It’s been a year since we left our home of eleven years and moved to the farmhouse.

What seemed like such a long and stressful process to get the old house sold and the new house purchased is just a distant memory now.

We have done a lot to the farmhouse over the last year, including our biggest project of adding a second bathroom upstairs and our most recent addition...the screen door I’ve been dreaming about my whole life.

In some ways, we miss the house on the hill...living on blacktop, having a shop, and having the fence complete so we can have our cows on the property with us.

However, our new shop plans for the farmhouse property are in the works and the fencing supplies have been purchased, so the cows will be back home sooner than later.

I suppose the gravel road is just a trade-off for the four bedrooms and basement we acquired when we purchased the farmhouse.

We have been blessed beyond measure over this last year and look forward to many more years making memories with our girls at the farmhouse.

Just last weekend, we celebrated our first small town Independence Day with family friends at our home.

We grilled out, the kids did the slip & slide, and we watched our town’s fireworks from the farmhouse backyard.

We’re so thankful for the men and women who have sacrificed for us to have freedom in this country.

We’re so thankful to see God’s hand working in all and through all and for the freedom found through Jesus.

Happy 4th of July from the Farmhouse, friends.

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It's been just over a month since I blogged on the last day of school.

I had big summer plans for the blog.

I would share the continuation of our decluttering journey.

I would post about our garden.

I would showcase our farmhouse projects with everyone, as we finally marked some of the items off the list that we've been putting off all school year.

I would finally get those items finished that we had been procrastinating on.

​And I will say...we have made progress.

I am so excited and looking forward to my new position for the 2018-2019 school year.

I have thoughts and dreams and a vision for what the Special Education department will look like in the future.

However, there are still some responsibilities lingering from last school year and I would like to take care of these things before going back to school in August.

This is a time of transition and I need to be proactive in my planning and preparing. 

I need to be intentional in my learning and my personal summer professional development.

I need to be "vision-minded" as I close out last school year and look forward to next year.

I want to be able to start fresh in August and to offer a fresh start for my staff members and students.

And to do that...the groundwork must be laid now.  This summer.

This last Friday was my predecessor's final day. 

He's now retired and already enjoying life in Galveston, Texas.  (Congratulations, Fred!)

We took him out to eat on Friday and then I went back to school and starting moving my personal belongings down to my new office.

When I walked out of the building that day, I vowed to not come back until July 9th...taking this week to relax and enjoy my family.

Taking this week to watch our town's annual 4th of July parade, to shoot off fireworks, to get some projects completed around the house, to go to the lake, and to just spend time with Mr. Farmhouse and the girls.

There is still much to be done...on the farmhouse and in my new office, but those things can wait.

Happy "Stop Week" from the Farmhouse, friends.

❤️🏡❤️

And just like that...the last school year of my teaching career is over.

You might remember a few months ago when I announced my new position as the director of special services in my current district.

At the time that I agreed to this position, back in late August of last year, it seemed like a lifetime away.

It seemed like there was so much more time left in my classroom.  I mean, nine months is a LONG time, right?

And yet, here we are...the last day of school.

I'd be lying if I said I was over-joyed as I left the school parking lot today.

Yes, I'm excited for my new journey, but I feel like every time a season in our lives comes to an end, there is some grieving that must take place.

I have known that public education was the career choice for me ever since I can remember.

There was never a time in my life that I thought of any other career choice.

I can remember being preschool age and "playing school" with my dolls and stuffed animals in my bedroom.  (I always tried to recruit my little brother, but it wasn't quite as enjoyable for him.)

My new role is exciting and refreshing and something I am looking forward to.

But in reality, there are things I am losing.  

Things I'm giving up.

Things I am having to let go of.

Building relationships with the same 20-30 kids day-in and day-out.

Being able to make an impact in the daily lives of the students in my classroom.

Creating lessons that are engaging and interesting for my kiddos.

Spending time with some of my dearest friends all day, every day...my hallway colleagues.

Yes, I know I'll still be making a difference.
I know I'll still be able to connect with children.
I know I'll still have an impact.
I know I'll be in the same building I've been in for the last eleven years.

