March 2022 goals
What a heavy time, friends. As freedom-loving people – as people, period – John and I have been watching what’s unfolding in Ukraine with horror. We’ve been buoyed by the glimmers of unity and energy in response, but knowing what’s happening halfway around the world has added a hard, sad edge to my days. I’m sure you’ve felt it, too.
Given all that’s happening, it can feel wrong and strange to chip away at my goals or write about them here… but the freedom to do what matters is a freedom that democracy provides. Along with praying and donating, I can celebrate what we have here, and part of what they are fighting for over there, in a small way.
A win that must be celebrated this month: we think we have found a church home, per my first and most important 2022 goal. I am 2/2 for crying on Sunday mornings so far, which we can ascribe to taking communion after two years, worshiping with other believers, and/or the state of the world right now, but mostly, just… feeling like we’re home. It has been a long, tender road to get here and I am so grateful. Thank you, Lord.
On my calendar this month:
— The Survivor Season 42 premier! Falling on Wednesdays as it does, this show is such a bright spot in the middle of our weeks.
— My very favorite kids consignment sale, returning after a two-year hiatus.
— Some St. Patrick’s Day after-school snack fun, like this or this.
What I’m loving right now:
— This post is from last year, but since I think God used Val to speak to me about returning to church, it seemed appropriate here. If you’re a believer and are struggling with this decision from any dimension, I think you might appreciate her comprehensive and gracious thoughts on this topic.
— Why are non-tee, non-fussy short sleeve shirts so hard to find?! I recently snagged this one and it is GREAT – breezy, easy to wear, pretty. You can see it on me here!
— Reader Meghan recommended this episode of Laura Tremaine’s podcast on “time anxiety” on a recent post and I enjoyed it, too. It’s in a similar vein to an EFM reader favorite, but she takes the topic in a few different directions.
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 February:
— The Evening and the Morning: This is the prequel to the Ken Follett Kingsbridge trio I’ve read over the last few years, and it did not disappoint. Set in 997 (!), it is as rich, layered, and enjoyable as the books that come after it – and sets them up so beautifully, it makes you want to roll right into re-reading them.
My reading list for 2022, if you’d like to follow along!
Revisiting my February goals:
Finish culling and sorting 2021 photos + print our favorite Instagram photos from 2021 (Went to do this last minute and it seems something is wrong with their software to pull photos from IG?!)
Morning time with New Morning Mercies on Mondays and Fridays (Eh. I did this a few days but was reminded why I almost always prefer to go all or nothing on habits – it’s harder for me to make something a habit when I’m trying to remember to do it just a few days a week!)Lay out 2012 in family album (Yes!!! This has been a goal since last spring!)
Lay out 2013 in family album (Got the photos loaded!)Complete the second month of our fam Peloton challengeMake and/or approve a kitchen design board
Finish the Best of EFM page (More progress, but not done yet.)
Make plans for June’s summer (Almost done!)Memorize a first selection of scripture with the kids (Done! June and I memorized four verses from 1 John.)
March goals:
— Cull and sort the first six months of 2021 photos
— Lay out 2013 in family album
— Lay out 2014 in family album and send it to print!
— Finish the Best of EFM page
— Complete the third month of our fam Peloton challenge
— Do PT exercises daily
— Visit two community groups
— Follow the Matthew reading plan
— Memorize another piece of scripture with June
— Buy a small freezer for our garage (!)
As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2022 goals! Affiliate links are used in this post.
Sending love to each of you. xo
I have LOVED having a small chest freezer and I’m sure you will too! It started out as breastmilk storage but I haven’t been able to let it go.
I’d love to hear more about the community groups you want to visit!
I am very excited! As for the community groups, our church had suggested two that might be a good fit when we expressed interest, so we’re going to try to visit both and see which works better with our schedule!
Hi Em, happy March! Curious if you found a helpful resource to treat diastasis recti? There are a lot of resources out there and wondered if you landed on anything that you have found helpful enough to share. :)
Hi Emily! I ended up going the in-person route! I’m meeting with a physical therapist twice a week (will go down to once a week soon) and have a bunch of at-home exercises to do in between!
Thanks so much, Em! Glad that you found the right resource for you! :)
Oh I would love to hear more about visiting two community groups.
Our church had suggested two that might be a good fit when we expressed interest, so we’re going to try to visit both and see which works better with our schedule!
Surprisingly, I’d be interested to hear more about how you found your new church. I say “surprisingly” because I don’t gravitate toward your posts about faith, but I do remember what it was like to settle into the old church my husband and I used to go to. It was great for a while. I definitely miss the idea of church (or what I think church should be), but put me in the camp of the people who think “Church is too political and too racially segregated.” Those aren’t the reasons we left our old church, but those are the reasons I’m hesitant to look for a new one.
Hey Jewel! I completely understand, and had many of the same concerns. I also 100% agree that most churches are too political (in both directions!) and too segregated; that made even beginning the search scary (for those and other reasons!). To me, committing to a church feels incredibly vulnerable, as faith formation is so important (again, to me) and it’s so easy for so many aspects of church to go “wrong.” The one we have landed on is not some sort of perfect unicorn, but to us, it was more important to move through our fear and not make the perfect the enemy of the good. And we do believe where we have landed is good – for us, for our family, for now. Wishing you all the best as you wrestle with this!
How delightful to get a shout-out in this post! :) I’m glad you enjoyed the “time anxiety” podcast episode – it definitley reminded me of your blog posts about the passage of time. Your posts on the subject and Laura’s podcast episode are both things I think about often during this working full time with two little kids stage of life.
I received new morning mercies as a gift from my MIL this Christmas, and I’ve had a bit of a hard time getting through it. I like some of the days, but feel as if I don’t have as much time for scripture as I like (I’m a new mom, so my “me time” in the morning is a bit limited).
On the new church front – oo do I feel this! My husband and I come from different faith backgrounds, and while our church is not the perfect unicorn, we’ve found such a loving community there. I recently joined our children’s resale committee and everyone has been so welcoming! I was nervous, but am now excited to get involved in the church long term.
Thank you for sharing :)
It’s my pleasure, Ashley! And so glad to hear about your church!
Yes, regular tees basically do not exist for women! They are only crop tops or super boxy – neither of which fit my frame. SO! I shop the men’s section, specifically at Old Navy. They have an abundance of regular colored tees with a nice little V-neck. They work great. I have lots of Old Navy men’s tees (short and long) and even ventured into the plain sweaters this fall. No one has ever noticed!! In fact, when wearing the sweater and receiving a compliment about it, I told the person it was actually made for a man and she could not believe it at all! lol!
This comment cracked me up, ha! Old Navy Men’s for the win! I actually HAVE been able to find simple v-neck tees – I usually get mine from Target or J.Crew – but it’s short-sleeve NON tees I struggle with! Let me know if you have a hack for those :)
Hi Em! I just got that same shirt the other day!! So good! And yes, it was the only shirt I could find – why is it so hard?!?! I might go buy it in blue as well.
About that freezer: We keep going back and forth about getting one. But our garage gets so ridiculously hot during the summer (which is most of the year here in Savannah!) that I‘m dreading the electric bill, ha!
Gosh, I haven’t given too much thought to the electric bill… do you think it would make that big of an impact?? The one I’m contemplating is quite small, much smaller than the big 8′ chest freezer my parents had growing up. Might be worth polling my neighbors!