August was … hot.

:) I spent most of my time trying to get work done before or after the heat of the day. All in all a fairly sane month. Paul’s health is looking good and he has no lifestyle restrictions (just regular checkups to make sure he’s still on track). I’m starting to feel like I actually might get my life back. I’m still a bit lonely for my friends, but life is good.

Spiritual Growth –

• Read a daily devotional.
• Have personal and weekly Bible study (with doing).
• Read 2 books about spiritual growth topics.
       🗸 When to Walk Away by Gary Thomas
       🗸 The 7-Day Prayer Warrior Experience by Stormie Omartian
       🗸 Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge
       🗸 Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge
• Prayer and Meditation

I’m on target with my daily devotional (Live in Grace, Walk in Love) and I’m still slow-reading Beautiful Outlaw. I don’t want to just read and forget. I want to soak in it and let it change how I see Jesus.

My Bible study/doing is pretty much on hold. I’m still reading my Bible, but it’s not quite the same thing. I do have hope it will start back up when the weather changes and we’re not all running around trying to finish up projects.

Here in Washington, you will hear a lot of “get it done before snow” talk. It’s a real thing because having snow on the ground makes any outside work far more difficult (and really, really cold).

I’ve moved all my prayer and journaling stuff from Trello to LibreOffice. More on that below.

Marriage –

• Be more intentional about conversation.
• Sex more days than not.
• Create a bucket list for 2020.
       🗸 Oregon coast
       a writing retreat
       Farm to Table event (Mont Lamm)
       Riverfront Park (in Spokane)
       🗸 seasonal foraging (morels & huckleberries)

Conversation is easy because Paul and I are working on so many “before snow” projects.

Being intentional about sex means Paul and I actually have sex. I didn’t want the past few difficult months to derail our sex life. As you age, sex tends to be a use it or lose it proposition. I want to be sexual my whole life, so being intentional is very important.

Our bucket list is just hanging out on the fridge. I’m hoping we’ll be able to forage for chanterelle mushrooms in another month or so. Here’s a picture of last year’s haul.

Family and Friends –

• Drink more coffee.
• Babysit the grandkids.
• Be present and engaged at our weekly family night.

Paul and I are still trying to decide what to do with social situations. Because of his new medical condition, he is at considerable risk. I have one COVID-surviving friend who is a safe coffee buddy. The rest is pretty much up in the air for now.

Paul and I are watching the grandkids each Sunday evening so our son and DIL can have some childfree time. Family night is fun and everyone is a good cook so meals are amazingly yummy.

Personal / Emotional –

• Be artsy-fartsy.
• Play in the dirt.
• Be a good bunny mommy.
• Learn four new songs on my ukelele.

I’m rethinking my personal goals.

I need to have artistic expression, but Zentangle just doesn’t hold the fascination it once did. That might change over the winter when I’m inside more. The question for me is how do I express myself artistically? Not sure.

Our garden had a good start this year and we’re beginning to pull in produce. We have plans to expand next year and a few “before snow” projects will make that easier.

My bunnies are doing well. We’ve developed a healthy feed mix that is less expensive and we’re experimenting with growing barley fodder so the bunnies can have something green to eat during the winter.

The ukelele isn’t doing it for me so I’m going to find a new home for it. I may just build a nice collection of praise songs to enjoy. A gal’s got to have some music.

Physical –

• Stick with the 6-8 hour eating window.
• Have a day of rest each week
• Develop an exercise program.
• Keep doing Kegels.

I’ve stayed within my eating window and am back to doing Kegels pretty regularly. Paul and I have actually had a couple of days off. It was a little taste of heaven. :)

Exercise is still all the daily work I do. As we’re getting ready for the winter (with far less work), I’m bringing out the mini-workout routines I was building earlier this year. I’m also talking to my DIL about creating a workout area in her home. She has a treadmill and between us, we have a lot of workout gear.

Occupational / Vocational –

• Make regular time to work on and improve The Marriage Bed site.
• Create a writing schedule for TGW posts.
• Be more regular about posting on Meemaw’s Place (my personal blog).

I’m still cleaning up articles on The Marriage Bed site and I’ve kept up with the monthly newsletter (a new project this year).

For the most part, I’ve worked to have two days off from writing and I’m doing pretty well keeping The Generous Wife on Instagram.

Meemaw’s Place has stalled and I’m thinking through what I want to do with it. I’ll make a decision “by snow” because I’ll have time inside this winter to work on it or maybe something new. :)

Financial / Office –

• Update our budget. 🗸done
• Update and clean up my files and folders (hard copy 🗸done and digital).
• Keep the email corralled.
• Bookkeeping – Stay current week by week, both ministry and personal.
• Trello.

I need to finish up all my files and be done with them for this year. My email is back under control. Ministry bookkeeping is up to date, personal is still lagging a bit.

I’ve moved all my stuff on Trello to LibreOffice on my computer. Because my Internet is so sketchy where I live, having all my info on my computer means if I have a bad-Internet day, I can still access it.

Physical Environment –

• Be more consistent with housework.
• Do the next few steps in building our house.
• Plant more trees. (🗸1 cherry, 🗸1 tupelo)

I’ve been working through a couple of closets, dejunking and organizing as I go. My personal housework is going OK. Summer is just a messy season, so I pace myself and do what I reasonably can.

We got the framework for the flooring of our house addition done. We will have to wait for October to do more because there are wood shortages here. In the meantime, we are working on smaller projects and property clean up.

No new trees.

Welcome, September!

I’m not saying it’s hot outside, but two hobbits just threw a ring into my backyard. Author Unknown

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• Prayer Prompt: Thank God for all the good in your life.
• Intimacy in Marriage: Can You Protect Your Marriage from Burning Down? What can you do today to keep your marriage from burning down later?
• Kevin A Thompson: In Chaotic Times Quiet the Voices Reduce the stimuli so you can hear the truth.

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Image credit © Lori Byerly
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