1. Being brave creatively: make and print a book of our Instagram pictures from 2013.  Are you guilty of never doing anything with your photos too?
2. Being brave in the kitchen: bake a delicious gluten-free cookie.  All the new flours scare me a bit…definitely a departure from my comfortable baking ways.  Any tips or recipes you may have are appreciated!
3. Being brave in my giving: leave a big tip at a restaurant.  
4. Month-long challenge: write down at least five things I am grateful for everyday.  
5. Read one book.
6. Stay up to date in my Bible reading.  This month, I am in Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Psalms.
7. Do a mix of walking and jogging to complete #44milesinfebruary.  I’m going to ease in slowly and see how my ankle feels.
8. Bring the boys to see a movie in theaters.  
9. Print out photographs from our session this fall and frame in the living room.
10. Send one “just because” gift.
11. Go on a date with my husband.
12. Buy new oven mitts.  

1. Being brave creatively: cross-stitch something difficult and turn it into a wall hanging.  Did not complete.  The Mother Teresa cross-stitch kit that I chose from my stash has turned out to be much more time intensive than I thought!  I’m still working bit by bit, though, and I’m going to continue into February.  Hopefully I’ll be able to share next month.

2. Being brave in the kitchen: make a warm breakfast at least three times a week.  Complete!  Some days were a stretch (Eggo waffles count as a warm breakfast, right?), but most of the time, I was able to easily accomplish this before school.  We had lots of eggs and bacon, quiche, and pancakes.  

3. Being brave in my giving: donate items to our church’s Refugee Services.  While we did not actually donate our items to Refugee Services, I still consider this one complete.  We read in our church bulletin about a local organization that receives donations to give to community members in need.  Any extras go into their thrift store, where the proceeds also go to the community.  Win/win and all for a great cause.   

4. Read two books.  Done!  This month, I read Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption and Stepping Heavenward.  Both were very good.


5. Launch the Big White Farmhouse shop!  We launched on Monday the 13th and had such a positive response.  I am so humbled by the excitement and support I have received.    

6. Stay up to date in my Bible reading. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to pull this off, but I squeezed in the last chapters right under the wire!  

7. Walk #40milesinjanuary.  Complete!  Walking all month was a huge adjustment for me, but I ended up loving it!  Grand total of mileage: exactly 40 miles.  

8. Make my handwriting a font.  Didn’t happen in January, but I’m hoping to download the app soon.  

9. Finally install the art wall in the master bedroom.  Complete!  Projects like these make me wonder what took me so long.  I hung the frames on a rainy Saturday morning and knocked it out in no time.  I love how it turned out!  

10. Embrace the camera and get at least one picture with the entire family in it.  Partial success.  I took a few pictures of myself with the kids, but we didn’t get one of the entire family.  We need to remedy that in February.

11. Catch up on all correspondence.  Close, but not complete.  I did write all of my thank yous, but didn’t finish my penpal letters (seven to go!).  I also did not write to my Compassion kids this month, which is a habit I really want to change.       

12. Monthly challenge: No Sugar January.  I would consider this a partial success.  While I did splurge on a few occasions, the new habits I gained made the whole experiment worth it.  More lessons below.   


Honorable mention: I checked off eight items on my “100 Little Things” list.
Bonus: I wrote on the blog more than once a week all month and even popped over to write on the shop blog a few times.

Lessons from the No Sugar Challenge:
I needed this challenge to lose a few bad habits and get back on track to balanced eating.  I fell off the clean eating wagon a few times, but it served as a good reminder: when your diet is full of nutritious things, you just don’t desire the other stuff as much.  That’s not to say that I’ll never indulge in a piece of cheesecake again, but I definitely have regained a better sense of moderation.  
  
Other Lessons from the Month:
While I love a challenge, most of the goals here required quite a bit of time to accomplish.  As a mamma to four, with a house to maintain and a new business to run, sometimes something just has to give.  And that’s okay.  The monthly goals are a good way for me to stay intentional, but I don’t feel like a failure if I don’t complete everything.  I’m choosing to celebrate all I did do instead.

See you in February!

January’s goals are exciting and scary, but I suppose that’s the point when you are trying to be brave, right?  The first three are specific to the areas I want to work on this year (creativity, food and giving), but I hope to complete all twelve.  Here’s January’s list:    

1. Being brave creatively: cross-stitch something difficult and turn it into a wall hanging.
2. Being brave in the kitchen: make a warm breakfast at least three times a week.
3. Being brave in my giving: donate items to our church’s Refugee Services.
4. Read two books.  Let me know if you have any favorites!  I’m always open to recommendations.
5. Launch the Big White Farmhouse shop!  I am so excited (and nervous!) about this one.  Stay tuned for lots of exciting announcements!
6. Stay up to date in my Bible reading.  Back in November, I decided that I wanted to tackle an item on my life list: reading the Bible in one year.  This month, I am in Leviticus, Numbers and Psalms!
7. Walk #40milesinjanuary.  Due to an ankle injury, I haven’t run in a little over a month.  I’m still not fully healed, so I am easing back into exercise by walking and following along with my fellow running ladies on Instagram. 
8. Make my handwriting a font.  One of my penpals introduced this idea and I’m excited to try it out.
9. Finally install the art wall in the master bedroom.  Those frames have been sitting on the floor for way too long.
10. Embrace the camera and get at least one picture with the entire family in it.
11. Catch up on all correspondence.  I’m looking at you, penpal letters, thank you notes and letters to my Compassion kids.
12. No sugar all month.  By far the hardest goal, but I need this detox ASAP.  Wish me luck.


What are your goals for January?  Share in the comments or leave a link to your post. I’d love to hear them!

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday and are feeling rejuvenated and excited for 2014.  I know I am!


Last year, I participated in the practice of choosing one little word to define my year.  Back then, I was an overwhelmed mamma who was tired of just coasting through life.  I felt like I was standing on the sidelines and I really wanted to fully experience all this precious life had to offer!  Knowing that this goal would take some effort, I chose the word “intention” and it has been amazing how much that one word has guided me. 


After a lot of thought and prayer, I’ve decided that 2014’s word will be a further extension of the idea of intention. 


My word for this year is brave.


I want to get uncomfortable.  I want to push myself to do things I’ve never done before.  I want to try things that scare and intimidate me.  I want to fully allow myself to be molded and used by God.


Each month, I’ve decided to focus on three areas:
1. In the Kitchen: I want to try new recipes, learn new techniques, and embrace the joy of feeding my family instead of eating out.
2. Creatively: I want to branch out to new ideas and materials.  I want to create beautiful things with my own hands.
3. Giving: Giving back is such an important thing for me and I want to do even bigger things this year.


Of course, there will be so much more.  And as always, I plan to use this space to share my experience along the way.  I hope you’ll follow along!