January Check in (breaking free)

How on Earth is it already the end of January?  I have NO idea where the time has gone.  I swear it was just December.

Oh January....January threw us a couple of curve balls, but nothing we couldn't handle.

I am thankful that we had our weekly budget meetings as planned.  We also had our end of the month check in last night. (I know it's not technically the end of the month, but it was the last Wednesday of the month!).  I think my husband and I are both in LOVE with our budget binder.  I get excited to put things into it, and check off when I pay the bills. It makes the mundane seem manageable, and even fun.  Yes, I said fun.  If you would have asked me last January if my budget was fun or if I even had one, I would have answered no.  But this year it has been a huge blessing.  Even when unexpected items came up that we needed to pay for.  We HAD the money, for the first time ever.  Thanks to our budget! Also, we are all ready to get started on our taxes, and that ALWAYS makes me happy!

I did pretty good with my computer time, although, I am convinced this is something I can always improve upon.

I also did a bit better on my quiet time, which again is another area I believe always has room for improvement!

I have also decided I really need to work on my voice level with my children.  With them all being so little and running around, and being little noise makers.  I always feel like I have to yell to even be heard.  It doesn't necessarily mean I'm yelling at them.  Just yelling to them.  I have decided this needs to stop.  I should never be too busy to go and get down on their level, speak softly and ask them politely to do what needs done.  There are times (such as when I'm nursing a baby) that I cannot always do this, but instead of yelling out the instructions I will simply call them to me, and speak to them directly.  This always yields a better result, so why do I always forget this? I couldn't tell you! Just a good personal reminder that I need to lower my voice a lot more often than I need to raise it!

As for time with my husband this has been the most exciting part.  The kids have been on a pretty decent night time routine and are all usually in bed by 8:00. (don't worry the babies are in bed WAY before that, usually by 6;30!)  This has been wonderful for my husband and I.  We have folded laundry together, cleaned up the kitchen, done the dishes.  I know, I know we are SOOO romantic.  But it has been so nice to work as a team, and not just as single parents as we did for the majority of our marriage since we were working opposite shifts all the time.  We have really come to look forward to our Mon-Fri evenings together.  I wouldn't trade these away for the world.  They have helped my attitude and I'm sure his.  We love getting to talk about our day with each other, as we fold the laundry or do the dishes.  We love getting to just BE together.

My baby and I at the zoo! Love the time we get together as a family

I am forever grateful that we had the opportunity for me to work from home, and to work only weekends.  It has done wonders for our family.  God has blessed us greatly, and we are looking forward to an awesome year of demolishing our goals, and breaking free as a family!

Want to know more about my goals? Click here
What is breaking free for us? Check that out here
Want to know where I got my budget binder templates? Check that out here

How are you doing on your goals?  Are you breaking free? Feel free to join me on my journey!

Talk soon!

December Check In (Breaking Free)

I promised updates on how I am doing to keep myself accountable, and to encourage anyone else who may want to join me in "breaking free" from whatever it is that may be holding you back in life!

You can check out my specific goals here!

Our financial goals, we have a plan all set up and in place starting in January.  We have a budget binder all set up and ready to go.  Filled out with all our monthly bills already filled in, and budgets made for everything else.  We have a plan, and we have goals.  Now we just need January to get here! Good thing it's tomorrow ;) I cannot wait to see what we can accomplish!

I have to say this month has been amazing as far as my goals of being more present with my family(children and hubby!).  We completely rearranged the family room in the basement to make it more inclusive!  This has greatly added to our daily use of this nice room.  A room which, we used to not spend much time in!  I am beyond happy to be able to utilize this space as it was intended, as time together with family! Because of the transformation of our basement I was also able to create a better desk environment.  What does this mean?  It means I can work in peace while the children are napping.  Doing this has provided me a permanent location for my laptop(instead of under the couch, or on the table where it is easily accessible!)  This has given me freedom I cannot explain.  I no longer feel tied to the computer to check facebook, or just surf the web aimlessly(which was eating a way at my family time!)  I now have to THINK about going over to that area, which removes me from the family.  Something I DON'T like.  I LOVE this change most as it has really helped me be able to focus on my family and has cut my time online dramatically, consequently adding hours to the day I didn't know I had!!

