Andy fixed my tech issue. Here are pics from last week.
Max’s Veteran’s Day Program. Andy couldn’t be there in person, so I held the phone on FT so he could experience it. 
I was able to send 50 lbs of goodies and more have been sent through the Amazon link to the troops in Poland. 
Harvey had a hard time letting me throw these boxes away because he was having so much fun with them.
These are the photos from my dear friend, Steph Secrist. Hers are of course much better and more professional looking. She’s so good at capturing my kids and their personalities. She did this session for free for us, since Andy is deployed. It was such a generous offer.
What would you like your life to look like in five years?
I was asked this question while at a teacher training about 13 years ago. I think I wrote down, “Have children, support my husband in medical school and publish a novel.” I can say two of three of those things happened in those five years. So, why didn’t I reach my goal of publishing a novel?
It seems simple: Write a book, find an agent, find a publisher. But I know the reality is so much harder than that. Many published authors I know personally and just from reading about them didn’t become published for decades, some even not until after their death. I hope that doesn’t happen to me, but I’ve been thinking a lot about what it takes to reach my goal. I’ve almost completed three novels. One will remain hidden, but truly had a great premise, one is a memoir about my years as a teacher, and one is the one I’m currently working on, which is science fiction, a genre I never thought I’d dabble in. I’m excited about it though, and I truly believe it has promise. I’ve had a few beta readers/editors and they could be bias but they seem to believe it has potential. I hope they’re right. Now, getting to the finish line with this book has been a challenge, especially as of late.
Now think about the routines and rituals in your life today, will they get you closer to your goal?
If not, what atomic habit could you add to get closer to your goal?
Since working on this novel, my goal has been “fifteen minutes a day.” The months I focus on just that tiny amount each day bring huge growth over the course of the month. Sometimes my fifteen minutes turns into three hours, if my schedule allows it. And other times, I forget how easy fifteen minutes can be and I let an upcoming trip or sick kids or whatever the current curve ball is, throw my whole routine. It has also helped to have a specific time to sit and write. If twelve o’clock is my writing time, then I have it in my mind that regardless of the laundry or whatever else looms in the background (forever and always), I can give fifteen minutes to my goal.
So, instead of a five years from now, I’m going to picture a year from now. I’ve found an agent for my novel, my husband is home, and for once, we’re not in survival mode. I just need to focus on the daily grind to reach my big goal.