Quarter 1 Update

Today I wanted to share a recap of Quarter 1. Our goal series is one of the favorites of the year, so I thought it’d be fun to do mini recaps each quarter instead of waiting till the end of the year! Here’s a recap of my goals for 2021 and what I did in Q1 as well as Answered Prayers. Later this week, I’ll share the 13 books I’ve read so far this year!!

1. CREATE ENOUGH CONSISTENCY SO I’M ON A PATH TO LOSING 20 POUNDS AND KEEPING IT OFF. 

This might feel too wordy. Just say, “lose 20 pounds,” right? Nope. I really want to lay a good foundation for healthy changes, so my goal ultimately isn’t to lose the weight but to be headed in that direction. My ideas for mini-goals (broken down quarterly):

• Get sugar intake down by half
• Get a good meal prep routine going
• Get serious about histamine diet for 1-2 months
• Get into pilates or barre

Q1 Update: 

• I have been getting pretty serious about my histamine diet especially during this season.  Not perfect, but much more cautious. Last year, around this time (spring allergies), my symptoms were much worse so I will lighten up again after the spring. 
• I didn’t get into pilates or barre, but actually weight lifting!! I read a book (I mean what else did you expect?? 😉 ) that had it all laid out so easy and I’m sticking to it! We rejoined the gym we were at before the girls were born that has a lot more options than the one I was at for a quick workout the last several years. I’m swimming once a week too, and that’s been really good! 

2. RELEASE THE PRAYER BOOK AND HAVE 10,000 COPIES PRE-ORDERED. 

This is a huge goal for me! Many of y’all know, I’m praying for 100,000 copies of the prayer book sold. Which is pretty much impossible without the Lord. I felt Him prompting me to pray for this so I’m going for it. If it happens, you’ll know who gets full credit! Mini goal ideas:

• Host a prayer group – We’ll be testing out some content I hope to share soon!
• Create a marketing plan early (We’ll be pitching podcasts, blogs, etc. so if you have one and want to talk prayer and the new book, email kara@valmariepaper.com!)
• Implement the plan
• Host launch team

Q1 Update:

• Hosting the prayer group with 4 friends! It’s been really cool to share the content with people and see how it is resonating and to simply pray weekly with friends! Excited for how we will share this and give tools to do this really easily!
• Turned in book edits! 
• We’re going to be launching a podcast! Name picked. Content already in the works and interview guests being pitched. I am REALLY excited about the content coming.
  We’ve mulled over apodcast for years but we’re really picky about making sure it’s necessary, you know? Worth our time to create and worth your time to listen. And THIS IS IT!

3. CELEBRATE FAMILY MILESTONES WELL. 

We are welcoming two new babies (one on the Metrejean side and one on the Woerner side) and I really want to be available to help where I can. So often, I plan

 work and forget to leave room for big personal things, but this year we’re keeping the calendar pretty clear so I can do this!

• Host Maddie’s shower 
• Host Natalie’s shower
• Be available emotionally (send prayers, verses, advice) and physically (babysitting, chores, cooking).
• Help celebrate my parent’s 40th wedding anniversary! 

Q1 Update:

• Hosted Maddie and Natalie’s showers! It was so much fun to celebrate these gals.
• Unexpectedly, part of celebrating the family wasn’t “celebrating” but walking through a tough season for my mom. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in a very early stage and had surgery and a post-surgery infection. She will undergo some radiation in the coming weeks.
• We actually took a spontaneous trip to San Antonio. We had beenplanning to go to the beach with my parents before my mom’s radiation started, but never booked anything because it kept having rain forecasted. Since the last beach trip ended up being a fairly traumatic hurricane, we weren’t booking until we saw some sunshine. When it looked like it’d be raining longer, I checked Texas and literally asked Tyler when he got home from work on Thursday (girls are off school Friday) and we were in the car in 45 minutes! We stayed the night in Houston with my friend Meredyth and her new husband Daniel, an added treat! We visited the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and then enjoyed the Riverwalk for a few days. Funny enough, Natalie and Josh were going on their babymoon to the hill country near San Antonio but planned a night on the riverwalk when they got there the same days we were there! We got to have dinner with them one night.

4. MAKE MUCH-NEEDED REPAIRS AND UPDATES TO OUR HOUSE.

We’ve been in our home for almost 7 years and have done almost no repairs even though there’s plenty of things broken. 

• Walls & Doors – Painting, fixing cabinets
• Lighting
• Outdoor area
• Kitchen counters

Q1 Update:

• Rooms painted 
• Front door and windows painted 
• All the cabinets are fixed!! We had so many that were wonky. I’m sure it was causing half my back issues from lifting up and pulling open. 🙂
• Most lighting switched out! Just waiting on the ones I want from West Elm to go on sale. 

5. SPEAK WORDS OF LIFE TO THE PEOPLE AROUND ME AND MYSELF. 

I can naturally go negative and catch myself saying jokesy criticism (jokesy makes it feel ok?) with Tyler and even the girls more than I hope. I also want to speak more positively to myself!

• Write a song. This sounds odd but I used to play guitar and write songs and so often even now, hymns come out of my mouth when I want to go negative. I’d love to write a song that will shift my mindset to speaking life. 
• Start the day with affirmations. Like the ones in our Best of VMP pack. 
• Send encouraging text messages to friends out of the blue. 
• Write a quick encouraging note to Tyler and the girls every week.

Q1 Update: 

• I got off Instagram! This wasn’t planned but it’s helping my mental health for sure! 🙂  
• I’m working on my health anxiety. I have believed a lot of lies about my health and it’s been cool to see God work in this thing that has been such a struggle for me.

