Resolutions 2015

My sister Kami just posted a list of resolutions that absolutely made my head spin. Also, two years ago I started what I'd hope would be a tradition of picking one word to be my overall resolution. Can I just say that life is FLYING? I can't seem to find time for anything these days--and Sterling starts back to school tomorrow and I just want to sit down and mope about his break going by in such a whirlwind. Sigh. But even though I haven't thought it out as well, the amazing leaders of the church always have us in the forefront of their minds. So I would like to focus on the mutual theme for this year and the word for 2015 is:

EMBARK!

“O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.”

“When we decide to embark in the service of God, great things begin to happen in our life and the lives of people around us. We learn of Him. We come unto Him.” —Neill F. Marriott of the Young Women general presidency

“When you love God, Church callings and other assignments are not burdens but opportunities to express the love you feel,” David L. Beck

Also, it comes with this awesome illustration that will be up in our house all year:

Some of my most important resolutions that I had in mind fall so neatly into this theme. Motherhood  is already all about service. But serving God, as a mother, with all of my heart, might, mind and strength gives me the purpose and direction I need to handle each day with my children in the best way possible. To teach them in righteousness.

"Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for."

I am embarking more diligently in the service of God so that my children will know of my testimony and they will be prepared.

• Read from the scriptures every single day of 2015. I already missed Jan 1st, but I feel like this is an achievable goal and a necessary one. I'd love to make a goal of truly studying the scriptures, and I would like to as often as possible, but I know that myself and this little family of mine really need the extra protection and help of reading from the scriptures daily. Our bishop just gave a talk and quoted an apostle (I keep meaning to ask him for the reference) that said reading from the scriptures daily is more important than getting enough sleep. It was a good reminder of priorities, because often that is my excuse for not reading.
• Baby books. That is my one and only goal as far as family history goes. My own families history is important too, and I am already so behind on this. I have EVERYTHING purchased for them, I just need to get going!
• Get up before my kids. With a newborn this is really difficult for me, but Molly is old enough now that I feel like it is conceivable. The morning goes so much better, which means the entire day goes so much better, if I am awake before my kids. Ruth usually gets up between 6:15 and 6:30, so the goal is 6am. Then I can be awake and inviting for my kids first thing and set a better tone for the day.
• Exercise. I have not, as of yet, made up an exact plan for this. Ruth can ride a bike now, so feasibly I could have her ride her bike while I jog with the double stroller around the park by our house. It will get planned.
• Meal planning. For the sake of budgeting, I need to be better about this. Not because I go over budget if I don't plan, but because then we just end up with nothing the last week of the month and scrounging up unhealthy meals. Eating things like grilled cheese sandwiches on a regular basis. While not horrible, it makes a lot of things easier if meals are planned--like Sterling being able to take leftovers to school with him the next day. 
• Sterling and I made a resolution to have regular father interviews with the kids on fast Sunday. In addition to this, we will regularly talk together about our kids and their difficulties so we can deal with them together. Like Ruth's tantrums right now. Or her inability to go to sleep at night. Babies don't require a lot of forethought, I feel like. It's pretty cut and dried how you go about caring for them. But our kids are starting to get old enough where they need more building and teaching. It's hard for Sterling when he is gone so much, we discovered over the break, to realize where I am at on working with the kids on their hard things. Parenting in general, specifically spiritually parenting, is a major goal going hand in hand with daily scripture study. Our interviews will hopefully feed our discussions and help us come up with better solutions as well as ideas for improving and uplifting each child.

I feel like a lot of hard things about little kids can be so easily relieved if we can breathe for a few moments and focus on Christ and the joys of motherhood. Three toddlers three and under is hard but wonderful--if I remember to see it that way--and focusing on Christ always makes that so much easier.  Also, the direction I gain is invaluable when I am caring for His little beings that need preparing for the battle field! So I am embarking and coming unto Christ as a mother, as parents, and as a little family. Hopefully all of my resolutions will help the tedious, tension-filled times a little bit throughout the year. 

I am a chart, list-making, checking-off sort of goal person. There will be a scripture study chart to mark off daily, a specific calendar for meal planning, hopefully a similar calendar for exercising, and we already have set aside fast Sunday as interview day. Hopefully those things will make these goals easier.

Here's to 2015!