hope and honey: one little change

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2011 in 2011 challenge and one little change

about a week and half ago i had the brilliant and simultaneously harebrained idea to rid our home of 2011 items before the end of 2011. yep.

this was brilliant because i work well under pressure and with short-term goals. and brilliant because my schedule right now allows time for purging. also brilliant because i am motivated. there's nothing like the prospect of being indoors with three children during a long illinois winter to make you want get rid of clutter. tell me you understand.

there's also the inevitable increase of gifted goods that come with generous family during the holidays. i have learned, my friends, i have learned.

it has been an excellent way to clear the way for advent. our family can focus on what we have and what we need, what we have been given and what we can give.

since last tuesday, we have donated, returned, recycled or tossed four hundred and eighty seven items.

487!!!

pretty good, right?

now the harebrained part comes in when i realize there are only 32 days left in the year. but the numbers add up surprisingly quick, especially since we have decided no more yard sales for the hart clan. too much work and too little pay-out.

now just 1524 to go. . .

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were you around during the first part of this year, when i set up the one little change series? well, it bugged me to not follow through with that. the thing was i wasn't making little changes. in fact, i was either making big sweeping ones or holding on to the rest of life by my fingertips. the storm that was 2011 swept away so many plans. that's okay. in fact, living with a chronic illness has prepared me well for swept away plans. God has others.

but i really love the idea behind little changes. baby steps. recently, i have been up for considering a few new changes. the kind that only take an initial decision and effort - the pruning sort, rather than the habit forming sort.

one of them that will be quite noticeable come thursday? no more lovely blog sponsors in the sidebar. in the pursuit of scaling back non-essentials, this was an good choice for the immediate future.

tell me, do you have any end of the year goals?
are you (still) making any little changes?

one little change (and a shoppe update)

one little change is about seeing lasting difference and making real progress on the big goals in life by being faithful in small monthly changes.

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seventh little change: close my shoppe

yes, i am closing up shoppe for awhile. and i am sad.

i don't know what the future holds, but i do know i love crafting and selling handmade goodness. i do know that it is a source of sweetness in my life. each order was special to me and i took great pleasure in bringing a little more loveliness to your homes.

but the right thing at the wrong time, is the wrong thing.

i simply can not devote the time and thought to this little shoppe right now. my new role as director of classical conversations in champaign needs to take precedence in the time i do have for working-at-home. it turns out my time is not limitless.

even though i have been doing very little over the last month to keep the shoppe going, the knowledge that it is something i could be working on it has been too much. i felt the weight of what-ifs. there are ideas i dream up or plans i start to make, but then i wonder, when i am going to find time for that? if i can not do something with excellence, i do not want to be doing it.

this decision is bittersweet. for months i knew some changes needed to be made in my schedule. i was overwhelmed at the thought of cutting anything out. all of it was good stuff! but pruning always results in growth and health. i am trying to apply the one little change process. i am hoping that these small steps will ease me into a new schedule.

i will shut down shoppe next friday, may 13th.

please use coupon code FAREWELLFORNOW for 30% off any remaining items until then.

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how about you?

have you been making a change this month?

please share it with us.

an update on one little change

i need to apologize. i have missed the last two one little change posts, without even a mention of their absence. that is not how i want to run things around here. now i will be the first to admit that my follow-through is not always the greatest. this is definitely one of my biggest weaknesses. but i still want to be faithful with what i promise. i promised a weekly post. i did not deliver. and i am sorry.

i don't think you were all biting your nails in suspense over this issue, but i do want to just get it out there. and take it one step further. i don't think i can manage a weekly series. it is too much of a commitment for me right now. i am tired and am okay admitting it. super-goo likes to keep me on my toes. unless i want to baby proof every single cabinet, door, and drawer in the home (and where in the world would i find time for that?) i will keep on finding him in situations like the above.

then there's the whole homeschooling gig. yeah, that is pretty time consuming. in case you were wondering.

