I said stay tuned for planning nerdiness. Well, here it is. Andy and I did our family goals. I’ll share some of those with you, so hopefully you can learn from us and if you have some you’d like to share, we could learn from you! We centered our goals and plans around “Come Follow Me.” If you’re not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (that can change! just click this link and request missionaries! lds.org). Each month we will utilize the Come follow me manual to help us teach our children some things that we feel we need to focus on as a family. The following are the focuses: Sabbath day, Baptism (to help Max understand what covenant he will make in 2021), Reverence, and a few others (we’re still in the planning process and we realize that the list may adjust as needed mid year. Our “Come Follow Me” schedule will go as follows: Sunday: We will study the upcoming week’s scriptures personally. Monday: We will introduce the week’s scriptures at FHE involved in a learning activity and fun activity and read a portion of them before bed each night. Each night we will read a bit, and try and have an activity. They’ll be quick- five minute activities– that’s the attention span of our children! Do what works for you! We plan on having companionship study after we write in our journals after putting the kids to bed– this is our main change in our habits, because we really want to add this to our daily ritual. I find there are two ways I plan for the year. The first is identifying characteristics I’d like to change about me, a relationship, or my family. Then I set concrete ideas to helping us transform these issues. Come Follow me stresses that its number one purpose is to draw us closer to Jesus Christ, which is beautiful because as I read the Book of Mormon this last time around, my testimony in grew in many ways, one of which is that Jesus Christ is the one who has the power to change and soften our hearts. I know that there is much I can do on my part, but it is kind of redeeming, almost relaxing, to know that Christ, if I am willing, can change my heart. So what do you desire this year? Another way that I plan is to focus on areas. Family (relationship with spouse, things I want to teach my children, etc) Personal (physical well being, spiritual well-being, and other) other relationships (friends, extended family). By focusing my goals around people I find more direction and motivation to achieve them. The personal goals, for me, are the hardest, probably because they’re focused on me. I hope that some of these ideas helped you out and that you can have a wonderful new year!

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