Jen Russum

October Goals

October Goals

Sharing a few achievable goals on my blog each month has proven to be incredibly beneficial for me. I feel extra accountable to get things done when I know I will report back to my readers in this space. I don't always get everything accomplished on my monthly list, but I'm usually able to knock out the majority of my goals, and I consider that a very good thing. RECAP OF LAST MONTH: Finish Zianne's baby book... I got through six months. I did this while we were traveling in Washington {apparently bringing your child's baby book and all the decor for her first birthday causes your luggage to weigh 54 pounds}, and I started to run out of supplies for the pages. I could have haphazardly finished the book for her birthday, but I want the whole thing to be high quality and I didn't have the time or resources while traveling to make it so. Instead, Zianne's first six months are well documented {and my baby showers and bump pictures during pregnancy}, and the book does include her monthly pictures through 12 months and a year's worth of Dear Zianne letters. I will finish it up soon, but maybe not until December when I get a break from teaching. Paint sign for the wall above Micah's dresser... Didn't do it. No time. I am moving this goal to October. Open a savings account for Zianne... I visited our credit union in Seattle to get this figured out. I now have the proper paperwork to complete it, but I have to mail it in. Roll over 403b... Same with this. Need to mail paperwork. Make some updates to the blog... Obviously this still hasn't happened, but I did a little behind the scenes work to set a blog makeover in motion. Read one book... Technically, I'm not done with it yet and it's now overdue at the library. I will be playing catch-up by trying to finish two books this month. Write TWO letters of encouragement... Done! GOALS FOR THIS MONTH: Have a garage sale {and get rid of all remaining items immediately afterward}... The garage sale is set for October 10th and 11th. Our guest room is filled with junk to get rid of and I hope to add even more to the pile. The biggest challenge of this goal will be getting rid of any remaining items right after the sale so they don't linger in the garage. I will probably give things away for free on the last day, and I plan to schedule a Goodwill pick up for the following Monday. We are in the midst of Operation Minimalism at the Russum household and I am pumped about it. Paint sign... Dang sign for our bedroom wall. I will paint you this month! Start job market documents... I will be looking for a teaching/professor job over the next year, so I want to start preparing my documents for the process. I will need to gather observations of my teaching and put together a writing sample, so any step to get this started will count as major progress in my opinion. Get into a rhythm with dissertation writing... Since I can't technically be a professor until my dissertation is finished, I need to get into the habit of working on it every day {except Sundays!}. I got into a good routine with studying for my exam this summer, but when I passed it {hallelujah!} I took a break from all things school for the month of September. Now I need to jump back in. Be intentional with daily nutrition... Zianne and I are in the midst of the weaning process, and after almost two years of being pregnant or breastfeeding, I'm realizing that I haven't made healthy, conscious decisions about my diet in a really long time {other than not to overeat while pregnant because it really hurts}. I am not a diet-obsessed person at all, and overall I'm very content with my body, but I am realizing that I got into a few bad habits while pregnant or during my early nursing days {sugary cereals, afternoon Italian sodas, two coffees a day, etc.} that I need to break. I don't want to make any drastic changes; I just want to have boundaries with sugar, carbs, and caffeine and intentionally eat more fruits, veggies, and healthy proteins. But let's be honest... I haven't made thoughtful decisions about my diet since 2012 so maybe this will feel a little drastic to me. Read two books for fun... Playing catch up this month! Write one note of encouragement... |Linking up with The Tiny Twig's "Goals with Grace"| ... Read more