what i would like to do is make one little change a monthly meet-up to touch base. this can be an opportunity for those of you making little changes to share your story. get encouraged. be inspired. i would love to be part of a community of change-makers. because the truth is we all have full days. we all get tired. but that doesn't mean we can't make progress towards our goals, right? let's do it together.

so here's my thought. tell me about your changes. what have you accomplished lately? what do you want to see different? tell me something - anything - about the little changes in your life. i want to hear about it. for reals.

one little change

one little change is about seeing lasting difference and making real progress on the big goals in life by being faithful in small monthly changes.

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sixth little change: stretch morning and night

slow and steady wins the race. that is my (new) motto for a healthier me. instead of jumping right into a jillian michael's dvd or zumba classes (man, i love zumba!), i am easing in to better health with simple changes. because those lofty plans usually end of crashing in a fibro flare-up. you think i would have figured some of this out after 13 years? well, not quite.

for this month, i am trying to stretch every morning and night. like drinking water, it will be an excellent lifelong habit. and considering my newly sprained ankle (yuck!), it is pretty much all i am able to do right now.

once this ankle heals, i will be tempted back to zumba. because it is so darn fun. hopefully getting my body more limber will help it handle that kind of thing more easily. just remind me to take it slow.

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how about you?

have you been making a change?

please share it with us.
leave a comment. let us encourage you.

and include a link back here so others can be inspired by all of our faithfulness.

just make one little change.

work at it. stick to it.

and move a step closer to your goals.

soar, however slowly, to your dreams.

a year of little changes can make one big difference.

(note: i updated the button for one little change to reflect the blog name change. you can grab it above or on the sidebar.)

one little change

one little change is about seeing lasting difference and making real progress on the big goals in life by being faithful in small monthly changes.

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photo by A-Ha! Photography

how do you choose what to change?

i thought i would give you a peak inside our thought process. well not meant to be a detailed how-to, i thought a general outline might be interesting. (and while i wanted to include examples, i basically ran out of time. learning that balance thing and all.)

four steps to determining needed change:

start with a mission statement*. we keep it short and simple, easy to remember and something to build on. this will last our lifetime.

break it down into specifics. then we take our mission statement and apply it to the key parts of our life (personal walk with God, marriage, parenting, ministry, homeschooling, health, etc.) these are long-term, but are reevaluated over time. when combined, the mission statement and these key statements become a total package to direct our life.

make goals. we look at where growth and change is needed in each of those key areas. how can we live that mission? i used my word of the year for direction.

choose little changes. we figure out what the first step to reaching each goal may be. this regular oversight helps keep us accountable.

now you have an idea of our process. some months we make multiple changes. others we need a narrower focus. but even choosing just one little change is a step in the right direction.

photo by A-Ha! Photography

i also want to clarify something. i don't think we can get it all figured out. life will always throw you curve balls. it is not our purpose to be comfortable. i simply want to be faithful with what i have.

*sources for creating a family mission statements: 7 habits of highly effective families by stephen covey, visioneering by andy stanley, chazown by craig groeschel, create a family mission statement on simple mom, developing a family mission statement on passionate homemaking

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how about you?

do you have a method to determining areas of needed change?

please share it with us.
leave a comment. let us encourage you.

and include a link back here so others can be inspired by all of our faithfulness.

just make one little change.

work at it. stick to it.

and move a step closer to your goals.

soar, however slowly, to your dreams.

a year of little changes can make one big difference.

(note: i updated the button for one little change to reflect the blog name change. you can grab it above or on the sidebar.)

one little change

hello and welcome to one little change.

one little change is about seeing lasting difference and making real progress on the big goals in life by being faithful in small monthly changes.

