It’s hard to believe we are quickly approaching the fall season, this summer has been so fun! I’m so thankful for the normal year we have had so far, fingers crossed there aren’t any unexpected surprises in store for the end of the year. I’ve really enjoyed a year with limited changes. I thought it would be fun to share some goal updates and a recap of the last month.

I made our last update on Josh’s birthday! We had dinner at Cheddar’s which is one restaurant we’re glad to live closer to. The night before his birthday we also decided to cut way back on eating out so this birthday dinner was kind of a last hurrah. When we got home we put Josh’s birthday gift to good use. I bought him a smokeless fire pit and we spent the evening on the deck enjoying the fire and relaxing after Brooklyn went to bed. It is crazy how beautiful it was that night because just a few hours later we were in the basement because of a tornado warning. Brooklyn was very confused about why she had been plucked out of her bed then she got over it and partied while we waited for the all clear. She had so much fun being awake at 2 in the morning. Thankfully she went to bed pretty easy and we didn’t have any damage from the storm.

On June 12th, Brooklyn had a special day at church. We dedicated her to the Lord and asked our church to help us as we raise her to follow Him. This event is simply just a marker of our commitment to point her to Jesus, it doesn’t mean she is saved or that she will be a perfect child. In fact, we expect she won’t be perfect which is why we will need the help of our church family to raise her to know Jesus. But this day was special because it gave us an opportunity to share the day with family and invite them to our church. After we had a celebration at our house and I enjoyed the day so much I didn’t get a single picture!

Our Sundays were pretty busy in June because the next week we celebrated Father’s Day! We spent the day with family and just enjoyed a day of rest. That’s how most of our Sundays have been lately and it’s truly been so helpful to end the weekend on a day where we relax and enjoy time together. Aren’t my favorite people just the cutest?!

 To end the month of June, Josh and I went on a trip to Nashville. We had a great time enjoying a Ben Rector concert and all the cute neighborhoods that Music City has to offer. You can read more about it in another blog post so I won’t say too much more about it here!

It was a quick turnaround when we got home because we headed out the next weekend on a July 4th camping trip with my parents. We enjoyed a very relaxing weekend at Watkins Mill State Park going on walks and bike rides. There is a lake at the park and so we went to the beach one afternoon. Brooklyn liked being in the water but didn’t really enjoy the sand. On July 3rd we ventured out for a fireworks show but it ended up raining so we watched the show from the car. It was a great weekend with my mom and dad!

We came home on the 4th and spent the evening with Josh’s family. It was one of the best Independence Days I’ve had. We watched the fireworks from their neighborhood pool and it was so fun having a night swim with a fireworks show.

The next weekend some of our friends from Pittsburg came to town and we went to a Royals game together. Brooklyn had so much fun with her friend Levi and has learned to say his name. She nonstop talked about “Vi” for two weeks after they came to see us and we can’t wait to see him again for his birthday in August. It was Faith & Family Day at the K so there was a concert after the game which made the day a little more exciting since the Royals lost. The concert was really loud though so Josh ended up walking the stadium with Brooklyn to give her little ears a break. She did so well at the game and just got a little bit tired at the end! It was such a fun day!

That Sunday we attended Group Connect at our church and we’ve been meeting with our new small group the last half of July. It’s been so good to make our big church a little bit smaller by meeting new friends, sharing meals together and encouraging one another to follow Christ. I’m so excited to get to know this group more!

Thankfully the last part of July has been so much slower. We’ve just been enjoying some nice summer days, Brooklyn has spent a lot of time with her grandparents, Josh has had several construction jobs and I’ve been working really hard during this season with a lot of extra help around. Brooklyn has learned so many words over the last couple weeks and loves to blow kisses. I can tell the baby stage has come to an end and we are fast approaching so many new toddler things. I’m planning to transition her to one nap a day and some light potty training in August. It’s bittersweet to let go of the baby stage but I’m so excited to see her grow!

In June & July, the Lord has really been growing me through my study of Daniel. Daniel is a prophetic book about the end times and it’s been so convicting to me that I need to live for the life to come. My life on earth is just a momentary picture of the life I will have eternally. Jesus is coming back some day and I want to be glad to see his coming. I can get so caught up in my earthly plans and dreams but ultimately my purpose is to fix my eyes on him and build his kingdom here. Reading my Bible more consistently over the last few months has made such a big impact on my life. It’s impacted the way I do my job, the way I love Josh and Brooklyn and how I spend my time. I want my life to revolve around Christ and I hope to share more of how I’m growing through these posts.

