First of all, I am very thankful that the 10 Questions for Moms post has been helpful to you. My favorite thing is when you say you’re taking these questions to God in prayer. You know what? That thrills my heart. If you read posts here and are drawn to the Lord in prayer, I call that success.

Several of you mentioned – either by email, facebook, or via comments – that you would like to see my personal goal breakdown for the 10 Questions I shared earlier.

While I definitely want to be helpful to you as you consider these questions for yourself, I’ve actually struggled with the thought of sharing my personal goal breakdown with you. And, as insecure as I can be, it actually has nothing to do with the thought that someone may think my goals are ridiculous.

It has everything to do with the fact that I don’t want you to copy my goal breakdown.

Can I say that again? I really don’t want you to copy my goal breakdown. If you can read this and get ideas for your own goals, go for it. But please understand – by sharing my goals, I am not at all implying that your goals need to look like mine in order for you to be a success. Actually, your goals shouldn’t look like mine. Because God has made us all different.

So. With that said, if you easily compare yourself to others, can you do something for me? Please don’t read the rest of this post. Just take this list of 10 questions to God and see what answers He wants you to give.

However, if you promise that you will not copy the following answers for yourself, then you can provide your electronic signature here (___________________) and read on.

I’m kidding about the signature. I know – #lame. I’m pretending you’re laughing.

Since there are 10 questions, I’m going to divide this up into 2 posts, so as not to write an epistle and overwhelm you with information. Here are my personal answers for the first 5 questions:

Can I structure my mornings to be better prepared in body, mind, and spirit for my children?

YES. Big FAT yes. Over the last few months, my kids and I have been sick a lot. Because of that, I’ve found myself sleeping as late as possible. Thus, I haven’t been faithful in exercising and I haven’t been able to have a quiet time with God in the mornings.
My personal goal? Wake up at 6:30 on weekdays, read this devotional with my husband, exercise, shower, and spend time talking/listening to God. As long as I don’t press snooze, this schedule has been working out really well. It’s also helpful if my kids don’t throw up in the night. But ya know, that’s already happened twice in 2015 and it’s only January 12, so…
I’m finding that the important thing with this goal is jumping back in the saddle when I get thrown off my horse. Comprendo? I’m so good at illustrations.

Can I improve my level of physical activity so that my body is stronger to meet the physical demands God has given me?

Oh yeah. As I mentioned above, exercising really went out the window when I stopped doing it before my kids woke up. When I only had 1 and 2 kids, I would often take them running in my jogging stroller. Now that there are 3, I’ve found I’m most consistent with exercise when I do it before they wake up. My goal for January is to use this dvd 5 days/week. (I’ve had this workout for 5 years, so I’m super familiar with the routines. Therefore, I always put it on mute – for many reasons.) I’ll evaluate at the end of the month to see if I want to change things up.

How can I adjust our meals so I’m fueling my family with the best possible nutrition for our bodies and minds?

We are still using this method of meal planning and I love it. But I switched out some of our meals for healthier alternatives. One of my goals was to use a lot of fresh vegetables. A second goal is to help my kids love salads. I figure they can’t love salads unless they start eating them while they’re young. So I’m incorporating fresh salads into our meals several times a week. In addition, we’ve been adding more meatless meals. I have a green light from my husband on this, so I’m running with it. We’re loving our meals so far!

Is the way I treat my husband an accurate portrayal of Christ’s goal for me as a respectful, loving, and submissive wife?

Yes.

—

Har Har Har.
Okay, well, if you’re struggling to determine your answer to this question, take my advice – ask your husband. Yikes. Maybe provide some good food and make sure any children are asleep so that you can listen in private without other ears hearing his answer. The food is to let him know you’re not going to bite his head off when he offers feedback. If you feel the need to bite his head off, grab a baguette and start chomping away instead.

My personal answer? I want to improve on the loving aspect. Specifically, loving by listening. As my husband works on his PhD work, there are many things he’s studying and wants to talk about. Let me be clear: I love listening to and talking with my husband. But.
Nevermind – no buts. In addition, as I listen to him talk about his PhD studies, I have to focus in a very different way than when I listen to my children tell me stories. Like, it actually stretches my brain. And sometimes I think it’s going to snap. But I realized that my listening to him is very important because he told me so. And I really love knowing what he’s studying. It just takes work – as does anything in life worth pursuing.

If you’re working to build your marriage, you may find this 31 Days of Building Your Marriage series helpful!

Am I developing a habit that is causing me to be unproductive with my time and resources?

Yeah. That whole facebook thing? Yikes. I’m going to go back to this goal for the rest of January to try to reign in my time:

That’s it for the first 5 questions! I’ll share my answers for the last 5 on Wednesday.

Have you taken time to answer these questions for yourself? If so, what are your goals? I’d love to read them!
If you have a blog and post about them, feel free to share your link in the comments!