___________________________________________________________________

one little change of perspective aka my new secret weapon

as you know, i have been sick. for two long weeks. which doesn't provide much opportunity to work at change. instead, our home has landed just short of chaos. when mama takes a two week break, craziness is bound to ensue. i am guessing you might be able to relate.

but what i have noticed the last couple days is how much more easily we are slipping back into our pre-sickness routine than we used to. instead of looking at all that needs to be done, my vision has narrowed. chipping away at the backlog, one little change at a time.

this small tweak in attitude is a secret weapon. no clutter or craziness stands a chance against it. (and i don't even need luca's knight costume to wield it.)

this weapon, one little change of perspective, has aided our recovery. an unintentional but much welcome development.

it is even possible this place might be in order by the end of the weekend. just in time for a new month and new change. not that a new month is needed to start change, but it is a measurable period to gauge it, which i find helpful.

next week, i would love to talk about planning. how do you decide your one little change? i will share my personal strategy and would love to hear from you too.

and fyi, i am planning on moving these posts to thursdays. now that i have a better feel for this year's schedule, i think it will be a better fit. thanks for being patient with me. :)

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but as for this week. . .

how about you?

what are you learning?

please share it with us.
leave a comment. let us encourage you.

and include a link back here so others can be inspired by all of our faithfulness.

just make one little change.

work at it. stick to it.

and move a step closer to your goals.

soar, however slowly, to your dreams.

a year of little changes can make one big difference.

(note: i updated the button for one little change to reflect the blog name change. you can grab it above or on the sidebar.)

one little change

hello and welcome to one little change.

one little change is about seeing lasting difference and making real progress on the big goals in life by being faithful in small monthly changes.

___________________________________________________________________

this week's one little change post is extra special. the lovely jerusalem of jolly goode gal is graciously bailing me out at the last minute. i seriously asked her yesterday morning if she would share some of her thoughts with us, when i belatedly realized this cold/flu would be keeping me from getting it done by the end of the week. surprisingly, she was not weirded out by my random request. and i love what she wrote up.

jerusalem's little changes

This past January I saw my family and myself spiraling out of control. All the rest and peace we had found during the Christmas break went right down the toilet after one day back at school and work. Cranky, short tempered, withdrawn, frazzled. This was the picture of every member of my household, with myself as the poster child. And I had no idea why.

The next night, after another disastrous and dissatisfying day, I crawled into my comfy bed well before my usual bedtime, completely at the end of my rope. I am pretty sure I mumbled-prayed something like "Help me please, I have no idea what to do" as I put on my face mask, turned on some music and laid still, waiting to fall asleep.

But instead of sleep came an epiphany. I do not know any better way to explain it. My whole body was flooded with warmth and I knew exactly what we needed to do. What I needed to do.

The next morning I got up, I went to work and I wrote what we now refer to as The Manifesto (or The New Greer Order.) Sweet Man will tell you that there were lots of great points and bullet points in that document, but I think the thing we all agree on in hindsight that the one change that could be has turned out to be the Main Thing that All Other Things Hinge On is this one little change in our daily routine:

I get up one hour before everyone else.

Now this may not seem drastic to you, but it is drastic to us. Maybe you always get up an hour before you absolutely have to. Before your kids and your spouse. Maybe your mornings have not been defined by trying to beat the clock and never winning. Maybe you just pop up at dawn and always have. But this is not, and never has been true of me. And yet I have done with myself, what I could never seem to do with my infants; I have put myself on a schedule. Radical, I know.

The positive effects of me having an hour to write/think/pray/shower/drink coffee in silence on the overall temperament of my household in the morning and our well being throughout the entire day is something that I cannot describe, but it is beautiful and healing and we are all so much better for it. Essentially I have found a way to follow that great old piece of airline wisdom:

I have put my own oxygen mask on first.

Now we are rapidly approaching the end of February and while I have continued to be the change I wish to see in my home in them mornings, my One Little Change for February has yet to take hold. My goal for February was to get myself in a healthier eating routine. To track what I eat and eat less. Less sweets, less fats, less random face stuffing. Because I work at a school, my days, while very very busy at times, does follow a pretty set routine. I tend to eat lunch and snacks at the same time everyday, and I can bring my lunch and snacks from home because there isn’t much time to “go out” for lunch.