Digging Deep: By the Grace of God

Digging Deep: By the Grace of God

I've had many people, especially moms of littles, ask me how I make time to study Scripture every day. The short answer is this… By the grace of God. {via} On my own accord would I roll out of bed bleary-eyed an hour before my baby to make sure I have time to read the Bible? Is it in my human nature to push aside my to do list and all the tasks of my day and make sure time in the Word is my number one priority? Do I naturally love reading a book that was written thousands of years ago that is sometimes hard to understand? The answer to all these questions is no. In my flesh, I don't want to get up early. I don't love reading through Leviticus. And I have lots of things to do and I'm not always disciplined enough to do them in order of eternal importance. If it were up to my sinful nature, I'd rather be caught up on laundry than caught up on my Bible reading. I'd rather read a blog than read the minor prophets. But that's where God intervenes. I love the Bible because of his grace, not because of my own strength or discipline or will. And the good news is that means YOU can learn to love the Bible too. The same grace that has led me to delight in His word is the same grace that is extended to you. It's not about checking boxes or summoning the willpower on your own. It's about a God who wants you to fall deeply in love with him and his word. He wants you to love scripture and he can change your heart so that you do. Do you believe God and His Holy Spirit could change your heart so much that you are deeply, madly in love with his Word? That you would delight to spring from your bed before the sun in order to meet him in his book that is a gift to you? Do you believe that you could love scriptures so much that you would meditate on them, memorize them, study them, obey them, and share them without a sense of drudgery, but with a spirit of joy? That's what this series is about. It's about love, not about the law of the to do list. It's about grace, not about the power to get things done. Mostly it's about a gift... the gift of his Word wrapped up in leather and wispy thin pages, offered to you every single day. ... Read more

Digging Deep: Learning to Love God’s Word

Digging Deep: Learning to Love God’s Word

I'm going to try it. The Nester's 31 day writing challenge, that is. For years, I've watched bloggers participate in this annual event by writing every single day in the month of October. This year I'm going to give it a shot. Here are a few reasons why... 1) September was crazy. Like seriously nuts. We were out of town almost half the days of the month, and when we were home we were throwing birthday parties and hosting visitors. It was fun, but it was exhausting. I hardly worked on school. I rarely blogged. I basically unpacked and repacked suitcases all month long. When I flipped the calendar to October 1st, I took a big sigh of relief. I can't wait for the rest and routine I'm hopeful this month will bring. I think blogging daily will help me reset and find a good rhythm for fall. I'm also starting to work on my dissertation this month, and I usually find the more I write, the more I write.... meaning if I write for fun, I am usually better about making time for my academic writing. If I focus on my academic writing, I'm also inspired to make time for blogging. Writing begets writing apparently. 2) I've talked about this before, but when you stop {or significantly slow down} blogging for awhile, it is so hard to jump back in. When you are posting consistently, you are constantly thinking of ideas, jotting notes, snapping pictures and making room in your schedule to edit them. When you get out of blogging mode it's nearly impossible to set aside even five minutes to upload a photo or respond to a blog email. Even if you want to blog {as I usually do}, it feels overwhelming when you haven't done it in awhile. That's why I'm taking October to jump back in. Every single day, I'm going to try to write on these pages, even if it's only a few words. Does it feel overwhelming? Yes. But it's an achievable goal with an end-date in exactly 31 days. 3) And finally... what am I going to write about for a month straight? It took me only a few minutes to figure it out. For a long time, women have been asking me to share more about my Bible study process... from how I make time to study Scripture to how I set up my quiet times and what I choose to read in the Bible. This is a topic I am very passionate about and every time a friend or reader asks me about it my heart beats a little faster and I get so excited... and then I think "That deserves a good, long answer. I should write a blog post about that." And as with most things in life, when we wait for ideal conditions we often get frozen and never accomplish the goal, speak the words, or create the product. Because I've been waiting for the perfect moment and all the right words about studying Scripture, I've hardly said anything about the topic at all. I have so much to share and people with willing ears who have asked to hear my story, and until this point I've done nothing about it. So October is the month. Day by day, I'm going to talk about the Bible, how I study it, and why. I'm going to share my story - how God changed my life through reading His Word, how He changed my habits about quiet times, and also give some practical steps to help you study the Bible on your own. Welcome, October. I'm excited for this journey. ... Read more