the seventh goal in the seventh month...

Ok, most of the previous months had more than one goal, so it's not actually the seventh one.  Oh well. :)

July goals!

1. Go on dates with Joel (not just stay-home dates)

2. Learn to love (and hopefully be good at) my new calling - being Primary chorister

Go on dates with Joel (not just stay-home dates)

Joel and I have a great marriage.  We like staying home, and most of the time, splitting a cake-in-a-mug and watching a movie are a good-enough date for both of us.  I like to leave home, too, though! and sometimes I get bored of staying home with the same routine.  In the past, we've had a budget for eating out and a budget for other dates, but we almost never used the "other dates" budget.  This month, I combined and lowered the budgets to be more realistic and we set a rule - we had to use all the date money!  It was fun!  We still used a lot of it for eating out, but we ate at more fun + new places.  I picked Joel up from work one day for a middle-of-the-week lunch date at a new place.  We went to a Young Entrepreneur fair and loved spending $3 for (fill in the blank) because it came from our date fund and was for that!  I want to keep this up, moving away from eating out with most of the money.  There are a lot of fun things to do around here!  Having a date budget keeps me from feeling guilty about spending money on things that logically feel "frivolous" things but are fun, like eating at a restaurant nicer than Wendy's or going bowling. :)

Learn to love (and hopefully be good at) being Primary chorister

When I got this calling at the end of June, I didn't want it.  I didn't want to leave my old calling, and I didn't believe I had time for something new.  If I had to have something new, I didn't want this - it just seemed so hard with a lot of planning.  Being positive about it seemed like a good goal, all things considered.  Thankfully, I had a pretty great resource to call!  My mom's been her ward's Primary chorister forEVER, and she loves it.  So I called her immediately in hopes of getting pumped up.  She gave me a lot of great ideas, but I was still ner. vous!  When my first Sunday rolled around, I prayed that it would go perfectly.  "I know it won't always be perfect.  I know there will be some really hard days, just like with teaching.  But please let the first day be perfect so I won't feel so nervous from now on."  And it *was* perfect.  Heavenly Father is merciful.

I've only had a couple other weeks since then, and there have definitely been times (and days) when I felt overwhelmed with this calling.  It's not a ton of hard work, but it's work I'm not used to.  For most of the month, I never felt caught up.  It felt like people were always asking me to get things done sooner, be more ahead, give more people your early-made lesson plans.  But I think I'm finally starting to come out on top with the planning.  As far as the presentation goes, well, that's always fun. :)  I'll get closer to this goal as I start to feel more comfortable with the expectations, but it sure made my first month go better!  Attitude makes a big difference!

___________________________________________

“Are you threatening me, sir?” he said, so loudly that passersby actually turned to stare.

“Yes, I am,” said Mad-Eye, who seemed rather pleased that Uncle Vernon had grasped this fact so quickly.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix