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Here's What's New 
If you're brand-new to goal-setting, be sure to read my post on How to Change Your Life By Setting Goals. Here's my list of 25 Goals for 2013 and an update on how I did in June:
Personal Goals Read through the Bible in a year using this plan. {I'm on track with this so far.}
Run in at least one 5K race.
Complete the Couch to 10K program.
Memorize Romans 1 and 2 with Jesse. {This has been slow going, but I have the first half of Romans 1 almost all memorized.}
Wake up by 6 a.m. and exercise, shower, and dress by 8 a.m. every day. {Still working on this!}
Read 150 books/ebooks {See my list of 48 books I'm for sure planning to read here — I've read 65 books/ebooks so far in 2013, so I'm a little behind, but I’m hoping to catch up this summer. We’ll see!} Marriage Goals Read 3 marriage books.
Finish reading through the Psalms together as a couple.
Have overnight stay (sans children) at least every other month. {Done in May.}
Go on at least one date per month. {This didn’t happen in June, but hopefully it will in July!} Mothering Goals Continue memorizing together from the Grace and Truth memory book.
Ice-skating lessons for all three children during the first quarter of 2013.
Swimming lessons for all three children during the summer. {We’re gearing up to start our third round of lessons!}
Finish at least 37 read-aloud books. {We've finished 22 books so far this year, so we're on a good track here.} Ministry/Friendships/Extended Family Goals
Weekly accountability meetings with a friend.
Get together with friends for a playdate or lunch at least once a month. {Done once in June.}
Continue being involved in our local church, couple's group, and blogging accountability group.
Continue with weekly get-togethers with both sides of our extended family. Financial Goals Use a portion of the proceeds from my next book project to fund a well project.
Fund our Child Survival Program for 2013. {Done — yay!}
Buy a new bedroom set.
Invest in another rental property. Business/Blogging Goals Release two new ebooks.
Attend one speaking conference. {I attended the She Speaks Intensive in January.}
Finish and submit the manuscript for my next book.
photo credit Did you set goals for 2013? If so, tell us how you're doing in the comments or leave a link to your blog post update below. Let's encourage one another to live lives of intention and purpose! 
Nothing If Not Intentional shows you how to make homemade snow cone syrup.  Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.
Order a 1 year subscription to Outside magazine for only $4.99 (up to 2 years) with code MONEYSAVING at checkout. This offer expires tonight (July 4th, 2013) at midnight EST. This magazine can also be a great source of unique coupons from time to time. About Outside Magazine: Created for the active reader, Outside is the magazine devoted to travel, fitness, outdoor gear and sports. Whether you like rock climbing or mountain biking, each issue provides the best coverage of these an other exciting outdoor activities. Vacation tips and profiles of outdoor enthusiasts, along with colorful action photography make this a great resource for the active soul! (Note: The links in this post are my referral links. Read my disclosure policy here.) 
Mighty Leaf Tea is a family-owned company created by husband-and-wife team Gary and Jill, who turned into reality their dream of infusing new life into the ancient indulgence of tea. Their all-natural tea is an artistic blend of hand-picked whole leaf tea, blossoms, herbs, fruits, and spices. Mighty Leaf teas come in the following varieties: - Mighty Leaf Organic Black Iced Tea: Hand-picked on the dewy slopes of the Nilgiri mountains, the South Indian organic black tea leaves unleash a refreshingly rich and smooth iced tea with a dark amber hue.
- Mighty Leaf Sunburst Green Iced Tea: A cool and vibrant fresh brewed iced tea that begins with mountain-grown Chinese green tea leaves. Sun ripened oranges and sweet citrus brighten this artisan blend. The lowest in caffeine among all four flavors.
- Mighty Leaf Ginger Peach Iced Tea: A blissful and lightly sweet fresh-brewed iced tea, the India black leaf tea is infused with sun-swelled peaches and delicate ginger.
- Mighty Leaf Calypso Mango Iced Tea: A sweet and cooling fresh-brewed iced tea with an indulging blend of luscious mango and tropical fruit that drench South Indian black tea leaves.
