Yeti Freddy

Yeti Freddy was tired of the snow. So he wanted to go to Hawaii. So he took a cruise far away to the coast of Maui.  And he was happy. 

 by Brennan Bartis

Yesterday was our annual Secret Santa reveal breakfast at school.  I needed to leave the house early to get my Secret Santa breakfast.  Because Ryan and the Bigs were working out, this meant that B needed to go to school with me since before school care wouldn't be open yet. This also meant that he'd need to hang with me at school until his aunt came to pick him up (his school starts about an hour later than mine).

He was great during the Secret Santa breakfast.  He drew. He wandered around looking at everyone's gifts and asking questions.

After the party I needed to help our new 5th grade teacher get an online tested started.  This took a bit of running around.  Mrs. Stokes was so sweet to B.  She let him sit at a table with her students and do their morning writing assignment.  The kids were drawing a character and writing a story about the character.  

B was in his element!

I was able to get everything ready for her while he drew and wrote and visited with the sweet boys at his table.  When I was done I told him it was time to go.  He was a little hesitant.  "They're going to share their stories."

Mrs. Stokes heard him and ushered him to the front of the room to share his story with the class. B read his story, showed his picture and beamed with pride. The kids clapped.  It was awesome!

He didn't want to put his story in his backpack, he wanted to carry it himself. He read it to the ladies in the office. When I put him in the car with his Aunt Laura he was still holding it. She told me he immediately showed it to his teacher in car pool line.  When he got off the bus at my school in the afternoon he was still clutching it!

Mrs. Stokes wasn't expecting a random teacher kid in her room but she rolled with it.  She made him feel special.  He is so proud of the "5th grade writing work" he did.  It took just a few minutes of her time to show kindness to B but she made a huge impact on him.  I am so grateful.

Who can you give a few minutes to today? You never know the impact you'll make!

November Goals Update #1

Last Thursday I wrote about my writing goals for November.  Here's a quick update...

My November SMART goal for my blog writing is to brainstorm a list of 27 possible blog topics by next Wednesday.  

I met this goal! I finished my list late last week.  It took a little longer than I thought it would. I tried to think of what would be relevant around the holidays.  I also took my calendar into consideration, what would I be doing in the next two months that I might want to write about?

This week I took the list and organized it.  I wrote out all my posting dates and assigned a topic for each day.  I know I probably wouldn't stick to this list.  Things will come up that I'll want to blog about but now I have a plan.  No more going to bed wondering what I'm going to write about the next day.

The list will really help me because I like to think on things for a while then put them out of my immediate attention to let my brain work on them.  I call this percolating.  Like a coffee maker.  My brain drips through the topics and when it's time to write, I have the ideas I need.

And everything is better on hot pink paper!!

My November SMART goal for my Bible Study is to have 2 of those books (books about disability and the church) read by the end of Thanksgiving break, November 27th. 

My books arrived Tuesday!  I love getting packages in the mail! This time when I ordered from Amazon I chose to have them delivered to a locker location because the shipping seemed quicker than to my house. The lockers were outside a gas station. They look like a bank of post office boxes.  You scan the bar code Amazon emails you then  the locker door pops open revealing your stuff!

The first book I started reading is a 40 day devotional for parents of autistic kids.  When I read the back cover I was put off.  The 'about the author' section mentioned all the author has done to put her child on the 'road to recovery from autism'.  Y'all know this is not my stance.  If B were cured of autism, he wouldn't be himself!

I almost chucked the book in the trash.  But GOD really challenged me to read it.  I can still learn from another believer even if we don't agree about autism.  I decided to read it straight through instead of doing it as a 40 day Bible study.

I'm up to day 20 and so far, my heart just aches for the author. I can tell that she loves her son and is very committed to healing him.  My heart aches because I want her to be able to find joy in the way GOD created her son.  I am learning though.

One goal met on time.  One goal about 1/4th finished and on track to be finished on time.

November Goals

In June, I wrote about my goals for writing in general. I committed to you that I would write 3 blog posts a week.  To my astonishment, I have kept up with that goal. I also set a private goal to improve my writing.  I joined a writing training group called Compel, word that matter.

image from www.intersectionconsulting.com

My session yesterday was about goal setting and using SMART goals.  SMART goals are goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound.    During the training, we were asked to set SMART goals for our writing projects.  I have two writing projects that I set goals for and I am sharing those goals with you today as a way of holding myself accountable.

Blog Goals
When I first started my commitment to write three posts a week, I also wanted to work a week ahead.  I wanted to have 3 posts ready to post at any given time.  This has not happened.  There were times this summer when I was going on vacation or to camp when I wrote three posts and had those ready to automatically post while I was gone but I have not regularly been three posts ahead.  

As a matter of fact, I was laying down with Brennan last night trying to figure out what to write about this morning.

My November SMART goal for my blog writing is to brainstorm a list of 27 possible blog topics by next Wednesday.  

27 posts will take me through the end of the year.  I know that I probably wouldn't use all 27 ideas before the end of the year.  Things come up that I want to tell you about and I'll interrupt that schedule.  But having 27 things to choose from will be so freeing.  Hopefully this will keep me from laying in bed on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights wracking my brain.

Bible Study Goals
I want to write a Bible Study for moms of special need kids.  I have put it off because I don't know what it would be about. I still don't.  But I really want to write a Bible Study and I have to start some where.

I am going to start with research.  Duh, I need some more back ground information!  I order 4 books about disability in the church.  They should be here next week.  My prayer is that, through my study, God will reveal to me what my Bible study should focus on.

My November SMART goal for my Bible Study is to have 2 of those books read by the end of Thanksgiving break, November 27th. 

There you have it friends, my 2 goals for my writing for November.  I'll definitely check back with you next Wednesday to let you know if I met my goal of brainstorming 27 ideas.

What goals do you have? I'd love to hear about them in the comments so we can encourage each other and hold each other accountable.