• 7. FINANCIAL GOAL. 

  I’ve been reading a book called The Power to Bless. The verdict is still out on how sound it actually is, but honestly, it’s just been a good reminder of the weight of our words. I’ve made it a habit to speak life over the girls when they are discouraged about something and Tyler, too. There are just so many opportunities we have to encourage our kids and I don’t think I was taking advantage of those moments or realizing their significance.

6. FINISH PARENTING COURSE AND IMPLEMENT 3 TIPS.

So often I just feel ill-equipped to parent and just what we’ve learned so far in this course has been helpful. Things got super busy and we took a break from it and want to pick it back up!

• Finish watching videos
• Implement tip 1
• Implement tip 2
• Implement tip 3

Q1 Update: 

• I refreshed this goal because we’re really struggled to watch the videos consistently. This past year, the girls have been in a homeschooled environment and will be going back to the private school they attended. I am focusing on making sure they are prepared for the adjustment of longer days and homework. We’re back to reviewing flashcards for Vivi and letters for Vana. We’re also spending time in this devotional at breakfast each morning and if I forget, Vivi always reminds me!

7. FINANCE GOAL.

I’m waiting to talk to Tyler about our specific goal, but we are still terrible at budgeting and want to get better at it! 

• Read a finance book
• Set up non-negotiable habits 
• Follow budget 
• Have “no spend” days

Q1 Update: 

• We set up a budget for the year! 
• We are getting consistent with weekly check-ins and I’m actually staying on top of updating expenses. We haven’t radically changed our spending habits but the tracking is honestly our first hurdle and I’m glad we’re finally getting consistent on it.
• I did sign up for a course from Steadfast Bookkeeping for business and personal finances that I’m hoping will help. I procrastinate so much on finance stuff because there’s just so much I don’t understand.

8. LIVE MORE SPIRIT-LED.

The last 4 months have been so difficult. I’ve struggled to make decisions and feel confident in where God was calling me forward. In 2021, I really desire to live more fully “led, not driven”. 

• In-depth study of a few books of the Bible
• Read through the whole Bible in 90 days!! This one scares me but I’ll be listening on my Bible app. I want to immerse myself in Scripture in a totally different way than studying a book in depth. 
• Add more questions to my prayer journal. 
• Get back in the habit of using one of our discontinued products–expectant cards.

Q1 Update:  

• I read Romans in-depth and it was sooo good! Took a while but I loved it!
• I finished the Armor of God study by Priscilla Shirer that I had started a while back. Also really good. It’s not an in-depth study like Precepts or anything, which is why I pair it with my own in-depth study but her insight and teaching is so encouraging!
• Now I’m attempting to read through the Bible in 90 days! It’s super challenging especially reading 15 chapters of Leviticus in one day or going on vacation for 4 days and getting behind but reading this way is giving a fresh perspective that has me excited to keep reading!

OTHER THINGS ACCOMPLISHED

• We started taking a week off for VMP each quarter! 
• We finished shipping out those dern journals from the December debacle. We emptied our an entire 10X30 storage unit full of journals! (That’s Vana “tracking inventory”!)
• Spring Signature Prayer Journals are in the works and headed our way  *hopefully* soon! We had hoped to have them in by April but to be honest, getting them done had to be put on the backburner when December happened. We’re hoping to have them in June, but will be sharing the colors soon! 
• Yearly production for the Rhythms Prayer Journals has started so that we can have these in by October. We picked 3 colors picked for Rhythms and 3 for Signature! 

ANSWERED PRAYERS

First off, I am LOVING using the Signature and don’t think I could ever go back! It challenges me in the best way to write out prayers daily and the internal growth I’ve experienced these past few months has been more than I’ve experienced in a long time.  

I wanted to share some answered prayers from this quarter. Some I’m not able to share because they aren’t my requests to share so I’ll just share the personal or ones I know I can share! 

• Mom’s cancer being caught early. The crazy thing is, she had missed her mammogram because of covid. She is suuuuuper laidback about her health so it wasn’t surprising that she put it off or that the doctor’s office had to call and tell her she should reschedule. If she had gone when she was “supposed to go”, it likely wouldn’t have been caught until her next appointment. Instead, it was caught very very small and pretty routine to remove. It was a good reminder to me, someone who constantly feels like I need to catch things before they get worse, that God is fully in control. 
• Leaving Instagram was honestly not an answer to prayer but a decision I felt the Lord prompting me to make. I NEVER would have left had I not felt His leading. What does this look like? In this case, it looked like me entertaining a question my husband raised that I wouldn’t ever choose in my own flesh. It looked like confidence to say goodbye to something that helps us sell journals and where I get a fair amount of validation. 
• God taught me a lot about discipline and miracles.
• Wisdom about the Enneagram. No surprise this was another blog post because I share a lot about what I’m learning. 
• Tyler is going to be an elder at our church! This has been something we’ve been praying about for at least a year when the idea was first mentioned to him by the elders. It’s a big responsibility and to be honest, something I just thought was for older men than Tyler (he’s 35) but we feel ready for him to take on that role. 

YET TO BE ANSWERED PRAYERS

• I’m still having stomach issues that an x-ray, ultrasound, and RX’s haven’t been able to figure out. 
• Vivi has been experiencing anxiety lately and I just wish it could go away, but I’m praying God uses it to develop her faith. I spent one evening highlighting verses on fear and bookmarking with post-its that reminded her of truth for when she needs it. 

Excited to see what God has planned for the next few months!