July 2022 goals

We are back from a week in northern Michigan with John’s family, and wow was it a delightful departure from ordinary life. Everything from the weather (75, crisp, sunny, no humidity) to the character of each day (surrounded by loved ones young and old, very little schedule, very few responsibilities) was refreshing. Though the break from normal life did include this very delayed monthly goals post, it was worth it – after all, there’s still plenty of time left in the month, and I wouldn’t have been working toward these goals while away, anyway! :)

On my calendar this month:
— All the birthdays! Annie’s, John’s, and Shep’s!
— The big photo shoot for Cultivate’s 2023 collection. Always fun to see my pals in person (most of us work remotely) and make some photo magic!
— Eating lots of peaches and making this dessert.

What I’m loving right now:
— We lived for more than a decade without a printer in our home, and we got along just fine – I’d just print the few things we needed at Office Max, which cost pennies and was right around the corner. When June started kindergarten, though, we felt like it would be helpful to have a printer in-house, and boy has it been delightful. I have very bad feelings towards printers in general – they always seem to be running out of ink and/or jamming – but this one has been docile and compliant. Turns out it’s actually really nice to hit print on something and then just run upstairs to retrieve it instead of getting in your car.
— I’m not sure if it can really be classified as something I’m loving, but this piece about the complicated and often uncomfortable realities of online returns was eyeopening. An important read for anyone who cares about waste and thoughtful consumption.
— I snagged this road trip activity book for June for our Michigan adventure, and she loved it! A great price and really well done.

As a reminder, you can find alllll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!

What I read in June:
— Hunt, Gather, Parent | You know me – I love my parenting books, and this one is no exception. I’ve really enjoyed it and am jotting down things to share in a future post! As a side note, I’ve always found book review posts challenging to write – there’s so much to say, and how to condense it into a manageable format?! – and so even though I read a lot and love discussing books, I’ve written very few of them. Inspired by Nancy’s podcast episodes, though, I’m going to try framing future book review posts by sharing just five takeaways (I need a constraint!). Let me know whether you’d be interested in reading a post like that?

My reading list for 2022, if you’d like to follow along!

Revisiting my June goals:
Download Blurb software, get familiar with it, and complete 2008 in book (Nope – more in my mid-year goals review!)
Finish memorizing 1 Corinthians 13 with June (We did one more verse!)
Finish editing Annie in April and film June in June, Volume 7 (Done and done! Annie’s video makes me tear up the most of any I’ve done so far. I got to use one of my favorite songs and it is just so sweet.)
Plan Shep’s fourth birthday party (and plan for John and Annie’s July birthdays, too) (Planning for his low-key nature/camping brunch celebration is complete! Annie’s birthday was celebrated in Michigan surrounded by family in one of our favorite places in the world. Scrambling a bit to get John’s festivities together in the wake of our trip, but we’ll make it happen!)
End the school year and begin our summer well (Yes! More here!)
Write the service I’m giving at the Island later this summer (No actual writing has happened but I’ve been turning over lots of ideas in my head, which is often the necessary prerequisite to writing.)
Pick blueberries, many times over (Sadly, our favorite blueberry patch has changed their hours this year, so we haven’t been able to visit yet. Hopefully in the next week or two!)

July goals:
— Write the service I’m giving at the Island in August
— Edit June in June, Volume 7
— Use Cultivate’s Leap Ahead Day to plan our Bermuda “marriage summit”
— …and strategize and plan ahead for family meeting topics
— Write out a personal reading plan for the rest of our current sermon series
— Complete June’s baby book
— Make kitchen decisions and order things

We’re off for an extended trip to Maine and Connecticut later this month, so I’m doing my best to keep this month’s list simple and relatively fool-proof! And here’s hoping that gives me a some space to squeeze in blog posts I’ve been hoping to write: our Hammocks Beach recap, Michigan recap, c-section tips, first year baby gear final reviews, some faith formation practices that have been working for us, and that book review! Thank you, as always, for being here, friends!!

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