Below are some updates to our 2022 goals, let us know how your goals are going!

Spiritual 

• Become members at our church – I think this is official now!
• Find a small group – We did join a small group in July, it has been so nice to get to know our group the last few weeks!
• Pick a Homeroom topic to study each month – Our new small group meets on Sunday evenings so we need to pick another day to have our family meeting.
• Read God’s Word daily –  I’m still studying Daniel, I’ve been reading/studying consistently over the last few months. It has grown my faith so much and feel closer to God.
• Keep a gratitude log – I’m still not great at remembering to do this. 
• Serve in youth ministry – I’m going to go ahead and cross this goal off. Just a reminder that sometimes the goals you set aren’t realistic for the season you’re in. For now, I’ve decided to serve in the Women’s Ministry and I’ll be helping with an event we have on Friday evening. This ministry does not have a regular commitment and will allow me to serve when it makes sense for our family/schedule. And honestly I have a tendency to overcommit in church so it’s a little hard for me to choose a ministry without a weekly commitment but I think it will be good for this time of building my ministry at home.

Relational 

• Host lunch monthly after church –  We did have family over for Brooklyn’s dedication but we need to get another gathering planned
• Invite Pitt friends to KC to visit – We had some friends visit for the Royal’s game.
• Get to know our neighbors – I need to make a plan to do this, I have still only taken brownies and a card to one neighbor.
• Continue our weekly family meeting – Need to get this scheduled for a new night since Sundays have been taken by small group!
• Go on a monthly date night – We actually went on a date on Saturday to a new restaurant in Lee’s Summit. It was a free date night through Josh’s work, we got to preview the restaurant before it opened officially! Check out Cooper’s Hawk for a fancy date night – the food was delicious!
• Plan Brooklyn’s First Birthday!!
• Reconnect with old friends in KC – I’ll actually be seeing Micah tomorrow. 🙂
• Take two Mom & Dad only trips – We went on our Nashville trip at the end of June and “trip” #2 is planned for our anniversary weekend – we’ve decided to do a staycation and enjoy some rest at home while Brooklyn hangs out with her grandparents.

Physical 

• Invite a new friend over each month (once we make some lol) – We hosted small group a couple weeks ago. Also, they aren’t new friends, but we decided it would be fun to have Josh’s siblings over since we all officially live in KC now – they are coming over tonight.
• Develop a list of 20 meals to make meal planning easier – We have finished our list of 20 meals, I’ll share a blog post of these soon!
• Go on a weekly family walk – We did this last week and I ended up slipping on someone’s driveway and busted my knee open! Thankfully it is healing well and was only a surface scratch but man, I don’t know how Brooklyn falls all the time and keeps going!!
• Get in shape – I have been doing really well, I lost my first five pounds just by reducing calorie intake and going on daily walks. Now I’m focusing on eating a healthier and protein filled breakfast every day!
• Make our house a home – This hasn’t been a huge focus lately – our next goal is to get our office set up in the basement. We’re thinking new floors, paint and desks!

Intellectual 

• Check in on our goals once a month – We have not done this recently but hopefully we’ll be able to do it soon once we have a new night for our family meeting.
• Open Etsy Shop!!!
• Read 5 books

Financial 

• Make a profit with 27th & Monroe – My little shop is on pause right now, I’ve had a few orders come in but I plan to kick things off again at the end of October! Not sure I’ll meet this goal this year!
• Max out our Roth IRA – working towards this
• Plan a trip to Glacier National Park – We’ve started talking about this more but need to pick the date for next year!
• Meet our Mortgage goals (we’re trying to pay our new house off ASAP) – we’ve paid off about 10% of our mortgage so far which is great!
• Review Budget together monthly – We’ll get back to this once we reschedule our family meeting.
• Honor our budget – We have been doing a much better job at honoring our budget. We’ve significantly reduced our eating out and spending moneys to get our checking account back to a comfortable level. Once we get totally back on track we’ll keep working towards paying off the house!