Tag Archives: one little word

On my word for 2019…

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I’m still waiting for the right word to pick me a few weeks in to the new year….and I’m okay with that. These are the ones popping up for me as I think about what I would dream for in 2019 and what could move me and my family forward in healing and love. Last year my word was Spark and it fell a little flat for me in the last 6 months. Although I loved the word and my intention behind it, just some words motivate and stick more than others. I’ll keep you posted on what word I choose and add some detail as the hubbub settles and one becomes clear to my brain and heart.

What’s your word/phrase/intention/mantra this year??? Happy 2019 to all of you – let’s make this a good one peeps!

One Little Word 2018

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If you’ve been reading this little blog for a while, you know each year I try to pick a word to focus on with intention for the year. Here is last year’s post……

This year, my word will be spark….the verb version to be exact. I’ve always been a pretty big idea person. I have a ton of ideas rolling around all the time….some I verbalize to people and some I don’t. Over the years, I have realized that I don’t always have the power, the people, the time, or as of late, the energy to make all these ideas happen so verbalizing them is not always good. It results in me sometimes appearing to have a lack of follow-through…..again, something I am very aware of. At work, I try to compensate for this by making an extreme amount of lists and constantly asking co-workers to remind me of my own ideas later so they don’t fall off the face of existence.

My word this year embodies action. Bold action that is fiery and bright. I like to think of a camp fire with the flames so brilliant and bright….the sparks are flying off in dramatic fashion. I hope the passion and fire I have for different roles I have in my life spark off into the world in this same way. Here are some ideas real steps I hope to take this year to live out this word:

More action, less hesitating
More finished to-do lists
Planning ahead so busy schedules aren’t a barrier
Not being afraid of people judging, disapproving of my actions
Collaboration with other fire-starters
More time to plan – morning or evening quiet times, monthly solo reflection time
More transparency on social media – the real stories
Commitment to blogging – cementing stories in history of our families’ journey and broken road to healing

Getting my family involved – still loving these Daily Goal-Trackers from Elise Joy

What is YOUR word for 2018???? Happy New Year to all of my readers and loved ones – fingers crossed for your best year ever.

My One Little Word for 2017

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Throwback to some history on my One Little Word Journey

My one little word for 2017 found me while I listened to this Lively podcast featuring Erin Lochner (very excited to  read her new book, Chasing Slow). They discussed the difference between ALLOWing something into your life (with joy) and TOLERATING something (with disdain). Although I contemplated some other words to focus on this upcoming year, this one kept speaking to my heart time and time again.

I will allow:
– my daughter to dress how she wants to dress, style her hair how she wants to style her hair, and take pictures of what she wants to take pictures of because she is a unique force of a human that I do not want to restrict in any way from developing her true self (I’m putting this first because for some reason, this one might prove to be the hardest for me)
– my son to become a young man even though I so desperately want him to stay little
– my husband to cope with his stuff in ways he needs to cope with his stuff
– my students to express themselves in a variety of ways, not just in my step-by-step directed ways
– myself to connect with friends and girlfriends WITHOUT feeling guilty about missing time with my family
– intentional time to be made for creative pursuits each week
– time each day to reflect on gratitude and express that gratitude to those that gifted me that which I am grateful
– good things to happen to my family without second guessing who is judging from afar
WITH JOY.

I will NOT allow:
– screentime to become more important than eye contact and deep connection with my kids
– my insecurities to block my successes
– others around me to struggle with ailments, both physical and emotional without an effort from me to help (even if it’s an offer to help through the medicinal properties of an open bottle of red wine)
– politics to shade my hope and belief in Americans, America, and our future generations of change-makers

My little family set some goals on New Year’s Eve together. We are using an amazing goal-tracker by Elise Joy (get yours here for FREE) to track our PROGRESS (not perfection) at these goals this year. One week in, and this has already been a great way to keep each other accountable and have some meaningful conversations about reaching our goals, both big and small.Happy New Year to all of my loved friends and family – thank you for checking in on us every now and again. I can’t wait to keep sharing our wins and our struggles this year as we keep chugging away at this little thing called life.

One little word for 2016

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Choosing a guiding word for your year is a concept that I have bought into with varying intensity over the years. In 2013 I chose rooted, thinking this would be the year we start the adoption process.  One artifact from that particular year was a vision board I made as a result from participating in this workshop by Ali Edwards:

I love looking back at this vision board about my word because the following year in February is when my purpose and “mom’s life” begun so the board really did have a huge amount of meaning. I also feel that being purposeful and mindful about what being “rooted” would mean to us as a couple led to some hard work and counseling that set us up to even be able to start the roller coaster of our foster journey the following year.

In 2014, my word was connect which eh, didn’t impact me a whole lot. I didn’t set a word for my 2015 but in hindsight, I should have chosen survival. Hard year, lots of lessons, coming out stronger because of it.

This year, I am choosing the word together. I consider myself to be a strong and independent person and love conquering things on my own. Although I consider these to be positive characteristics, it sometimes means that I have a hard time asking/receiving help and relying on others (insert Scott nodding emphatically here). This year, I hope to embrace the help and the cooperation with others and yes, even embrace relying on others to get what I need and/or want. I want my word to not only be an adjective that describes my marriage and my family, but I want it to be a living, breathing action that I put effort into on a regular basis.

Together with my husband, I want to grow our marriage and focus on what WE need, not just what our children need on a daily basis. I want to work on who I am as a wife and a partner, so it will help us be together and live together peacefully and joyfully.

As most Mamas can attest to, time away from the house and the family to connect with other females can be the most healing thing we do with our free minutes. This year, I want to focus on intentionally setting up dates with my ladies and together, we can fill up our tanks and be the best wives, mamas, human beings we can be.

Coming up in February, we have an important court date where the outcome COULD be that our wonders are legally free. I won’t get to be part of the court proceedings as I will be testifying at some point during the trial. Being okay with not being in the courtroom as the single most important decision is being argued and facts presented is going to be extremely hard for me. I have to trust that our team of social workers, lawyers, GAL’s and commissioner will all work together and put the needs of our little wonders truly at the center of the proceedings. I have to rely on others to fight for our forever and this week will prove to be one of the biggest tests to my faith I have encountered so far in my 33 years of life.

As a follow-up to those court proceedings, my greatest wish is that we get to work towards finally being a forever family (in the legal sense). Our case getting turned over to adoption would mean being together as parents and kiddos for the rest of our lives – and there is no greater together than that.

The foundation to all of this will be me knowing that I cannot alone do this life. I will rely on my faith and my belief in a God that has a plan for me, my marriage, and my future family. Together in my faith journey, I want to surrender my control through prayer, some meditation, and quiet time to invite in His plan and His grace.

And just because this last portion of the post was so serious, I love this sweet little robot rendition of “Together”, a childhood classic. What’s your word for 2016? Leave it in the comments below because we all know putting it in writing (okay into cyberspace) makes it all happen magically and just as you planned…..yep. Just like that.