January: Sustain

Sustain

sus·tain
verb
strengthen or support physically or mentally.

synonyms:

comfort, help, assist, encourage, succor, support, give strength to, buoy up, carry, cheer up, hearten; informalbuck up

I saw people posting about their "word" for 2018 and all I could think was, "This Fall was so tough, I just want to sustain." What I want is to be better prepared for the next round of storms, because they always come. What I thought was a simple word and concept took on deeper meaning as I thought about what areas I wanted to sustain, what did I want to strengthen? And I came up with the areas of connection, family, faith, health and intellect.

January

Connection: Between work and family, it sometimes seems there is not a lot of left-over time, but I know from past experience that it is important for me to have connections outside of these two main components of my life.
I had two really good connections this month: Alumni dinner with my sorority where I got to do a lot of catching up with my old friend Susan and a lunch out with my almost-as-old friends Megann and Heather

Family: Again, life is so busy, I wanted to look at how I am connecting with my family and making time for each person.
Youngest son: I sometimes feel he gets left out in the hustle & bustle of everyone else's lives. We had two Wednesday Game Nights with just the two of us. We also had a Saturday date where we went to the library, got treats at Panera and grocery shopped together.
Oldest son: We participated in a bottle drive together that benefits a mission trip that he has taken in past years. I was also able to watch 5 of his swim meets.

Husband: My husband has been sick lately, so I count it a victory that we did get a lunch alone this month!
Extended family: My sister was visiting at the beginning of the month and it's always nice to spend time with her! I also took the kids for a weekend at my parent's house for my mom's birthday and it was nice to spend time with everyone.

Faith: I've struggled with disconnection in this area. This month I wanted to focus on getting back into the habit of Bible reading and I was able to read 31 chapters in John and Acts. My goal for next month will be to include more prayer time.

Health: I've gotten into the habit over the last year of exercising an hour a day. I kept that up and met my new goal of adding weights at least twice a week! My Wellness Coach at work praised me for losing weight in 2017 and lowering my total cholesterol, however my HDL level was significantly lowered also so I took suggestions and changed my weekly lunch to a salad with walnuts and avocado.

Intellect:
Books I read this month: 
The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang.
This book follows the Wangs on a cross country trip from their newly repossessed home in LA to the eldest child's home in upstate New York. On the way Mr and Mrs Wang each reflect on their immigration experiences while the teenagers reflect on their childhood experiences.

Hardcore Twenty-Four by Janet Evanovich.
This one was just for fun! It had my family laughing as we listened to Stephanie's adventures in bounty hunting - this time including zombies. 

The Sword of Kuromori by Jason Rohan. This book the kids and I read together and they seemed to like this book about Kenny who travels to Japan thinking he will visit his professor Father and ends up stopping the destruction of the American west coast by defeating a dragon with an enchanted sword.

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan. This book was delightful! I really liked this book that is really about a love of books. When Nina is downsized from her local librarian job she realizes her passion has been to open her own bookshop. To reduce overhead she buys a van and moves to a remote Scottish town where she excels at finding the perfect book for each reader as she frequents local farm markets.

Also, I took a trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts at lunch!