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Over the last few years, I have tried to focus on building habits, so I don't have to make decisions throughout every single day of my life. I've worked on building habits in all areas of life: home, health, physical wellness, career, and spiritual growth. Admittedly, my prayer habit has really changed over the years. After reading the book Fervent by Priscilla Shirer and watching The War Room, I began to be more intentional in my prayer life, thinking about my prayers as a strategy against the enemy. At that time, I began to write out prayers about specific subjects -- our marriage, our children, our siblings, the rest of our family, our church, our minister & his family, our careers, health needs, struggling friends, and so many other topics. When something came up that someone needed prayer for, I wrote out a prayer for them and began praying it out loud. This method was very effective. However, it also became difficult to manage when I had hundreds of notecards with prayers written out on them. I wanted to have an effective prayer strategy, but I felt like I was missing important topics and I felt like I was missing out on some of the "relationship" part of my prayer time. I started to research what other people were doing in their prayer lives. I talked to friends, surfed the internet, and of course, prayed. I have learned a few things about myself over the years:
I'm going to be brutally honest here, this month has been extremely overwhelming for me. As a school administrator, dealing with the end of the school year amid COVID-19 concerns and regulations has brought on unprecedented decision-making requirements for school districts. On May 4th, like I talked about in my last blog post, we had straight-line winds that destroyed our barn and damaged our roof & two other buildings. We've been cooped up (like the rest of our country) with almost no outside contact for the girls with friends and family. So many of my prayers during May have been spontaneous whispers for peace and calm and protection. I have no doubt that these prayers were effective and heard and appreciated, but I feel like this time we have spent in the valley has been "survival mode". As the school year has come to an end, I'm ready to get back to growing and thriving in my prayer life, not just surviving alongside Jesus. So for June, I've created a prayer template for each day of the month. This will hopefully keep me grounded and focused, as well as help me to rebuild my morning prayer habit.
I have created this two-page template for every day of June. I'm going to take this weekend to add in daily scriptures for each day and to write down my "specific daily prayers" that I pray about each morning. I've outlined these prayer topics below, if you're interested in doing something similar. Specific Daily PrayersEach day, I have specific topics that I cover. This is something I started a few years ago when I was trying to come up with an effective method of covering all of the "regular" topics I wanted to be in prayer about. Here is my schedule for my daily prayer topics. Sunday
So that's what I'm going to do to strengthen my prayer habit this next month.
This might not be the right prayer method for you, and that's okay. I would encourage you, however, to find a method that works for you. Schedule in some prayer time and be intentional with how you use that time. Making prayer a priority here at the farmhouse, Hannah ❤️🏡❤️
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One of the things that really helps me to stay on track during the stress of the school year is trying to be productive early on each day. I'm not a good "sleeper-inner", but there are also mornings that I get up early and do more sitting and wasting time than doing my best work. Because of this, I've developed a morning routine that is built on habits and not a lot of random time-consuming choices. My morning routine really starts the night before when we lay clothes out and prepare for the next day (more on that coming in another post).
However, in August of this year, I decided to make my bed every single morning and build the habit. It stuck. I don't even think about it anymore and when I leave my bedroom, I've already got a little bit of productivity under my belt. I used to shower and get dressed & ready for the day right after that, but I have realized that in the wintertime especially, I love drinking my coffee and doing my morning Bible reading and prayer time in my warm and cozy jammies. I just have to be sure to set a timer or I would sit there all day!
I have found that taking a nice chunk of time each morning for my coffee, Bible study, prayer time, and running through my day BEFORE THE GIRLS GET UP really starts my day off on the right foot. I am usually going through a few Bible studies at the same time on my YouVersion Bible app. You can see the ones I was working on this morning in the images below.
I have found that I HAVE to set a timer during the morning to keep myself on track or I will get carried away reading or during my prayer time and before I know it...I have forgotten to get the girls up and we are running late.
So by 5:45, I like to have the girls up and going before I jump in the shower. I get dressed, fix my hair, and occasionally whip up some eggs. A lot of the time I don't even eat breakfast...fancy people call it "intermittent fasting" and I call it "I'm just not hungry yet." My girls always grab something to eat...they are breakfast people. We are...er, really try to be, out the door by 6:30. Once the girls are up and running, I know that my day won't be quiet again until they all climb into bed that night. This is why that morning time in the peace and quiet of the farmhouse seems so valuable to me. I'm working hard to be centered and intentional with my time and getting up early is just another piece of that puzzle for me. My morning routine helps me to be the best version of myself, for Mr. Farmhouse, my girls, the rest of my family, my staff, and my students. Trying to "rise & shine" from the farmhouse, Hannah ❤️🏡❤️
Uh. Okay. This was supposed to be a checkup. Sure, I was full-term and sure, Claire's head was NOT small. But still. I had expected to leave that appointment, do a little shopping, grab some Starbucks and go home to snuggle my Harlee-girl for a few more days. But that just wouldn't be Claire's style, now would it? Claire Bear did things her own way then and she does things her own way now. She is precious and kind and beautiful. She is independent and stubborn and smart. She has what we call "second child syndrome". She often learns things the hard way. She loves others with her whole entire heart. She would rather wear a dress and high heels than shorts and a tshirt, yet she's not afraid to get her hands dirty working hard inside or out. Our life wouldn't be complete without our sweet, sweet Claire Bear. Happy 9th Birthday, sweet girl. ❤️
I've got some new readers, so I thought I might take the opportunity to introduce myself a little more formally and give a little background on life as we know it.
My name is Hannah and this is my blog...Farmhouse654. I've been married to Mr. Farmhouse for almost 14 years. We started out life in an adorable two-bedroom home in town and stayed there for over two years, before moving to a ranch-style home on four acres outside of town. We did lots of updates to that home and property and absolutely loved every minute there. We were completely content, except for the fact that our three girls shared two bedrooms and it was getting just a little bit tight as they continued to grow. We had so many great memories in that house. We brought all three of our daughters home there. We raised bottle-calves, pigs, and chickens there. We spent 10 Christmas mornings there. We made updates to the house, added a few outbuildings, and even survived a tornado that picked up one of our barns and threw it to the other side of the property. Our second home was such a special part of our journey. However, in May of 2017, an opportunity presented itself for us to sell that home and buy a farmhouse on ten acres. So in July of last year (after some bumps in the road), we made the farmhouse our home. And that was the start of Farmhouse654. Now...a little background on the wife & mom of the family who lives here. Mr. Farmhouse and I grew up right here in this town. We are hometown kids and I can't imagine raising our girls anywhere else. Our girls are eleven, (almost) nine, and three. They are so alike and so different in so many ways. We love Jesus and love our church. We believe that God's calling for us is to love Him and to love people. We try hard to do this, but fail miserably a lot of the time. We're thankful for grace! I've been a teacher for the last twelve years and will be leaving the classroom in May to move into the position of the Director of Special Services in the district where I currently teach. I run a photography business on the side and work for my parents, who own group homes for adults with disabilities. We are busy and blessed. The girls are involved in our church, play sports, take dance classes, and enjoy piano & guitar lessons once a week. We love to be outdoors and spend time often just sitting around in lawn chairs in the back yard watching the girls play basketball or shoot skeet. When I have some free time, I like to document our journey through this blog. So there you have it. Some of where we've been and where we are now. Someday I'll tell you all about where we're headed...our goals and dreams for the farmhouse. But for today, I'll just go rock our sweet Mattie-girl while we watch another Barbie movie. Make it a great Monday, friends. ❤️🏡❤️ |
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