But this afternoon, my students of nine months walked out of my room.

I waved goodbye to my students and headed straight to the cafeteria to set up for the celebration we have at the end of every year.

When the staff get-together was finished, I headed back to my room.

I walked down a mostly empty hallway to my mostly empty classroom.

And it was then that I had a few tears.

Okay, I had a lot of tears.

Even tonight, as I sit here typing this, I have a tear rolling down my cheek.

There are a lot of things to look forward to..

There's a lot to be excited about.

But there are also a lot of things to be sad about...and that's okay.

I think that sometimes we feel like there's something wrong with grief.

Like we shouldn't feel sad when we are moving into something that seems bigger and better.  Why would I be sad about this opportunity?  Why would I have a hard time moving into a position that seems so perfect for me? 

Well...because it's normal.

It's completely natural to grieve the seasons of our lives.

Change is necessary and important...but change can also be difficult and painful.

So as I sit here tonight on the farmhouse front porch, watching the fireflies blinking away in the field across the road...I will just have a good cry.  You might remember that I believe ugly-crying is a vitally important part of life.

I will cry for the thirteen years I spent in a classroom.

I will cry for the dear friends and colleagues...my teaching BFFs.

I will cry for lesson planning and connecting with "that one kid" and lightbulb moments for struggling learners.

I will cry for read-aloud chapter books, scented chart markers, and my favorite bright pink fake leather rolling office chair that I bought on clearance for $15 a few years ago.

I will cry for my teaching partner who has become like an older brother to me over the last ten years.  I will cry for the comfort and the security and the partnership that will change drastically in the near future.

I will cry and I will smile.

I will look back fondly on the experiences and lessons and memories that have become so important to me inside the walls of my classroom.

I will clean out that classroom over the next few weeks and I will move (some of) my belongings down the hallway to my new office.

I can't promise that there won't be more tears. 

And there's nothing wrong with that.

Cherish the seasons, friends.  Each of our seasons is filled with important lessons and precious memories.

But grieve the seasons if you have to. 

Tears from the farmhouse tonight...and hope for tomorrow.

Much love,
"Mrs. Newkirk"

❤️🏡❤️

This morning, the elementary students in my district started the MAP test.

It's the state standardized test for Missouri.

We prepared and practiced and taught and learned.

We engaged and planned and discussed.

My teaching partner read Hooray for Diffendoofer Day to our students yesterday.

We encouraged them to do their best...
to show what they know...
to not stress and to just give it their best effort...
to get a good night's rest and work hard to be here for the next three days.

And then this morning...they opened up the Chromebooks and got to work.

I was so proud as they read and answered questions, working so hard through every single part of the test.

They went back to the text and reread the passages to find the answers.

They thought and pondered.

And hopefully, they answered in complete sentences.

I would love it if all of my kiddos scored proficient or advanced on the state assessment.

But guess what?

They might not.

And that's okay.

If they don't, I will still be so proud of the little individuals that they have grown into this school year.

My classroom is full of talented students.

Some are athletes.
Some are inventors.
Some are builders.
Some are artists.

I have students in my class who go out of their way to make sure their friends are feeling loved and included EVERY SINGLE DAY.

They are kind and caring and helpful.

Yes, I want them to perform at their own personal best on the end-of-the-year assessment, but to me...it's more about the effort, less about the final score.

More about the perseverance and less about the possibility that they might have answered a few questions incorrectly.

At the end of the school year, I hope that my students leave this room being more kind,
more understanding of people who are different than them,
more compassionate,
more willing to work hard,
and knowing that they are unique and appreciated and loved.

I pray that they remember so much more about their experience in Mrs. Newkirk's classroom this year than the test we started this morning.

Love and hugs from the farmhouse,
dear teachers, parents, & students,
as you finish out your final weeks of the school year.

❤️🏡❤️

I can be going through life just fine and in one quick moment, the memories flood my mind.

​It can be a pile of muskmelon or cantaloupe.

Having to pull over on the highway to let a John Deere tractor through.

Or seeing an old man in Key overalls.