I know that is a round about Check In, but it is something so small that has had a HUGE impact on our daily living.  Because of one small room change I am truly able to help myself pay attention to the way that I spend my time(making me a better time manager).  Because I have to remove myself from family to go on the computer it has forced me focus more on my children during the day, and my hubby after they all go to sleep. (I should add-my desk chair is a folding chair, yes this is on purpose.  This makes it really uncomfortable forcing me to not want to spend much time sitting in that seat.  This helps me to get on the computer, get what I need to done, and get right back off because I don't want to be sitting there for very long!)  As the new year approaches I would love to hear about your goals. Feel free to ask me about them, as it helps me stay accountable!
Below are some pictures that represent some of the family time we have had in the past month(with Christmas this month of course we had to make cookies!)

 The boys helping make sugar cookies!

 The kids liked this old wrapping paper tube-they used it to drive cars down and thought this was a great way to spend the morning!  I agreed.  There were lots of giggles and fun learning to see what cars would fit and which ones were too big!

We made lots of yummy cookies this year! The kids had a blast helping roll, cut, shape, and decorate them all.  (I might add they also had a lot of fun sampling them as we went!)

Until Next Time!

Goals for breaking free!

These are my goals, they are long-but I wanted them to be specific and precise.  I want to have a plan so I can attack them with everything that I have.  I would encourage you to make your own goals to get out of the crazy, and into the calm.

1. Break free from debt-now this has been on my list for awhile and will be on there for several years still, but every year we get out of one new debt!  This is huge people and has helped us have a small amount of breathing room!  For 2015 we have TWO get out of debt goals.  They are both huge and will take a lot of time and energy to meet! But I know that we are able to accomplish more than we ever thought possible when we have God on our side.

• First Debt- Medical for Noah.  Although this is the least amount that we have paid on a child because we payed a small amount each month while pregnant to the Dr, we still have a significant hospital bill to tackle. I don't really have a prize for this one, but just knowing we don't owe any medical debt is a huge relief we were without it for a couple months before we had him and it felt so GOOD to not owe any money on our children!  
• Second Debt-Van payment.  This debt is HUGE in comparison to any other one we have ever tried to accomplish in a year.  We are aiming high this year to make sure we can live the life we want and break the chains of living in debt!  To give you an idea of this goal, without disclosing the full amount-we have "owned" our van for a little over 2 years.  We took out a 6 year loan to help us pay for it because we in no way had that kind of money-but we had to increase our vehicle size to accommodate our ever growing family. This means we have just under 4 years left of payments on this vehicle.  We have done some financial planning and have cut a significant amount a month in insurance prices, so we will be throwing all our extra money towards this debt.  We will live more frugal than normal for the next year because there is nothing worse than not meeting our goal :)  Although if we don't meet it, we will just maybe make the goal a bit longer we just won't get the awesome prize we have planned for this one! Our prize/reward-next year(as in 2016) when we get our income tax money we will buy a camper so we can take family trips!  I'm so super excited about this prize/reward so it makes me want to go hard core for this goal.  I am even going to make a chart so we can keep track of how much money we are throwing at it each month! WOO HOO to family vacations!

2. Spend intentional time with my children each day.  Teach them something new.  They are constantly learning, and are so curious.  I want to make sure over the next year I am igniting their curiosity not blowing it out.  I want them to see a zest for life.  I also want to teach them compassion and caring for others.  We are going to come up with some "extra" projects in the next year to help our children learn how wonderful it is to give and help those in need!  I am really looking forward to this goal!

3. Spend intentional time with my husband.  My husband and I talk, but it is not often intentional and we will both feel the need for adult time, but not really have the "time" for it.  For this year, we are scheduling time for it! We are going to try and give ourselves at least 30 minutes everyday to spend with just each other.  That way we can go through our daily events, plan for the future ones, talk about our day, and our dreams.  Make new goals and really connect as a couple.  We are all we have out in KS since our family is all out of state, and we have always relied on each other quite heavily, but I want us to really start having fun together.  I also want us to plan regular date nights.  With crazy work schedules, and four small children we often find it hard to get away and have time to ourselves.  But this coming year we are going to make that a priority.  Because when we are relaxed and connected life just runs smoother.

