The Life Letter December Edition 2021

Life Letter

THE

AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR! 2022 IS UPON US!

The Life Letter December 1, 2021. Copyright Lovebird Publishing LLC

DECEMBER EDITION 2021

THE LIFE LETTER

From LoveBird and the Lovebird Publishing Family, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!!

What to Expect From LoveBird in 2022 LoveBird’s Book Club is BACK! Follow Lovebird Publishing LLC on FB @lbpublish for more

Join LoveBird in her December Body Cleanse Journey on IG @she.is.lovebird

information about the Book of the Month!

Diet tips, exercise routines and motivational posts to get a head start on being a better you for the new year! More info on pg. 15 Spread the Love 2

THE LIFE LETTER

TABLE OF CONTENTS INSPIRATION Lovebird’s Letter

HOT TOPICS 5 Useful Goals You’ll Need for 2022 Annual Savings Challenge

ARTS-N-ACTION Photo of Inspiration Ode to Winter

WELLNESS Wintertime Skin Care Tips Wintertime Workout Strategies

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THE LIFE LETTER

LoveBird’s Letter This month is usually the month where most people purchase their planners and calendars to make lofty goals for the new year. Most of these goals only amount to good ideas.

If we be honest, we are really good at making yearly bucket lists instead of setting realistic goals. Most of the time, its not the list of goals that’s the issue. It’s the lack of resolve we have within ourselves.

That’s a hard pill to swallow, yet I found it was the most valuable realization to accept about myself. (I strongly recommend you evaluate yourself in that area, before you make your new year resolutions.)

So this year, I am doing something new!

Before I make any goals for 2022, I am preparing my mind to be sure. It sounds simple, yet I found it to be a pivotal point in making true and lasting progress. Life has taught me that anything worth having doesn’t come easy. So I have decided if I am going to have to struggle, and fight, and press forward, it might as well be for something I truly want.

Resolve is the missing link to success we often overlook, yet it is the very thing that holds us all together. Resolve is the force that gets us out of bed to exercise in the morning.

Resolve is the thing we can count on to remind us of tasks we need to complete to meet a

deadline. Resolve is what pushes us when motivation is fleeting. Resolve is what keeps us focused when others are unconvinced it will work. Resolve is what helped Nehemiah build the wall. Resolve is what David used to defeat Goliath and conquer Ziklag for that matter.

Resolve is what Esther had when she uttered her request to the King. Resolve is what Jesus had while dying on the cross.

Resolve is as essential to us as it was with them.

Every goal requires a certain level of resolve.

If by chance you have already made your list of goals for the new year, double back and ensure your resolve for seeing it through is enough to make it happen!

Proverbs 16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

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THE LIFE LETTER

Hot Topics: Lifestyle & Finance 5 Useful Goals You’ll Need for 2022 A Personal Goal: This goal is to propel your personal development. Make this goal all about you!

G

A Lifestyle Goal: This goal is to improve your quality of life. Ask yourself what part of my life I need to improve?

A Spiritual Goal: Having a spiritual goal will ensure you won’t get too complacent with your relationship with God. Pray to God about this, and he will show you.

A Financial Goal: Create a savings goal, a goal to increase income, or decrease debt. No matter what it is ensure you make it attainable and watch your finances enhance!

A Relational Goal: In our pursuit to better ourselves, we must be mindful to cater to the relationships that are the most meaningful.

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O A L S

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THE LIFE LETTER

Annual Savings Challenge Monthly Saving Schedule MONTH

DEPOSIT AMOUNT

TOTAL

JANUARY

$10

$10

FEBRUARY

$26

$36

MARCH

$42

$78

APRIL

$75

$153

MAY

$78

$231

JUNE

$94

$325

JULY

$140

$465

AUGUST

$130

$595

SEPTEMBER

$185

$780

OCTOBER

$166

$946

NOVEMBER

$182

$1,128

DECEMBER

$250

$1,378

*LoveBird Tip: If you want to rearrange the schedule to better fit your income, feel free. Just ensure all the deposit amount’s are collected by December.

