Still training! Definitely not where I want to be but I saw improvement last week on my Bible reading.  I read two days the first week and managed to read consistently for three days last week. I am looking for the same number of days or better this week.

I also decided last week to not only stick to my meal plan but to add in my BodyByVi shakes to the mix. I am not quite up to 2 shakes a day consistently but I did manage to tighten my belt one hole this week. That is exciting!

Financially, I have a lot of irons in the fire. I babysit, sew children's clothing, sell on eBay and sell BodyByVi.  I have had a few sewing orders the last few weeks and have stayed fairly focused on getting them finished but have a lot of "training" to do to make it consistent. I took on a second toddler this week. Great news financially, but kind of a set back in the routine department. So back to square one with our routine and structure. I also had my first BodyByVi challenge party in several months. It was a great success. Multiple orders this month so I get my mix for free for February, Woohoo! And I may have recruited two new promoters as well.

All in all I am very happy with the way the last week went. Definitely focusing on the things that matter to me and I can actually see things falling into place for the first time in a very long time. How are you doing with your resolutions now that we are ending January?

It's Not Trying, It's Training!

I learn so much week to week at my church. I attend Elevation in Matthews, NC.  I love the sermons and my family and I have grown exponentially in our faith since we began attending, now four years ago. The recent series is called The New Rules of Resolution. The lesson that I got out of it is to change the way we think about changing our lives and setting goals for ourselves. We tend to set ourselves up for failure and expect too much too fast from ourselves.  We try for a while and then give up resigning ourselves to failure. This week's sermon point was "It's not trying...it's training".  We have to realize that it's a process and the changes in our hearts are not going to happen overnight. We need to take pride in the training and just keep going. Of course this all has to do with how we sin in our daily lives and seem to fail at being the people God intended for us to be, but practically speaking the principles can be applied to every aspect of our lives. For the last few weeks I have been really looking at myself and the things I want to change. I realized I am a major procrastinator (I already knew this really) and I am letting my life pass me by without accomplishing much that I want to accomplish.

My current focus:

• changing my diet and habits so that I am a healthy, active person who can be happy with ME
• creating routines in my household that do not pursue perfection (that's a problem of mine) but keep me from getting overwhelmed, exhausted and bitter.
• making my spiritual growth a priority and carving out daily time for prayer and bible reading
• finding time to do what I enjoy and see as a way to add to my household income...happens to be sewing, but it's the first thing that suffers when life gets busy

So, since last week I have been on a mission to overhaul my routine and attempt to accomplish everything that I really want to accomplish in this life.  I recently started doing a weekly meal plan so that I know what I am eating and when. I find that taking the decision making out of the equation at the moment when I am hungry and pressed for time helps me to stick to my diet. This also helps me with my grocery list and staying within my budget because I am not buying things I don't need thinking we MIGHT fix them for dinner. I know what is for dinner and when and even plan out the side dishes. It has also helps with the household routine as I look at the meal plan a few times a day and so I have to start thinking about dinner a head of time.

I also found a Bible reading plan in a devotional that my hubby and I received for christmas. One of my goals this year is to read the bible from cover to cover. I like the way this reading plan breaks things down and then has additional daily devotionals that can be read day to day. I am making it a point to start my reading early in the morning before I eat breakfast and usually while I am waiting on my niece to be dropped off for the day. Realizing that I started trying to make a habit of reading last week only to stop it after a few days, I am on week 2 of "training" to read daily. The song from Finding Nemo keeps going through my head. "Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming." I have to keep working at creating the habit. I may not actually get through the Bible cover to cover this year but I will keep reading no matter what.

So I will just keep swimming, just keep swimming.......... and keep you filled in on my struggles and challenges as I go along.

It's 2013! A new year.  A new chance for a new start. So I am getting back into routine and reinventing myself I guess you could say.  I plan on blogging more often this year and continuing with my organizing and life change.  I am so excited about what the new year has in store for me and mine. What are you doing to improve yourself this year?