There’s a LOT going on in my family in July!!

Going to Beaufort, NC for July 4th with Will’s side of the fam
My Dad turns 70 on July 10th!
My little brother is getting married on July 17th!
My sister is due to have her baby… also on July 17th! (prayyyying I can make it there in time!)
We have a week trip planned to Nashville at the end of the month as well, to visit the new baby!

So my goals are to keep my body healthy, my little family alive and happy, to pack and unpack several times, and to make time move my body, to read, to plan ahead for the next quarter, and get my laptop organized.

Also to eat a million peaches and lots of cold, sweet watermelon and make a blueberry cobbler and homemade icecream!

July Goals

Read The Nightingale
Read Digital Minimalism
Q3 Planning with Sammy Jo
Laptop File Cleanup
Workout 3x a week

Also, I’m super proud of having all of my podcast episodes already recorded and done for this month AS OF THIS MORNING, July 1st. My plan is to rest, to learn a LOT, to teach what I’ve learned, and to plan for Q3. I’m pumped. Here’s what’s comin on the pod:

Ep 70: A recap of Crucial Conversations - an extraordinary book. You’ll want to bookmark this podcast episode to come back to when you need to have a hard conversation. Trust me.

Ep 71: 5 ways to make the most of the rest of your summer

Ep 72: What I’ve recently learned about fear

Ep 73: Rhythms and Mindset with Allie Casazza

Here’s to making the most of this exciting summer month!

Just for fun, (since every blogger sometimes wonders… does anyone still read this thing?) choose one of these 3 Q’s and answer in the comments!

What’s your favorite summer fruit?
Does your family have anything special going on?
Tell me about a favorite July tradition!

If I’m honest, my current situation tells me to not plan anything, because my family is going to keep getting sick and I wont be able to do it anyway. I KNOW that sounds like I’m a grumpy pants complainer, but it’s honestly how I feel after the December and January that we’ve had!

BUT.

If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that if I DON’T plan or try, it’s guaranteed that nothing will happen. So I’m going to keep showing up and trying. I’m going to keep setting goals. And if there is more sickness, I’ll push some of these goals back to March and ask for God to sustain us.

All we can do is our best. All we can do is keep showing up. So I’m here, showing up, doing my best. Because that’s all we can do, am I right!?

Happy February!

February Goals

2018 Photos: Edit and Organize to prep for our family album
2020 Money Date with Will (set goals & review budget)
Review Session 1 of Positive Parenting Solutions
Valentines Date Night + Leave hearts on the kids doors each day with something we love about them
Clean out Upstairs Linen Closet + Downstairs Hutch
With Love From Jesus Donation of stuff I’ve cleaned out
Podcast Plan for Q2
Finish furnishing studio house
Finish posting to Nancy Ray Yard Sale

How are YOU feeling about February?

This day never gets old to me. The fresh start, the new year, the clean slate! 2020, being that it’s the mark of not only a new year but a new decade, feels like an entirely new chapter. Of course it feels that way to me especially, because I’ve closed down Nancy Ray Photography and am now looking ahead to my new rhythm and pace of life. I am FULL of expectation.

Many people have been asking, “So what’s next for you?”

I’m usually the girl with the 5 year business plan, and I can easily articulate a clear answer moving forward. But this time, I have some clarity about this year, 2020, and I know that even that can change. I’m finding my way trusting God to write my story, instead of me writing in and inviting Him along for the ride.

Here’s what I know, as of now, to be my assignment for the year ahead!

What’s Next

• Be home with the kiddos 6 days a week, and work 1 day a week. I’ll most certainly be working some on my “home” days and doing some self care on my “work” day. But it’s a new, healthier rhythm for me. I’ll have reliable childcare for 1 whole day (we’ve scaled back our nanny from 3 days a week to 1 day a week), and I’m calling those days my freedom days! Ha! I plan to work out in the middle of that day (non-negotiable), and feel free to work or get coffee with friends those days too. It’s mainly a day for me to do the things I can’t do with the kiddos around - like record podcasts and write content, and have some uninterrupted adult conversations.