Proverbs 13:11ESV Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.

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PRAYER EVERY Monday, Wednesday, and Friday @10AM MIDDAY BIBLE STUDY Wednesday @ 12PM CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE www.rivercitychicago.org

THE LIFE LETTER

LOVEBIRD FAV’S MY FAVORITE DECLARATION IS THE JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH!

MARIGOLD

MY FAV MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER E.T. THOMAS

MY FAVORITE THING TO DO IS LISTEN TO LIVE MUSIC! NOTHING COMPARES TO HEARING AND FEELING THE MUSIC, ESPECIALLY WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

My fav soul artist Tweet

OREO CHEESECAKE ICE CREAM MY FAV DRINK

Follow Lovebird on FB and Instagram @she.is.lovebird Spread the Love

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THE LIFE LETTER

10 PRACTICAL WAYS TO SAVE MONEY NEXT YEAR!

Tithe to yourself.

Give God 10% of your earned income, and save 5-10% for yourself too!

You’ll have a nice little nest egg in no time.

Cancel inactive subscriptions.

Ensure you are not subscribing to old goods and services you no longer use.

You’d be surprised what 6.99 here and 8.99 there can add up to overtime when you see it come back into your checking account.

Stream your entertainment.

The trick is to get rid of your expensive cable bill. Please be careful not to overindulge in streaming services and end up spending too much.

Shop in your closet.

Before you go online to order a new dress or shirt for that event, shop in your closet and try new combinations you wouldn’t normally wear. You’d be surprised what you find!

Wait 7 days before buying something you desired on impulse.

If you can live without it for 7 days, it has been proven not to be a necessity.

Since it’s not essential, you can make a more educated and logical choice to buy or to leave it on the shelf.

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THE LIFE LETTER

You have food at home.

continued from pg 21

Listen to your mother’s advice! Don’t let that fresh produce go bad because you don’t want to cook. Prep your meals early in the day, so you won’t have too much to do for dinner.

Spring cleaning isn’t just for the spring.

I usually declutter my home every time the seasons change. It has helped me keep up with my valuables and be intentional with not hoarding items I don’t use. You’ll find you can be content with less.

Buy essentials in bulk.

Do you remember when your mother or grandmother would have a written out grocery list and would visit two, three, maybe even four different stores to shop for the month? Well, that strategy works especially for big families. You can really stretch your dollar by taking advantage of sales and buying in high quantities.

Say no more often.

Oftentimes we may go out and have dinner with friends when we know we maxed out our budget for food. We buy that top because it was on sale even though we had to put it on our credit card to pay later. A simple no, would have saved money and prevented the headache of trying to recover funds. It takes discipline, but it will ease the financial burden of impulse buys.

Sell old items and create new stream to fund miscellaneous expenses.

A garage sale has never hurt anybody! Monetize on the things you wish to discard and create some cushion for yourself in the meantime.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 NIV Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.

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THE LIFE LETTER

ARTS-N-ACTION SECTION: The Life Letter: PHOTO OF INSPIRATION Hindsight was truly 2020 this year. The world endured a pandemic, which is seemingly never-ending. The youth of this country has seen drastic regression in their educational standards, that have been coupled alongside unrealistic standardized testing to measure just how ineffective the school year has been in preparing the children for the next grade.

Health and wellness has been politicized to the point if you disagree concerning the vaccine, people are liable to “cancel” you.

Speaking of cancel culture, blackballing celebrities, public figures, ministry leaders, and anyone with a noticeable amount of followers has become the norm. At one time, those drastic measures were reserved for the most heinous of people, now anyone could be witch-hunted for sharing their point of view on basically anything.

I wonder what the world would have done if we knew this was coming. How would we have prepared for such perilous times in our government, economy and society?

What good is hindsight anyway? When has hindsight served us any good? Being able to say, “I knew it all along,” has amounted to very little in positively altering our current or future state. I don’t know about you, but I resolve to leave hindsight in 2020.

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, Spread the Love 13

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THE LIFE LETTER

The Process A LoveBird Piece

This one goes out to all the people who plan and fail.

