July Goals

I'm a little late on my goals, but I must say this month is already flying by!

I'm already in my second week of school! This summer is going so fast, which makes me sad. Unlike Virginia, Fall actually begins in September! I must say though, July has been a great month so far. Zach and I are in a new season in our marriage. A couple weeks ago we realized something very important; We've been married for 8 months, but we haven't really been working on our marriage. We've kind of just been going with the flow. But then a couple weeks ago when we hit a bump in the road, we realized some things needed to change! We don't get in arguments very often, and when we do we know how to solve them, we really just learned more about how important the little things are in order to make us grow closer together. We had a relationship with God separately, but not together. We didn't pray together very often or read the bible together. Sometimes we would get home from school/work and just watch TV or do our own thing separately. And to save money we haven't gone on many date nights. After a big change of heart and a convicting talk with Zach's dad, we've made some changes.

• Every night before we go to sleep we read our new devotional and pray together. We got the "Devotions for Couples" by Patrick Morley. This devotional is great because each day it goes through a different subject that is important to talk about and deal with in marriage. So far it's already instructed us both make a list for each other's prayer needs so that we pray for each other everyday. We also made a list of things that we can do to make each other happy and feel wanted. This devotional has definitely brought us closer and helped us talk about subjects we may not have thought about before. Praying together also brings you closer to someone than ever before!
• We've also been spending better quality time together. This means playing board games, taking a walk with the dogs, having date nights, or watching a movie cuddled up together with no electronics! This has also been great for helping us both feel loved.
• We've been more intentional about doing things that the other likes, being loving and positive towards each other, and making each other feel important.

Again, some things that we've already been doing, but we are being more intentional and serious about them. His mom gave us some great advice. She said, "No marriage is the best it can be without both people continually growing together toward God. As you grow towards God, you naturally grow together. It's like a triangle- you both are the sides and as you move up you are getting closer to the top of the point of the triangle, which is both towards God, and as a bonus you grow closer together."

So we have found ourselves in a brand new season, and we are both loving the changes and how much closer we are getting. 

Now to the July goals! June was a great month, but I definitely didn't get everything done that I wanted, time is just going too fast! In June I wanted to:

Start Lord, Teach Me to Pray: I started this study and am still working my way through it, I love it!

Finish my first quarter with a 4.0: I did this too! My friends and I had the top grades in all of our classes

Have an amazing camping trip in Yellowstone: This happened! It was SO fun. Here's my post!

Do the incline: This didn't happen, unfortunately. We didn't have a free weekend :/

Go to a farmer's market: This didn't happen, either. Last month I started my new job and worked a lot of Saturdays since I was out of school. Luckily, now I will only be working 1 Saturday a month, so this is going on the July goals!

Start and stick to a running schedule: HA. HAHAHA. Yeah.... didn't happen. However, I'm doing The Color Run in August, so I better whoop my butt into shape soon!

July Goals

1. Continue praying for Zach's specific needs everyday.

2. Continue having our quiet time together every night.

3. Go to a farmer's market.

4. Have an awesome weekend at the AVMA Veterinary Convention.

5. Plan a zip-lining event for my birthday.

6. Make a home cleaning list to go through before the fall.

7. Do something creative!

What are some goals you have for this month? OR, what are some ways that you strengthen your marriage/relationship?