4. Spend intentional time with GOD.  This one is often missed, something I am not proud of.  Usually I brush it off as well, I have four small children and a husband that all need my attention.  I don't have time to give to God daily.  Maybe a couple times a week, but not daily.  This is the wrong attitude.  When I spend time with HIM, my days go so much better.  Why do I put this off?  I have NO idea.  But it is going to stop.  I am going to be intentional about meeting with HIM daily, and putting him first in my life.

5. I will be a better time manager.  I have a make shift schedule all planned out.  I am an organized person and like an organized life.  But I live a lot of life by the seat of my pants.  The kids have their routine, but I don't really have one.  This has led to a lot of time wasting and it has to stop.  I want to be able to be free from the demands of my house, but I can't do that if I am constantly wasting time and not actually doing anything.  I am going to do the timer trick and set it for 15 minutes each morning and each afternoon(during nap time), and see how much I can get done in that set amount of time.  That may seem like not a lot of time.  But I tried it today just to see what I could get done.  I was AMAZED at all that got done when I knew that was all the "time" I had to get that one specific task done.  There was no time wasted.  What do you do to help you stay focused, and not wasting time?  I love suggestions!

These are my top 5 goals.  I'm sure I will make other ones through out the year, but these are my main ones.  I am going to assign specific tasks to each one of these to make sure I am meeting all of these goals to the best of my ability this will ensure I am staying on task and have a way to measure my progress.  I will keep you posted-I am hoping on at least a monthly basis.  

I found this quote and love it!

 

What are your goals?  Together we can achieve great things.  Let us make this world a better place!

Breaking Free!

You know that moment when you feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders?  I feel like I have had this moment a LOT lately.  And when I say a LOT I mean, it has felt like an overwhelming, exhausting part of my being.  It has been in every aspect of my life and I can't seem to catch a break from me. Do you know what I mean?  Have you been there?

Well, this is me BREAKING FREE!  In the past two days I have suddenly realized that I CAN break free and I WILL!  I would love for you to join me on this journey and struggle.  I am by no means a writer, but I am going to "try" and journal my efforts so I have something to look back on and see what the LORD has done in my life.  

I am tired of the busy life (I LOVE and LIVE to be busy!)  BUT there are moments that I feel I am missing.  I am being too distracted and not focused in the right areas.  

I have some HUGE goals for this next year(I will share those in a later post)...I know, I know it's a little early for New Year's Resolutions, but I am starting mine now because, well I need to act on them NOW.  They are not things that can wait.  They are not things that I am willing to wait for.  I want to start living my life now, and not some time in the future!

I could go on and on about how life has brought me down and about the circumstance in life, and how they just seem to keep getting bigger and more overwhelming.  But that is not the point of this.  The point of this is to see beyond what is out of my control and to place it all with GOD.  Because when HE is in control my life is SO MUCH BETTER!  I will live my life with HIM in control of every area of it. 

I know this post is kind of scrambled all over the place.  My mind these days seems to be all over the place- ever read the poem if you give a mom a muffin?  I don't know who wrote it but it seems to fit my life perfectly!  If you haven't read it you probably should, and you can check it out  here.  I am constantly distracted by what needs done, that I don't end up accomplishing all that much at the end of the day.  Instead I have spent the day spinning in circles and keeping plenty busy, but having nothing to "show" for it.  I know, I know, I have four small children and and they alone can keep me running in circles...why is it that they always want what someone else has but 5 minutes after the fact, so I have to do everything all over again?! Anyway, (like I said distracted!) I am going to get away from this distracted busy life.  I am going to for the first time in my life make goals, and come up with rewards for those goals.  I am going to REALLY spend time with my family. Not just be there in body, but in mind also...I find as I am playing with my children that my mind drifts.  It drifts to everything I should be doing, but what should I really be doing?  I should be spending that time with my children, really with my children.  Helping them, teaching them, and being there for them.  I mean come on when life is this cute-how can you ignore them?

Away with all the distractions. I feel pulled in so many ways that I use the computer as an escape.   A way to get away from the busy...but that isn't right.  That is not how life is to be used.  If I was a better time manager, I wouldn't need to escape because I found I would have a lot more time for that! I am choosing to make this public as a way to hold myself accountable.  And maybe as a way to encourage others to choose to really live!  

Until next time,

Ashley