JANUARY 2023!

QUOTE OF THE MONTH:

"Oh, I hate being taken out...
I think my coach doesn't really get how good I am."
~Kyndal Faith, making me laugh while watching a basketball game (none of them are truly very good at that age, but I like her confidence!)

Victories, Big and Small:

• Made my bed every day this month (my smallest 2023 new habit goal)! =)
• Daily Peloton workouts for at least 30 minutes total!!
• Daily morning worship + Scripture reading podcasts!!
• Attended church in person every Sunday except New Year's Day!!
• Wrote the paper I'm most proud of thus far (more on that later).

Partial Successes/Areas for Improvement:

• Enjoyed several outdoor walks around Norman at lunchtime and at the Station on weekends and days off!  I want to engrain this as more of a daily lunchtime habit.
• Lost 8 pounds through the month, mostly because I started it at my highest weight.  I bought groceries and cooked more often, did some WW tracking and made healthier food choices sporadically, but I plan to become more and more consistent with all of that!
• I set a goal of praying for difficult people/ praying through anger for 10 minutes a day.  I took time to pause and really focus on that about 1/3rd of the days, but I said a quick prayer on other days, and I know I've made progress here.  I'll try to plan better for next month's goal!

Memories:

• Praying with Mom and Dad just before Mom's surgery
• Petting Molly the Therapy Dog and chatting with Dad and Bill while Mom was in surgery
• Staying at the hospital with Mom that first night, then being so surprised and grateful for the rapid recovery and lack of intense pain - yay, robotic surgery!
• Celebrating Mom's 68th bday at The Ranch
• Tiffany coming to visit and hang out with fam
• Celebrating the Foster's adoption finalization hearing!
• Discovering Byrdie's Bakery and getting a free sample on a lunchtime walk
• Discovering The Station/Central Park, as well as a McAlister's and Johnnie's near my house!
• A fun dinner with the Wilsons and Fultons
• Hair appt with Janelle - going red and getting bangs
• Feeling very overwhelmed and dropping one of my CCU classes early this month
• Jace getting braces, then breaking his finger catching a basketball in the wrong spot
• Kyndal Faith making her first goal at a basketball game, and Jace scoring several times in various games

Listened to:

• The seven audiobooks mentioned HERE + starting two more that'll be on February's list
• 15 PODCASTS (some off and on, some daily, some weekly):
• ESV - Through the Bible in a Year
• Let's Read the Gospels with Annie F. Downs
• Call of the Day with Dave Ramsey
• Enjoying Everyday Life with Joyce Meyer
• Doing the Best We Can with Eddie Kaufholz
• That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs
• The Big Boo Cast with Melanie Shankle and Sophie Hudson
• The Holderness Family with Penn and Kim Holderness
• LifeChurch with Craig Groeschel
• Office Ladies with Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey
• Wild at Heart with John Eldredge & Friends
• Elevation with Steven Furtick
• Therapy and Theology with Lysa TerKeurst
• Annie and Eddie Keep Talking reruns
• The Pour Over Podcast - a brief overview of the latest national/world news 3x a week from a Christian perspective, with comforting verses thrown in after stressful headlines. lol

*For the rest of the year, I'll refer to this list as "the usual podcasts."

Lessons Learned:

• From the Fosters' example - God is faithful to bring about His good plan for us; our obedience in the waiting season matters and makes an impact!
• From personal experience - Night shift is understaffed and often apathetic - when someone you love is in the hospital, I highly recommend staying with them to help advocate for them and meet smaller needs!
• From personal experience - It's okay/good to take a step back when you're internally buzzing with too much stress!
• From Annie F. Downs - Try to view January and February as a ramp-up season for your big 2023 goals rather than putting all the pressure and expectation on yourself for an abrupt change on January 1st.  This perspective shift has been super helpful for me in having grace for myself and not feeling defeated as the year is just ramping up!!
• From John Eldredge - In any struggle, do your best to stay on guard spiritually - we have an enemy who loves to kick us when we are down, but we also have God-given authority over him!
• From the Holy Spirit - Choose courage and know that God's Word supersedes the world's ever-changing definition of ethics!

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