Today would have been my Grandpa's 90th birthday.

We lost him in March of 2010.

In some ways, it seems like forever ago.

​And in some ways, it seems like yesterday.

When Gerold came along, we played many-a-tennis-ball-baseball game in the back yard.

We took tractor rides during planting and combine rides during harvest.

We went upstairs to get board games out of the small corner storage room and spent many evenings watching MASH from cots on the living room when we spent the night.

We fished with Grandpa and my cousin Brad and when the cousins came from Tennessee, we had picnics in the back of Grandpa's S-10 out in the driveway.

I can still feel his tshirts that I used as a nightgown when I stayed the night.

I always love finding ways to get my students up and around during a classroom activity.

The struggle comes with trying to get them moving around the room WHILE ALSO keeping them focused on what they need to be doing.

Enter: task cards.

In the past, I've used task cards a few times a year, for specific content tasks.

However, this year, my group of kiddos REALLY needs to move often, so in addition to my usual few groups of task cards, I have purchased & downloaded several sets of pre-made task cards on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Back in January, I made the goal to read 30 books in 2018.

Well, it's mid-April and I am in the middle of books number SIX and SEVEN.

Book number six is The 7 Experiment (Jen Hatmaker).

And book number seven is The Principal: Three Keys to Maximizing Impact (Michael Fullan).

I will post a completed list at year-end, but for today, I would love to talk to you about the book I finished just last week, The 12-Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Get Done in 12 Months (Brian P. Moran & Michael Lennington).

I immediately downloaded it and started listening to it that night.

Wow.

The concepts in the book were so obvious and yet, I needed to hear them so badly.

How many of us wake up on January 1st every single year with so many hopes and dreams for the year?

We make goals (New Years' Resolutions, if you will), whether on paper or in our heads.

There are so many things we want to accomplish by December 31st, and yet by the time February hits, adequate progress towards most of our goals has not been made.

We don't have to work too hard in January and February because December is still SO...FAR...AWAY.

We push through March and April, making excuses as to why we are not moving towards our goals.

It's so cold.

When it warms up, I will get to work on those goals.  I promise!

When the school year ends, I'll have so much more time to focus on my plans.

There's still PLENTY of time to meet my goals before the end of the year!  We're not even halfway through the year!

May, June, and July come and go.

The summer is just so busy.  When school starts, I'll be able to focus more.

It's too hot!

Summer is for rest and relaxation.

By the time we hit August and September, we are ready to get the kids back into the routine of school and get to work on those "New Years' resolutions"!

But it's just crazy when everyone is trying to get back into the grind of school.

On October 1st, it hits us...we only have three more months to reach our goals.

We start to get a glimpse of the urgency that is needed if we're going to hit our goals before January 1st, but by this point...it feels like it's too late.

We'll try again next year.

With all of the changes coming in our life over the next six months, I knew that I needed to get it together.

I'll be starting a new job on August 1st and life will be different at the farmhouse at that time if we don't start to mark some things off of our giant to-do list.

The basic premise of the 12-week year is that we get rid of our "annualized" thinking when it comes to goal-setting and working towards making our vision for our life a reality.

We start to think of each 12-week section of time as a year.

Instead of putting off tasks until the end of the year when the urgency starts to take over, we keep that sense of urgency year-round, while setting realistic goals and focusing on the execution of daily tasks to help us reach our desired result.

"If you want to know what your future holds, look at your current daily actions. Those are the best predictor of your future.  Not your hopes and dreams and visions. Your daily action. Because daily action is what moves a person forward."

We can have the most well thought-out vision and the most wonderful plan in the world.

However, if we don't execute well...none of that matters.

So remember as you think about your vision, your goals, and your plan that we need to also think about the effectiveness of our execution.

We have to DO the hard work every stinking day.  Even when we don't feel like it.

We are in Week 2 of our first 12-week year and we are LOVING the results we are seeing.

I'm going to take you through the process of how Mr. Farmhouse and I ​set up our first 12 weeks.

This is, in no way, a substitution for you reading the actual book and following the plan. 

​But I'm hoping it can at least inspire you to get started!