For the record, I am not trying for drastic weight loss, and I purposefully wasn’t trying to a change both my exercise and eating patterns at the same time because I knew that would overwhelm me. I was just trying what I thought was one little change. And I did really great for a whole week. I felt great, I lost a pound or two and I was so proud, so encouraged that it was not a lost cause, this healthy eating stuff.

And then Snowmagedan came to Arkansas. And suddenly I found myself at home with the kids, off from work and school, completely out of our routine. And there went the tracking and the healthy. I just ate, whatever, whenever. Then we went back to work/school and it was Valentines Day! And parties! And cupcakes and pizza and candy, oh my! And while under calm, rational circumstances I would have been able to perhaps say NO a little bit better, this week was brutal at work, and all my defenses were down - I was more than happy to eat as much chocolate as was sent my way. Finally, yesterday, just when I thought I was ready to get back on the wagon, the Girl Scout Cookies arrived. Ugh.

So here we are February 18 and I have not been successful with my One Little Change. Yet.

In retrospect, I think maybe my change wasn’t small enough. Maybe I was so easily thwarted because it wasn’t one change, it was a dozen changes a day that I was attempting. So I am rethinking things, and tweaking this months one change. I do want to eat healthier in 2011. I do want to lose a few pounds so that I feel better as well as look better and fit in my clothes better. But I don’t want to feel worse about myself when I don’t accomplish it fast enough, or when life throws me a curve ball - which lets me honest, it does ALL THE TIME.

February is not over. I can still change the way I eat. I just may need to change it one meal at a time. I need to think smaller. Isn’t that how the ant ate the elephant after all?

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how about you?

are you making any little changes in life?

please share them with us.
leave a comment. let us encourage you.

and include a link back here so others can be inspired by all of our faithfulness.

just make one little change.

work at it. stick to it.

and move a step closer to your goals.

soar, however slowly, to your dreams.

a year of little changes can make one big difference.

one little change

hello and welcome to one little change.

one little change is about seeing lasting difference and making real progress on the big goals in life by being faithful in small monthly changes.

___________________________________________________________________

february tends to be a busy month for our family. probably because the schedule has started to pick up after the post-holiday lull, but we just seem to end the month feeling stretched and tired. with this mind, jesse and i have decided to continue to focus on our january changes for this month. which will be good. i started to slack off on my water drinking last week. we haven't completely finished cleaning and organizing the laundry room. i would also like a few more weeks of learning the rhythm of preparing our home for the sabbath before moving on. (keeping the bathroom clean has been great though! woohoo!)

but there is one other change we made last month that i would like to tell y'all about. . .

fifth little change: get the littles to make their beds daily

one of my roles as mama is to raise future adults. i want to prepare them for life outside our home. and the kiddos need to learn that part of being a family is getting to be a team. we work together. chores help accomplish this. in the past, i have created a chore chart and hoped to check off each item on day one. we end up tossing it out by the end of the week. too much, too fast. this year, i want to slowly add responsibility and teach skills. i began by giving this chore a place in our morning routine. then showed them the steps. next i did it with them. stepped back. watched them do it on their own. now i just check in after. lately, they have surprised me a few times by making their beds before coming out of the room in the morning. without me reminding them. kind of amazing after only one month.

guess what? the beds do not look like this when they are made. and that is okay. but i do have to remind myself not to smooth out the sheets and center the pillows. i want them to take pride in their work. and that means being okay with their versions of a made bed.

the above photo is obviously not of their sweetly rumpled (but made) beds, but it does show the mess that can quickly accrue when the littles have not been taught how to keep their closet and dressers clean. next on the list? i think yes. ( i snapped this before they had a chance to make their beds, but i will capture a shot of that later, because i think it is darn cute.)

and because i know staying flexible is key to my sanity, i am open to adding one possible change to this month. the change we need to address next is taking control of our sleep schedule. we are not very responsible when it comes to getting to bed on time. which makes it hard to wake up as early as we would like (and need). but i am not ready to commit to this. . . yet. we'll see.

