Family Promises

 This completes our first month of weekly promises!!!  We've had to extend some deadlines to get everything in, but we are working hard on holding each other accountabile.  Here's a breakdown of the week's promises. Tracy - Bake with Shea Why was this promise important to you? I wanted to spend time with Shea and I wanted it to be something she likes to do and is fun. How did it feel to fulfill your promise? It was fun.  We had a good time making the dog treats.  We laughed, and afterwards we played with dog and worked on training her.  The dough was REALLY tough and hard to roll out.  I was sweating and Shea was laughing at me.   Shea - Bake Dog Treats Why was this promise important to you? I wanted to make sure Jinx got something out of the promises.  I like to bake and I thought, "Why not bake a treat for my 'little sister'?" How did it feel to fulfill your promise? It felt good.  It was cool to see the dog do all her tricks to g...

  We are three weeks into our family promises experiment, and so far everyone has been able to hit their goals for completing their tasks.   Here's a breakdown of our thoughts on this week's chosen tasks. Tracy - Drive Someplace New Why was this promise important to you? Exploring Portland.  I like to go to new places, and I don't feel like we do it enough.   How did it feel to fulfill your promise? I enjoyed Mt. Tabor.  It is a HUGE park and I had no idea how big it was, and I got to do it with Shea which made it all the more special.  We watched ALL of the dogs.  We ate lunch there, so it was kind of a mommy and Shea picnic.  It's nice to get out of the house with all the COVID stuff happening. Shea - Read a Book Why was this promise important to you? It got me off my phone.  I love to read.   How did it feel to fulfill your promise? It felt really good.  I felt accomplished.  I read Fierce Fairy Tales .  ...

 So we are on a roll in stitching two weeks worth of promises together.  We are excited to keep this thing moving, so we drew new promises and set out to fulfill our promises to each other. Tracy - Spend a Day with Shea Why was this promise important to you? We don't get to spend a lot of fun time just Shea and I alone, so it was important to me to carve out some of that time.   How did it feel to fulfill your promise? We are spending the day together tomorrow as it is a holiday, but otherwise, I think it is going to be fun to reconnect and spend some time out of the house.   Shea - Paint a Picture Why was this promise important to you? Because I love to paint, and I don't do it enough.  It's fun and exciting, and I want to get better at it. How did it feel to fulfill your promise? It felt good.  It felt good to be able to paint again.  It felt like a better use of my time instead of wasting it staring at a screen.  I felt accomplished w...

 In an effort to keep ourselves accountable to our promises, we are keeping a quick weekly log of our experiences and asking ourselves some basic questions in order to capture our reasons and our outcomes in working through 52 promises. Week One Responses: Tracy - Read a Book Why was this promise important to you? Reading more is something that I've been wanting to do, so it was important to jumpstart the year with a book under my belt. How did you feel when you completed your promise? Happy.  Good.   Shea - Have a Sleep Over with Nona Why was this promise important to you? It was important because she means a lot to me and it was fun to hang out just the two of us.  I like spending extended periods of time with my Nona. How did you feel when you completed your promise? It felt good.  I was excited.   Kyle - Walk Three Times This Week Why was this promise important to you? I've been on a little bit of a health kick lately in terms of diet and food...

  This is us.  We are a family of three moving through 2021 with a renewed sense of commitment to making our dreams happen.  2020 was a hard year, and many of the reasons for that still persist today.  So, over the course of the New Year, we sat down as a family and tried to find a way that we could honor ourselves, our family, and our intentions better in the year 2021.  We decided on...promises. Back in 2014, after listening to a radio broadcast about making promises and not New Year's Resolutions, I gave myself 52 promises to fulfill over the course of the year.  One a week.  I drew my promises on Sunday and had a week to fulfill them.  It was a great year, and I remember feeling really good about myself throughout that time period.   So, when the family was feeling a little low this New Year's, I pitched to them that we all do our part to grow and evolve as people in the coming year.  While we may be restricted in the pandemic t...