he loves her so much more now than he ever could have at the beginning. He smiled and played with Asher, and told him how much of a "vessel of blessing" he was to us. It was really sweet, and a sweet encounter in itself. 
• The man from Michigan: This gentleman caught us on the way out of the last session. He said he was encouraged to see a young family at the conference, and that seeing Asher reminded him of his own 12 or so grandkids. 
• Nastaran: I can't remember if this is her name or not, it started with a "Nas-". This lady was an Iranian emigrant to California. Asher and I sat next to her in the bookstore while Brandon perused the stacks.  We got into a conversation, once again, over Asher. She and her husband were expecting in about 4 months, their first as well. When she told me she was originally from Iran, I asked her "That's a dangerous place to be a Christian, isn't it?" And she told me of how she and her husband had been arrested for their faith while in Iran, but were given the choice of whether to stay in jail in country or to leave the country. They chose to leave, but their friend was still in jail in Iran. I told her I would pray for him, and she said to pray also for Iran, as the Gospel is being persecuted there. 

I don't know what it is about those encounters, they were not extraordinary in any way, but they were sweet to me in that I was able to enjoy fellowship with brothers and sisters in the Lord whom I will probably never see again til Heaven. 

I'll probably be posting more about T4G here in the next few days.

May the Lord bless you and keep you!