- Mighty Leaf Chocolate Mint Truffle Hot Tea: An intoxicating blend of chocolate cacao nibs, mint, and rich South African rooibos tea leaves. A guilt-free indulgence.
I’ve tried a lot of different teas in my lifetime and was really impressed with the high-quality of Mighty Leaf Tea. I loved Chocolate Mint Truffle especially. It made for a fantastic afternoon treat! They told me that their vibrant leaves and blossoms are too big for ordinary tea bags, so they designed their own silken, artisan Tea Pouches™. They hand-stitch them with unbleached cotton, without using glue or staples. How cool is that? You know what else I loved about Mighty Leaf®? Their Iced Teas come as pre-portioned tea bags that make it easy to fresh brew a half-gallon of gourmet iced tea in less than five minutes. So this could be a much more frugal alternative for any of you who regularly buy bottled tea. Plus, Mighty Leaf Tea is all natural and free of sugar, calories, and artificial flavors. Get 15% Off Any Purchase If you’re interested in ordering, you can use coupon code BCDIYIT to get 15% off all orders on MightyLeaf.com of tea pouches, loose tea, and iced teas (excludes teaware & sale items). This offer is valid through August 15, 2013. If you’d like more information, be sure to follow Mighty Leaf on Facebook, on Twitter, on YouTube, or on Pinterest. 
Four winners will receive a prize package from Mighty Leaf this week. The prize package will contain one box of each of their four iced teas, one Chocolate Mint hot tea, a Takeya flash brew iced tea pitcher, and a Takeya glass water bottle. To enter to win this prize package, click on the graphic below and type in your name and email address. This giveaway ends Friday, July 5, at 11:59 pm, CST. Four winners will be chosen and posted on Tuesday. 
A testimony from Victoria who blogs at Snail Pace Transformations Back in March, it dawned on my husband and I that both our boys would be in church camp for a week at the same time — within two weeks of our wedding anniversary! My daughter told us that she was more than willing to stay with friends for the week if we wanted to getaway just the two of us, and so a special anniversary getaway was born. The next obstacle was paying for the getaway. We had already put away a small sum for a night out for two for our anniversary but it was not going to be enough to stretch into a 3-night, 4-day event. I immediately suggested we go camping to keep costs down. At first, my husband was less than thrilled. But he soon warmed up to the idea. We decided to stay at the Sand Dunes State Park in Indiana, located just a few hours away from us. We booked the spot in advance with some of the original money marked for our anniversary. With the spot booked, we made an agreement that the rest of the funds for the trip would come from selling things we already owned and no longer needed. Here are some of the things we sold: - First, I listed all the items we wanted to get rid of in an album on Facebook. I sold an iPod to a friend, some children’s clothes to another friend and a no-longer-working (but still in great shape) mower to a friend with a handy husband who was up to a challenge.
- I then used a local Facebook buy and sell group to sell a bike and an air conditioner.
- Using Craigslist, I sold a plumber’s snake and a reel style mower.
After the sales, we were just a bit short of the amount of money we thought we would need, so I held an Eat From the Pantry Week, and added the grocery money saved to our anniversary trip envelope. This gave us exactly the amount we wanted. 
With our cash in hand, we set out on our trip and had a very relaxing time. We rented Redbox movies to watch in our travel trailer together, read side by side for hours, enjoyed bike rides and long hikes. In fact, except for dinners, we didn’t leave the park — which saved us a lot of money. Both of us arrived home feeling well rested, and my once-reluctant-to-camp husband said he didn’t know camping alone would be so much fun. (Of course, having a travel trailer helps!) We also came home with $184 left in our Getaway Envelope, which we have agreed to use to take the children camping soon. Victoria is a homeschooling mom of three who writes at Snail Pace Transformations with the mission of helping moms find the time and money they need to pursue their passions while maintaining harmony in their homes. Her own passions include running, biking and knitting. Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.
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