1. Write out your personal vision for your life 10 or 15 years down the road.

Be specific!  Close your eyes and picture the life you've always dreamed about!  There's no goal too lofty.  Just write it all down!

2. Based on that vision, think about what parts of that vision you could work towards for the next three years.

We are zooming in at this point.  

We're taking that lifelong vision and breaking it into more measurable and attainable chunks.  ​

We went through our vision and wrote some attainable goals.

I'm not going to share every single part of our personal family vision because your vision should be your own.

However, on our long-term vision, we wrote that we want to be completely debt-free in ten years.

So for our three-year plan, we want to work towards having everything paid off except for the farmhouse and my student loans.

3. Based on your three-year goals, set goals for the next 12 weeks.

We are zooming in even farther at this point.

What can we do to move ourselves closer to meeting that long-term vision and that three-year goal in the next three months?

At this point, we broke down our 12-week plan into fourteen very specific, small, and attainable goals.

It includes blogging goals, a plan to get my classroom completely cleaned out before I move into an office next year, and a plan for our first garden here at the farmhouse.

On this step, be specific. 
Be detailed. 
And be realistic.

4. Create a weekly plan including activity that needs to be completed every week to help you reach your goals.

We did this on the Sunday evening before we started into our first week.

These are very specific tasks that will move you toward your 12-week goals.

Here's an example of this from our 12-week year.

We want to finish the wall and closet for the fourth bedroom.

During week 1, we needed to measure the closet and wall space and make a materials list.  We needed to order the supplies from Sutherland's.  These are the only two tasks for that goal that we could realistically finish in Week 1.

But we finished those two tasks and moved farther along in the process than we have in the last six weeks.

We aren't putting that task it off any longer because now it seems manageable. 
It seems attainable.

We can do this!

5. Every single week, check your progress from the previous week and plan the next week.

This part is crucial to the success of the 12-week year.

What daily action did you carry out regarding each goal?
How much progress did you make towards your goals?
Were you diligent in doing the hard work every single day?

If not...OWN IT and vow to do better this week!

After checking your progress, make a new weekly plan!

In the book, Moran talks about three different blocks of time we need to religiously schedule each week.

Strategic Blocks - 3 hours of protected time early in the week where you knock out a lot of your weekly activity work  (1 time per week)
Buffer Blocks - 30 minutes to one hour blocks of time where you do those mundane yet necessary daily tasks like checking emails and social media (1-2 times per day)
Breakout Blocks - 3 hours of time later in the week where you BREAKOUT of the work cycle and focus on pouring back into yourself (1 time per week)

I tried this schedule this week and could not believe how much more I was able to accomplish during that first strategic block when I wasn't distracted by emails, my phone, or other daily (sometimes meaningless) tasks that I spend so much time on each week.

Week 13 in the 12-week year is for reflection and celebration!

Because you're not thinking about the annual goals that are looming over you, you are able to be more focused on a few attainable goals and the tasks that will get you to the end result you desire.

I would encourage you to grab the book or at the very least, try to plan your own 12-week year soon.

You won't be sorry.

Happy Windy Saturday from the farmhouse, friends.

Week 2...here we come!

❤️?❤️

This time of year can be exhausting for teachers.

And students.

And parents.

This year it seems to be even worse...probably because this seems to be the winter that will never end here in the midwest.

A few weeks ago, my throat started to get really sore one afternoon.

In the night, it became so painful that it woke me up.  

I decided that morning that I would need to visit the doctor to get a strep test.

After contacting three different offices and not being able to get an appointment, I ended up getting in to a clinic about 11:30 that morning.

Sure enough...the strep test was positive.

I picked up my prescription and was on the road to recovery by noon on Monday.

I went back to school that week and taught like nothing ever happened.

Throughout the week, two of our three girls ended up with strep, as well.  

No rest for moms with sick kids, right??? 

We all did ten days of antibiotic (actually, the girls are still taking theirs!).

I finished my ten days and felt great for three whole days!

Then this last Monday, after teaching all day and speaking at two board meetings that night, I thought I had overdone it.