This goes out to all the people who hit and miss.

This goes out to all the people who would rather wing it, because putting forth effort is too much to ask of themselves.

This goes out to the people who have 10 journals, 7 planners, 5 calendars and 4 outlines for one objective.

This goes out to the perfectionists that can never get enough of discussing and meeting and talking and plotting and outlining and brainstorming, everything but executing.

This goes out to everyone in between.

The people that plan well but underperform. I'm talking to the people that research just enough to get an idea on what to do and try to follow through with limited experience. This is for all people who have talked their way into or out of a new idea. People who procrastinate until it's almost too late.

This is for you.

1.You can and will finish.

2. Time is of the essence.

3. There is no such thing as perfect conditions.

4. You will need help.

5. Doing it yourself is fear masquerading as ego. Let it go.

6. Pick up where you left off. You were off to a great start.

7. It's okay to scratch the whole thing and begin again. The first of anything is never the expected end we originally envisioned.

8. Rome wasn't built in a day.

9. Proper planning leaves room for advancement.

10. Time is of the essence.

There is no cookie cutter way to success, but all the best of the best had the audacity to go through the entire process.

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THE LIFE LETTER

PLAY IT AGAIN TRACK LIST (LIVE) ENOUGH ADULTING MIRACLE EVERLASTING MOVIN’ ON JUMP SHIP

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BUNDLES UNITS EXTENSIONS

THE LIFE LETTER

ODE TO WINTER BY: LOVEBIRD Dante's Inferno lowest level of hell is what we now call wintertime.

Multi layered ice frozen over, is as dreadful as if my Aunt Artica came to pay the midwest a visit.

How unpleasant her stay as she hands out cold shoulders with the breeze of her passing by.

Her skin as cloudy and pale as the afternoon sky on a January Wednesday. The brashness of her words as crisp as the winter wind.

At her presence all things stand still. Autumn is escorted away by the last waltz of the night. A new day dawns and with it comes quickly rising suns and falling scales.

The Earth rests, my breath's whisper in the air expresses my disdain for such a drastic shift of events. This environment is too harsh of condition for my inner joy to live, so instead I'll take pleasure in knowing that soon this will all be over and the warmth of the sun will dance with me again.

My ode to Winter is not a fanciful prose of adoration, nor is it the condemning filibuster it once was. Honestly it all depends on how cold I'm feeling, which determines the measure of respect, love and honor the day gets. Yet I am aware that even though I often times fail to see the beauty, I understand the value.

So to Winter I say, thank you for your consistent and dreadful way making this world a better place. Thank you for freezing the ground into immobility and rest. Thank you for intensifying my love for the great indoors with my dearest loved ones. Thank you for making outside so insufferable that the groundhog sees its shadow, we rejoice in glorious expectation of a new dawning.

My ode to Winter is not a fanciful prose of adoration, nor is it the condemning filibuster it once was. It lies somewhere in the middle, a healthy respect for the most dreadful time of the year.

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FOLLOW ME FOR MORE WRITINGS LIKE ODE TO WINTER FOLLOW LOVEBIRD

@lbpublish @she.is.lovebird

THE LIFE LETTER

WELLNESS SECTION: WINTERTIME

WORKOUT HACKS

IF YOU CAN’T BRAVE THE COLD AND GET TO THE GYM, INVEST IN WORKOUT VIDEOS! If you are skeptical about buying workout videos, you can browse on YouTube for specialized workouts.

Feel free to watch them to ensure you can execute the full workouts.

IF YOU KEEP FALLING OFF YOUR DIET, PLAN YOURSELF A CHEAT DAY! The key to having successful cheat days is to not over do it. On your scheduled cheat day, ensure you only allot yourself one indulgence whether its one dessert, one helping of carbs, or a small fast food meal.

Having a workout planned on your cheat day is also a great way to keep going.

DISCLAIMER: The following tips are recommendations for a healthier lifestyle, meant to create balance to meal plans and exercise routines. If you have additional questions regarding your health goals, please consult you physician to ensure these tips are applicable for you. If you have any health conditions, please consult your physician regarding any changes to your diet.