___________________________________________________________________

how about you?

are you making any little changes in life?

please share them with us.
leave a comment. let us encourage you.

and include a link back here so others can be inspired by all of our faithfulness.

just make one little change.

work at it. stick to it.

and move a step closer to your goals.

soar, however slowly, to your dreams.

a year of little changes can make one big difference.

(until further notice, i will not be including linky lists for these one little change posts. please just leave a comment with your change and/or a link to your own post. if so, i might be contacting you about including your experience in a coming week. remember, we want to hear from you!)

one little change

hello and welcome to one little change.

one little change is about seeing lasting difference and making real progress on the big goals in life by being faithful in small monthly changes.

___________________________________________________________________

each little change we make is part of a bigger picture. i want to live healthier? i'll drink more water. i want a more peaceful home? i'll start by keeping one room tidy.

our goal for spiritual growth in 2011 is to observe a weekly sabbath. we recognize the desperate need for this not only in our personal relationships with God, but also as a couple and family desiring to seek and glorify Him with our time. we are committed to making this a lifelong habit. each month this year we will focus on one aspect of sabbath observance that has previously been a roadblock in our lives.

another big picture goal is to have a completely clean and organized basement by the end of the year. we began this project july 2009. we thought we would finish in july 2010. in 2011, we are dedicating a year of sunday mornings to finally cross this off the list. yep. instead of carving out a week this coming summer, we will be making a little change each month to peck away at the project.

now let's see what we have been up to.

third little change: prepare our home for the sabbath

in the past, i have struggled with taking a day of rest when the house was not prepared in advance. we are still figuring this out. it is hard for me. but i have learned two things.

the first is that we do have time and energy for it. we might need to do less other stuff to make this happen, but we can do it. less school on friday mornings. less rest (or crafting or computer time) during naptimes on friday afternoons. less sleep on friday nights. if we are truly committed, we will make it happen. simple as that.

secondly, i have learned to let some parts of the house go. my room is a cluttered mess. it has been since christmas. i hope each week it can get organized before the next saturday. it hasn't yet. maybe this week. if not, i will just not set foot in the room during our sabbath. truthfully, it hasn't stressed me out at all. my perspective and expectations are evolving.

this weekend, i woke to find luca and gia fighting an imaginary war of seemingly epic proportions. i was told the bad guys were being kept at bay by their stellar defensive tactics. (maybe they didn't use those words, but that was the gist of it.) this early morning photo of them in a tidied upstairs makes my heart smile.

fourth little change: clean and organize the laundry room

since it is the part of the basement most used, we chose the laundry room as our first battlefield in a not so imaginary war of pretty much epic proportions. we have started decluttering and reorganizing. i could say i forgot to take a before shot, but instead i will remind us that some things are best left unseen. just know that this room has already seen several hours of work. and it still looks so . . . dismal. but it is cleared out. and i can do something with this dismal. just wait and see.

___________________________________________________________________

how about you?

are you making any little changes in life?

please share them with us and link up below.

and include a link back here so others can be inspired by all of our faithfulness.

just make one little change.

work at it. stick to it.

and move a step closer to your goals.

soar, however slowly, to your dreams.

a year of little changes can make one big difference.

one little change

hello and welcome to one little change.

one little change is about seeing lasting difference and making real progress on the big goals in life by being faithful in small monthly changes.

