April and May's 30 day challenges

April is a week past, and I am just now posting how I did with its 30 day challenge. Enjoying a week away from our normal routine with my hubby home from work, I unplugged most of last week. It was one of our best "stay-cations" yet as a family, but I'll write more about that in another post. For now, I'm sure all my 3 readers are on pins and needles to hear how I did with April's challenge and what May's 30 day challenge is going to be.

My challenge for April was to write 15 minutes a day. Most days I did write, but not all. Some days I wrote much longer than 15 minutes, and I certainly didn't publish everything here on the blog. Nevertheless, it was highly enjoyable to exercise my brain in a way I haven't for a while. A dear friend was kind enough to dialogue with me via email about some of my writing and provide input and encouragement. I am very grateful to have avid readers and accomplished writers for friends who are kind enough to take me and my writing seriously even though it doesn't deserve such attention.

My friend, Danielle, suggested I purchase a book called, "Writer Mama" to practice and strengthen my writing. I ordered it last night and am excited to have an external motivator to keep my writing muscles from going limp.  My pastor once said that if one doesn't pursue one's passion, it will soon not be her passion. I have long remembered that in regards to many things I have been passionate about in life (and if you know me closely, you know that encompasses quite a lot. I am one of those passionate-about-everything people who wishes for even a moment of apathy to know what it feels like. :) )  Writing is one of those things I love but know I need to practice.

So, I'm glad I did it. As I'm finding with many of the 30 day challenges I've done so far, it has been so helpful to articulate passions and give them life by way of setting attainable, measurable goals.

For May, my goals are as follows:

• Pray for my leaders daily. I think I'm going to narrow this to my husband, my pastors and the President of our country. I know there are many others in leadership over me, but I am choosing to focus on these few with fervor rather than gloss over many in quick prayers for all in authority over me.
• Go upstairs to my bedroom by 9:30 pm and be in bed (maybe asleep) by 10:30. 
  This is huge for me because I have made a habit of staying up late at night after the kids go to bed, sometimes for good reasons like cleaning my kitchen and folding laundry, sometimes for selfish reasons like having "me" time to catch up on facebook and my gazillion blog posts I've bookmarked over the course of the day. I am hoping this will jump start afresh a daily habit that will serve my family better.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to post some pictures and some words about how to do stay-cations well. We've done a number of them now, and I think we're finally finding our "groove". I'd love to pass along some of what I've learned over the last couple of years on how to "do" stay-cations successfully. Tune in! :)