REMEMBER THE GOAL IS NOT PERFECTION, INSTEAD FOCUS ON MAKING PROGRESS! If by any chance you fall of the wagon, or make a mistake, do yourself a favor and keep going! After all we are human and if it were easy to get fit, everyone would do it. The journey is just that and sometimes it’s necessary to regroup. Don’t beat yourself up too much.

YOU GOT THIS!

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THE LIFE LETTER

LoveBird Community News Join LoveBird on her Body Cleanse Journey!

Why wait to January 1st to get started on becoming a healthier you, when you can bring the new year in right?

Follow she.is.lovebird on FB and IG for daily motivational posts and videos, healthy recipes, meal planning tips, workout plans and live updates for the entire month!!!

The Body Cleanse Journey starts Dec. 1st!!!

Do you have any health and wellness goals? Let’s achieve our goals going into the new year together! health goals

What do you need?

1. Mobile device to download the workout app 2. A journal to log health goals, meal plans and recipes.

3. A healthy determination to get going!

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recipes

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THE LIFE LETTER

WELLNESS SECTION: WINTERTIME

WORKOUT HACKS pt.2

WHEN MOTIVATION ISN'T ENOUGH TO KEEP YOU GOING AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER WILL HELP! There is truly power in numbers.

When two or more people are getting together to work on becoming healthier it gives everyone a sense of community and support. Create a village of like minded people around will increase your chances of success!

JOIN LOVEBIRD ON HER BODY CLEANSE JOURNEY ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM! You are not alone in this fight, let's help each other become better in this new year.

Follow @she.is.lovebird for more info. Check out the LoveBird Community Page (pg.8) for more information

REMEMBER STUDIES SHOW IT TAKES 21 DAYS TO CHANGE A HABIT. So the first few weeks are crucial to making a change for the better, whether it be in your diet or level of activity. Keep your eyes on the prize.

A REALISTIC GOAL IS KEY TO BEING SUCCESSFUL! If you find yourself making goals that are too lofty, you will discourage yourself from moving forward. In goal making you should start small. The first week maybe focusing on drinking more water. The next week add a small diet restriction like no eating after 8pm. Make sure to master one goal and then build upon it with another. This ensures lasting success and ultimately a change in how you live.

That's the greatest achievement of all!

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THE LIFE LETTER

Winter Weather Skin Care Tips!

Everyone has their special skin care tips that they swear by! Here are some of LoveBird’s Skincare Tips especially for the winter months.

1. LESS IS MORE! We often overload our skin with tons of products attempting to seal in moisture. I have found simplifying my skincare routine and being consistent has helped my skin stay hydrated, balanced, and clear.

2. FIND A NATURAL EXFOLIANT I use African black soap as my exfoliant for my skin.

It is really good at stripping away oils from the pores allowing for your skin to rejuvenate itself. Be careful not to overdo it!

NO FILTER

3. SHEA BUTTER BABY! Natural shea butter is great for moisturizing and nourishing the skin. It gives it a nice glow and have you feeling smooth even in the harsh cold weather conditions!

4. YES, YOU NEED AN SPF. In the black community, we often neglect sunscreen, but our skin does need protection from too much sun. Go ahead and make it a habit.

5. KEEP AT IT! You must find out what works for you and stick to it. Consistency is key to seeing lasting results.

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THE LIFE LETTER

LOVEBIRD’S NEW YEAR PRAYER FOR YOU Dear Lord, For all the things you have done, I say thank you. For all the ways you have blessed us this year I say thank you. As we enter into a new year I ask that you watch over my readers.

Lead them in their planning and preparing.

Grant them new vision for a new era that is on the horizon. Let your hand of provision move in every aspect of their life. God let us witness your marvelous works. Let old things die, so new things can be birthed. Let their life be a testimony of your goodness. Rebuke the devour for their sake and let them walk into abundance.

In Jesus name, AMEN.

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Life Letter

THE

The Life Letter. December 1, 2021 Copyright Lovebird Publishing LLC

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