Many of my readers have been asking for a goal update and a general “life” update so, here you go! But be forewarned – it’s going to be long! 🙂

Personal

When it comes to our personal life, things have been a bit of a mess over here in the Fearon household. I’ve been in a huge fight with a major healthcare conglomerate here in Georgia that may end up with me taking them to court. Which, I don’t honestly want to do, but the billing issues this company has are insane. 

And in case you’re new here, we use a healthcare sharing ministry so we don’t have insurance. We pay for many of our visits out of pocket, which means that I question every charge. Apparently, this healthcare company didn’t like that so much and decided to reissue bills to me with new due dates that I’ve already paid. 

So, yeah. A big fight has resulted from this craziness as I refuse to pay again for things I’ve already paid for. 

Financial

We managed to meet some of our big financial goals this year – we got our new roof and ordered our new windows (my husband still has to install them). We haven’t made much progress on paying off $10,000 on the mortgage this year though. Still need to work on that one. 

My husband rebuilding our front porch steps…

Also, I’m saving up for a big purchase for my husband. It’s a big goal and one that I know won’t fully-funded by the end of the year, but I’m still hoping to have at least half of the goal met by December. So far, I’ve got a little over $1,200 saved towards it and the end goal is to have $8,000. 

If you’re wondering how I’m saving this money, I’m using Acorns to help me – seriously love this tool! 

Another big thing, is that we plan to take the money that we are currently paying for Catholic school and putting it towards our retirement accounts (to max out our contributions for the year). Which yes, means that come next school our boys will be going to public school. Charlotte will be starting pre-k at our church and mama will have 3 hours to herself every day and honestly, I don’t know what the heck I’m going to do all by myself! 😂

Blogging

Well, things have been crazy in this area too. Despite having an accounting degree, I’ve had to acknowledge the fact that when it comes to my business, I should not be the accountant in charge. The biggest upside to blogging is that you end up with multiple streams of revenue. But as my blog has grow, it has become increasingly difficult for me to keep up with all of the streams. 

And thus, this resulted in my blogging income numbers being wrong. I earned way more last year than I had accounted for – which yes, is a good problem to have but it’s bad when you discover the issue when your taxes are due…

**P.S. Remember, if you’d like to receive my income reports, head here to sign up for my blogging email list. 

So here are the things I’ve done to help me grow my business this year:

• I hired my CPA to also be my bookkeeper.
• I hired a business coach to help me gain momentum on my goals for the year.
• I completed the course Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt and now have a solid plan in place for this year. 
• I am now a writer with GoBankingRates.com to increase my exposure. 

What I plan to accomplish:

• I plan to generate $10k in revenue every month.
• I plan to scale my business where my products are earning more than my affiliate income. 
• I plan to invest in more Facebook Ads to increase my overall revenue growth. 

Motherhood & Marriage

One of the big reasons we decided to not enroll our boys in the amazing Catholic school they’re currently at for next year is because I need more margin in my day. The strain of driving back and forth and trying to managing all these different time commitments has honestly, caused me to become a mom and wife that I don’t want to be. 

The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away…(Job 1:21). I firmly believe that God allowed us the opportunity to send our children to their amazing school, but I also believe that the Lord is taking it away. I know for some folks this sounds mean, but I always believe that when God closes one door, he opens a door to an even better opportunity. 

We are so blessed that we were able to send our kids to Catholic school for a year, but we’ve also recognized that if we keep going despite God no longer being in this decision, we’ll burn ourselves and create an unhealthy environment within our family. And that goes against everything we hold dear. 

Specific Marriage Goals

• One date night per month – January we went to see to Jumanji but we missed both February and March due to everyone getting sick…here’s to getting back on track for April! 
• Read Sacred Marriage by Gary L. Thomas
• Say “yes” to my husband when he needs help, instead of explaining why I can’t help him right now. 

Specific Motherhood Goals

• Ask for my children’s opinions. Basically, with this goal, I’m working on bringing my children into conversations with me by asking for their opinion if I should add oregano or basil to a sauce I’m making. Stuff like that – letting them know that I value what they think. 
• Over the summer, plan one day every week to be out of the house doing something fun with my children and allowing them to choose what we do. 

Books I’ve Read So Far

I get asked this all time, so I thought I’d include the books that I’ve read this year so far:

1. Capital Gaines by Chip Gaines – So, so good! Seriously, just go read it. You’ll love it. 🙂 
2. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg – okay so this reads a little like a textbook at times and it’s a hefty read, but it’s super insightful! It’s changed how I think about the things I do every day and is helping me overcome some of my bad habits. Definitely worth the read in my opinion. 
3. Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt – I took the course and read the book. I truly felt like I needed both, but really you could either take the course or read the book and probably see success depending on your strongest learning style. 
4. Fierce Faith by Alli Worthington – so, so good! If you’re a woman of faith, I strongly encourage you to give this one a read! 
5. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis – lived up to the amazing reviews! I really appreciated this fresh perspective on faith and even if you’re a not a person of faith, I think you’ll appreciate Lewis’ take on faith and it’ll open amazing conversations with those of different belief systems than your own. 
6. Overcoming Sinful Anger by Fr. T. Morrow – this one was my Lenten read. It’s super short and not as in-depth as I thought it would be but overall it’s a great little book on overcoming the power of anger. And it’s the only book I’ve purchased so far this year!
7. ScreamFree Parenting by Hal Edward Runkel – if you’re a parent, grab this book! Oh so good! 
8. The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff – Oh I loved this book. So far, it’s the only fictional story I’ve read this year but I really enjoyed it. It’s a historical fiction, taking place in WWII during the Nazi Regime. It was inspired by true events which is why I think I really enjoyed the story. 
9. Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell – this is a good but not as great as I was hoping. Definitely motivating and a great reminder that failing isn’t a bad thing. 

To see my list of favorite books from last year, head here!

Okay, so I know these aren’t really crazy or even really impressive goals this year. I’m focusing on giving myself grace this year as I’m a natural over-achiever and tend to really beat myself up when I don’t achieve all of my goals. So I intentionally didn’t set anything too crazy this year to allow more room for grace. 

So you tell me, how are you doing with your goals this year? 

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