I don’t know about you, but this month flew by for me! Probably because most of it was spent planning and celebrating Lively’s first birthday which turned out to be one of the sweetest days. Who knew watching a baby pick at a miniature cake for 30 minutes could be so entertaining! While Lively’s birthday was definitely the highlight of my January, there were still plenty of other things I loved about this month…
1. I’ve stayed on track reading the Bible every day this month! I’ve done lots of Bible studies over the years and have gone through seasons where I’m spending time in God’s Word every day, but I’ve never actually read the whole Bible from start to finish. So, my #1 goal for this year is to read the entire Bible. I want to know God’s heart more and be able to discern His voice more clearly and I know that comes from spending time in His Word every day. I attempted to read it in chronological order a few years ago, but I didn’t have a good reading plan in place and I think I made it to Leviticus and gave up after that. This time, I’m following the She Reads Truth “The Bible in a Year” plan on their free smartphone app and I am loving it (I had started out on the One Year Bible Online plan but it wasn’t as user friendly so I switched to SRT). Each day there is an Old Testament passage and a New Testament passage and on Fridays you read passages from Psalms. I am really enjoying this approach and it takes me about 15-20 minutes each day. I also have two friends that are reading it with me and it’s been so great being able to hold each other accountable.
2. I finished my third round of Whole30 (yay!) and will have a recap post on that coming soon. During this round I discovered three new favorite recipes: this fish taco bowl (I did shrimp instead of fish), this Thai coconut chicken stew and this curry chicken salad.
3. I recently listened to this podcast with Jamie Ivey and Lysa Terkeurst and WOW…. whether you are currently walking through a season of disappointment or not, I highly recommend listening to this. So much truth and encouragement about redemption and reconciliation.
4. Have you seen the new spring line of home decor from Opalhouse at Target? So much cute stuff! I particularly love this decorative bowl, this vase, this picture frame and this throw pillow (reminds me of Serena & Lily). I also really like this faux plant and this one too – reminds me of Studio Mcgee.
5. While the rest of the world has been KonMari-ing their houses, I’ve been #sarahtuckering Lively’s bookshelves. I remember Sarah posting a photo of her boys’ bookshelves a while back and then my insta-friend Colleen Hull organized her kids’ bookshelves the same way this week and I got the itch to fix ours up too. It’s been so satisfying seeing them all lined up perfectly color coordinated!
6. As a 1w2 on the Enneagram, I’ve always had a passion for setting and working towards accomplishing goals. But since I’ve had a baby, I’m constantly bombarded with distractions and am finding it really hard to stay focused and on track when it comes to pursing what matters most. This year, I decided to invest in the Powersheets Goal Planner to help me hone in on what I believe God wants to grow in me this year. The planner provides a multi-step process for helping you uncover your goals for the year, including writing down your fears, what fires you up, where you want to be when you’re 80 and so on, in order to help you cast vision for the season ahead. I’ve been working through this process over the last few weeks and the time I’ve invested has already proven to be so fruitful! I’m praying this will be a year marked my growth, joy and rest and I’m really thankful for the way the Powersheets Goal Planner is helping me do that. And y’all know my Val Marie Paper Prayer Journal remains my favorite resource for helping me organize my thoughts and make daily prayer a priority!
7. My husband is an avid golfer and recently showed me this video of a college golfer with down syndrome at the Phoenix Open. It was so heartwarming and had me in tears!
8. I watched the new Amazon Prime show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and it is soooo good! I can see why it’s won so many awards. I can definitely do without all the cussing, but the story line and characters are so good. It’s created by the same woman who created Gilmore Girls (favorite show) so no surprise I loved it. I’m already looking forward to the next season.
9. I have been a long time fan of Monika Hibbs. She takes the dreamiest light and airy photos and a few weeks ago she released a set of photo editing presets for Lightroom. I snagged them as fast as I could. I have really enjoyed using them to brighten my iPhone photos (see before and after below!)
10. I’ve been on the hunt for some cute Valentine’s Day cards to send to my godchildren and my friend McKenzie just designed these adorable cards that you can download for free!
Thanks for sharing my Valentines! You’re the sweetest!