second little change of 2011: keep the bathroom countertop clean

here is our upstairs bathroom. it has been half painted for two years. a goal for this year could be finishing the project. and that very well may happen. but i have not figured out the whens and hows yet. instead i am currently aiming for something much less exciting and much more important. often you found this counter littered with deodorant, a blow dryer, hair product, a flat iron, a make-up brush, powder, mascara, a hair clip, and so on and so on. in a rush to get ready and move on to the rest of life and responsibility, i left this place a mess. it was a bad habit that contributed to the chaos in our home. no i did not take a photo of that mess for y'all. instead i am celebrating its cleanliness! two weeks of a tidy counter! i have slipped up a few times, but overall i am super pleased with this progress. it might not sound like much in the bigger picture of housekeeping tasks, but it is one little change for the better.

a huge help for making this change manageable is that i cleaned out all of the drawers and cabinets in this bathroom over the holiday break. i must have purged almost half of what we were keeping in here. this set the stage for organized storage. now i can easily find what i need and, better yet, put things away without playing tetris. often we need to build a foundation for progress to be possible.

___________________________________________________________________

how about you?

are you making any little changes in life?

please share them with us and link up below.

and include a link back here so others can be inspired by all of our faithfulness.

just make one little change.

work at it. stick to it.

and move a step closer to your goals.

soar, however slowly, to your dreams.

a year of little changes can make one big difference.

one little change

hello and welcome to one little change.

last week i introduced you to my plan of attack for 2011. the idea is to see lasting difference and make real progress on the big goals in life by being faithful in small monthly changes.

first little change of 2011: drink water

one of my goals for this year is to take better care of my body. last month i quit drinking soda. the next logical step to improving my health was simple. i have never been a water drinker. i didn't like it as a kid. and only when working out has it ever been my first choice as an adult. my goal for january is to drink at least 24 ounces everyday. i actually began on christmas when i pulled this neat bottle out of my stocking. (a gift my from my very supportive husband.)

after these last two weeks, i am actually craving water! the more i drink, the more i want it. i am averaging 2.5 bottles a day, which is an incredible achievement for me. unintentionally, i have been drinking hardly any iced tea or juice, which were my go-to drinks.

___________________________________________________________________

how about you? are you making any little changes in life? please share them with us and link up below. and include a link back here so others can be inspired by all of our faithfulness.

just make one little change. work at it. stick to it. and move a step closer to your goals. soar, however slowly, to your dreams.

a year of little changes can make one big difference.

one little change

this week is all about goals. lists of things we want to accomplish in the sparkling brand new year.

do you have goals? or maybe just dreams waiting for a plan? even if you don't line them up and call them resolutions. maybe they are not polished and ready to air to the world. but i know all of us have dreams.

i have lots of dreams. i am what you call a dreamer. so many dreams i trip over them. and i want to turn them in to goals. i try to condense them into words. but then i take these words and wonder what to do with them. i am overwhelmed. how i am supposed to become a more diligent follower of jesus? when do i grow in intimacy with my husband and learn more patience with my children? how do i get healthier? become a better household manager? learn important new skills? and so on and so on.

i wonder, "can i just hide under the covers and see if God will perform some miracle in my life?"

but then i remember, every journey is made of small steps.

just make one little change. work at it. stick to it. and move a step closer to my goals. soar, however slowly, to my dreams.

for the last six months i have been trying this. one little change. coming up with a weekly meal plan. finding a laundry routine that works. limiting my computer usage to specified times. and as i mentioned last week, giving up soda.

and the thing is, it worked.

so here is my challenge for 2011. each month i will pick one little change in each area of my life. just one. and i will strive to be faithful to it.

this is not a lofty new year's resolution. this is a small and simple step forward.

every monday this year, i will share a snippet of what one little change looks like in action and offer a chance for you to share your own one little change. for those of you who would like to join me, please link up below. if you don't have a blog, just leave a comment about what and how you are doing. i would love to encourage you and be encouraged by you.

and here is the one little change blog button to include on any posts. or feel free to add it to your sidebar.

a year of little changes can make one big difference.

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