Philippians 3:14 Friday, May 8

Time for today's weekly update on setting and "pressing on" toward our goals. I've had a busy, productive week in many ways, thanks largely to my husband. He amazes me. He doesn't get to come home as often as I do, but when he's here, he works on home projects the whole time. Our "home" home is an older house, and there are always repair and maintenance items that need to be done. He usually runs out of time before he runs out of tasks.

The differences between us is readily apparent on a week like this one, where we're both home and both working on our respective projects. I'm a thinker, he's a doer. I think about what needs to be done, plan, try to decide what is the absolute best way to organize and place every item related to the task. I rely on him for inspiration--how can I not do something simple when he's doing so much? But practical help as well--not only do I rely on him for most of the heavy lifting, moving things around, and reaching those hard-to-reach places; but he encourages me to keep at it, one small step at a time, when I get overwhelmed my the sheer amount of stuff that needs to be sorted and tended to.

So how have I done on my weekly goals that I set?

1. I've managed meals pretty well this week. We've gone through a lot of groceries this week, because we're all here, all day. Some days it seems we barely get through with one meal when it's time to start at least thinking about the next, but we've definitely not gone hungry.


2. Morning routine, done most days.


3. I've lost track of the number of hours I've spent in the front bedroom (by faith I'm not calling it the junk room anymore!) I've cleaned out papers and documents from years of accumulation and careful saving. At some point you just have to let go. My filing is on hold until I can get a business grade filing cabinet; the old household-grade-from-the-discount-store just won't do. Holiday items are repacked and ready to be taken to the shed. I've culled out at least 10 books so far, and will finish pulling out at least 15 more by the end of the day.


4. Chest of drawers, not done yet.


5. Books not yet sorted.


6. I have taken some, but not all, of the donation items to their respective destinations. Some are loaded ready for delivery, the others should be finished today.


7. I "read-at" a book, but I still didn't take the time out to really read one front-to-back.


8. Ate my fruit and yogurt about half the time.


9. Read my Bible, but not daily


10. Continued prayer journal.

We have through this weekend to get everything done and get ready for our trek back to Georgia. Due to some scheduling issues, I'll be coming back to smalltown sooner than we'd expected--I'll only be spending about 10-12 days in Georgia before I'll be Louisiana bound again; this time for about two weeks. So while I'm trying to wrap up my projects, I'm figuring out my strategy for next time so I can complete the things that I don't get done this time.

In some respects I feel guilty that I didn't accomplish some of my seemingly simple goals. But I think I grossly underestimated the time factor involved in clearing out a decade, sometimes more, of accumulated trash and treasure.

My goals for now are short-term in nature:

• Finish purging books
• Dust and straighten the bookcases
• Finish my bedroom clean-up--I think I can get that done in an hour or two.
• Pack for the Georgia trip

Once we get back to home-away-from-home in Georgia, my goals are:

• Unpack
• Get my daily routine going
• Catch up my blogging and email
• Do some advance posts to help with the time I'll be back in smalltown on a slow internet connection

And that's all for me for now!

To see how everyone else is handling their goal setting and "pressing toward" their goals, see Philippians 3:14 Fridays at Which Proverbs 14:1 Woman?

Until next time....