• Be a present mama with the kiddos. On my home days, I’m excited to be in the thick of it with them. I want to be more invested in teaching Milly to read, in spending more one on one time with each of them. I look forward to being Mom Taxi, doing all the preschool drop offs and pick ups, taking them to swim Lessons, and helping Milly transition into Kindergarten in the fall!

• Turn my NRP studio into a Guest House / AirBnB. We are excited to create something we truly love, and are hoping that it will be a bit of supplemental income after the close of my business as well.

• Speak life on the platforms God has given me: my podcast, this blog, instagram, and wherever else He wants to use me. I hope to take a limited handful of speaking engagements as well, which I love! The plan now is simply to invest in what I currently have been given!

• Serve Will and support his growing career, as he has mine for the last 12 years. Of course I’ve always supported his growing career, but without NRP, I’ll have the time and capacity to do more for him, which I’m excited about. Also, His workload is about to be crazy! The timing is really sweet - God gave Him a lot more just as I closed NRP. We couldn’t have planned it like this if we tried.

• Take more pictures for ME. I’ve honestly missed that! I’ll never stop being a photographer, and it’s time for me to do what I love for no other reason than I want to.

• Get to know myself again. I’m really ready to just get to know Nancy Ray, without the “Photography” at the end. It’s been all consuming at times, and I’m looking forward to just being me.

• Strengthen my body. Since September of 2014, I have been either pregnant or breastfeeding or both! I am still breastfeeding B and I hope to as long as I can, but one thing I know: I have MISSED working out. I have MISSED running. I feel more like myself, and this year I plan to prioritize this like I never have before - for my physical health, but honestly more for my mental health. I’ve felt pretty defeated in this area if I’m honest : postpartum with Baby 3 was hard and more challenging to bounce back than my other two. I am hopeful that 2020 will be the first time in 5+ years that I’ll have my body back to myself (once B stops), and I plan to strengthen and fuel my body in a way that stretches me and gives me life!

I heard this sermon earlier this year, and the pastor talked about the “Pace of Grace.” THAT is what I’m aiming for: the pace of grace for Nancy!

So how does all of this translate into goals? Well, for the first time, I feel like my goals have little/nothing to do with work, and everything to do with my life. And that makes me excited! Some of these goals are going to be redundant of what I typed above, but that’s okay. It’s how we make the important stuff happen, isn’t it?

2020 Goals

Strengthen My Body
- Work out 3x/week
- Sign up for a Race
- Do a 30 day strengthening challenge

Spiritual Healing & Connection
- Counseling for this new chapter
- Get plugged into church

Invest in our Marriage
- Go on a Marriage Retreat
- Finish the small groups we are part of
- Monthly Date Nights

Be a nurturing mama
- Go back through Positive Parenting Solutions Course
- Read Parenting with Love & Logic
- MBST with each kid daily

Be a faithful friend
- Host 2-3 girls nights throughout the year
- Monthly coffee with a friend
- Invite friends over into our craziness

Integrate Giving Intentionally
- Host a Journey of Generosity Retreat
- Blessing Fund
- More regular check ins with accountability couples

Joyfully Manage my Home
- Clean out clothes and toys
- Renew my love for meal planning and cooking
- Manage the new AirBnB

Speak Life through the Podcast
- Release one helpful episode a week

Complete the Contentment Challenge
- As you may know, I’m hosting the Contentment Challenge which starts TODAY! I could have put “Finish the Contentment Challenge” under several of these categories, because it affects so many areas of life: Spiritual healing, Integrate Giving, Joyfully manage my home… but I decided to just make it its own goal. It’s not too late for you to join, if you’d like! Just click here to learn more.

As you know, these goals won’t gain traction until we actually put them in our calendars! So finally, here is it broken down for you this month:

January Goals

• Finish Setting up Guest House / AirBnb

• Take photos of kids and Winston

• Read You are the Girl for the Job with the Nancy Ray Book Club

• Complete Contentment Challenge: Month 1

• Have a girls getaway with my 3 best friends

• Book our Marriage Retreat

• Speak at Return to Rest (There might be one more seat if you want to come!)

Well I’d love to read your 2020 goals if you’ve shared them somewhere - leave a link in the comments! And even if you didn’t share them somewhere online, I’d love to hear: what’s the ONE goal you are most excited about this year? (I asked my husband, and he said getting better sleep!)

Happy New Year, friend!