Summer 09--alive & active

It seems I am a planner.
There is nothing I love better than a little organization of ideas, a clean crisp notebook and handwritten list. :)
I love, love, love a good plan.
and
most every summer I have one.
I have these grand ideas-plans-goals.
and
they end up
starting with gusto and fizzling about midstream
but
they were well laid plans
and there is always next summer, right?

Well, enter Summer 09.
I have been thinking on our plan.
I had formulated one, even.
However
we are veering from the plan.
[gasp]
[sputter]
[choke]
...
Oh there is still an idea...
a guide in mind
but there is no
outline and chart for progress
just an idea
and the idea is this...

ALIVE AND ACTIVE

from June 8-Sept 8
my motto
will be
alive and active

(now granted our summer won't run that long--honestly we'll start school mid August)

This summer I want to:

-lay out in the sun, a lot [with sunscreen, hee, but the sun makes me happy and makes me feel alive...so it totally fits the criteria for summer 09 checklist!]

-read a lot [we have some summer read alouds. I want to read some fluff. I want to read some challenging and thought provoking stuff. I'm going to saturate myself in Psalms & Proverbs. I'm reading To Kill A Mockingbird with my niece for her 9th grade honors English summer reading.

-lose 30 pounds. [find my collarbones, lose my baby belly-since my baby will be 4 (FOUR!) in July. LOL] (and well, Cheri will never be skinny-heh, it's one of those impossibilities and so not that goal...I'm 36, I've birthed and fed 4 kiddos--I am not, so, so, so not ever going to be hottt. LOL--and I'm ok with that, truly. But I can be better. We're aiming for better. :) [toning up the arms...lunges for the butt...pilates for lean muscle...hee, cheri and lean...um, yeah--ok....but true, I can work with what I have and rearrange it a bit--that's the goal. :) ]

-walk a lot (every.stinking.day.)

-water, drinking a whole, heckuva lot water.

-journalling (paper/pen/writing)

-quilt (whispers this...I want to make a quilt...my church has a weekly quilting circle...I can really learn this)

-cleaning out the basement (we are totally setting up a school room down there...it will be ideal but it will be a project that will be a summer long deal SO EXCITED)

-get school together. I will be schooling all four kiddos in August. I will be bulding most of the curriculum.

-live intentionally & I know this is so one of those ''sayings''...and I know I have said it myself. But I really, truly want to LIVE this summer. To be alive and active. To be with my kids, to participate in the moment to moment. To spend lazy days reading and watching old movies and laughing and catching lightening bugs. Just living. I am far too worried most of the time about the next thing or busy doing what has to be done--this is a weakness of mine...and one I want to address and work on this summer.

I want to look back at this list in September and smile. I want to read it with eyes that are clearer because more time has been spent in the fresh air and sunshine. I want the fingers that type the Sept update to be a summer bronze. I want more words in my vocabulary from books that expanded my thinking. I want a heart that loves Jesus more, because of time spent in His Word. I want a mind that is refreshed and ready for a new school year. I want a body that is stronger in might and in spirit (and a size 10 wouldn't hurt my feelings. Hee!) I want a life that is lived in the moment, creating opportunities to love and show the love of God to others. I want to look back at the summer of 09 and know that while it was one with lots of changes and challenges and sometimes it was hard to breath--that I made it and that I am stronger. I am better. I am more, than I was--I want to surprise myself.

Welcome, summer.