I tried to rest my voice on Tuesday as much as I could.  

However, Wednesday morning, my throat started to feel sore.  And more sore.  And more sore.

After a quick strep test Wednesday after lunch, it was confirmed...the strep was back.

With strict orders from the doctor, my boss, and most everyone else that I had come into contact with that afternoon...I headed home to rest.

I laid around a lot of the afternoon and took today off, as well.

Sometimes I think our bodies have to force us to rest.

Friends...we HAVE to make time to rest.

I struggle so much with this, but I am going to try very hard to start scheduling in downtime for every member of our family.

Life is too short to be running, running, running...doing, doing, doing.

Take some time to recharge this week, friends.

Love from the farmhouse.

​❤️🏡❤️

Every single Sunday, I find myself worrying that people think I'm texting or checking my Facebook during the sermon.

Granted, I do reply to a text message here and there.

But usually, I am looking up the scripture that Brother Matt is referencing or taking notes on my phone.

I started taking notes on Google Docs in January of 2017 and it has been amazing.

Brother Matt is in the middle of a sermon series entitled "Second Chances" right now.  

He preached his first message on Easter.

It was amazing.  You can check it out here.

Today was week 2.

The message was from Acts, Chapter 2.

Acts Chapter 2 was after...
​
Palm Sunday,
the betrayal in the garden,
Christ's crucifixion,
His resurrections,
and 40 days of traveling and teaching.

In Acts 2:38, we read these words that Peter had said when the people asked him what they needed to do to make Jesus Lord.

"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

I grew up in the Church.

I can't even tell you how many times I have read that passage or heard that passage read aloud during a sermon or Bible study.

And yet today...I got a fresh perspective on it.

Repent means I'm turning AWAY from my sin.
Baptism is when I'm turning TO God.

When we choose to leave behind those behaviors that are not pleasing to Him, we choose to leave behind those feelings of guilt and remorse.

The feelings of not being good enough.

The feeling that we are "broken by our own mistakes" (good words, Brother Matt!).

We choose to turn towards Jesus and the feeling of hope that He brings.

So we stop repeating our bad behaviors, turn towards Jesus, and He sends us the Holy Spirit to help us to keep ourselves out of the situations we have been in for so long.

It's like a lightbulb popped on for me.  

So I took notes and journaled about it this afternoon.

Sometimes, my pages are a lot more detailed.

But today, this was fine.

Turn away from sin.
Turn to God.
The stain will be removed and a Helper will be sent to you.

True story.

If you enjoy art and would like a creative way to connect with God's Word, I would recommend the art of Bible journaling.  

Happy Sunday from the Farmhouse, friends.

Stay warm.

​❤️🏡❤️

When we moved into the farmhouse, the upstairs consisted of one bedroom and an open loft area.

The whole upstairs is in a plus-sign shape, so there was the potential for three smaller "rooms".

We needed one more bedroom to give the girls each their own rooms, so we will finally build a wall in the next few weeks to give Harlee some privacy. We also added a bathroom, so the girls could have their own bathroom up there.

The leftover loft space became our farmhouse playroom.

And now....the moment you've all been waiting for...the Room Reveal for our Farmhouse Playroom.

To be quite honest, this room has already evolved a bit since we moved in last July. 

We had originally planned to have the Barbies and doll clothes housed upstairs, but with the older two girls having bedrooms up there and our three-year-old downstairs, that setup just didn't make sense anymore.

So we moved the Barbie house downstairs to Mattie's bedroom and made the playroom a little more functional for the preteens.

For nine years at the old house, we tried to carve out a place for the girls to relax that was "their own".

First, we had a nursery in one bedroom and a playroom in the other.

When we brought Baby #2 home, the playroom got changed into a "big girl bedroom" for Baby #1 and the toys stayed in there.

We put the girls together eventually and moved the playroom to where the nursery had originally been.

When Baby #3 came home, the playroom became a nursery/playroom combo.

Before we moved out here to the farmhouse, we even tried to put all three girls in one room to sleep and have the toys and desks in the other.

It just never worked out quite like we had pictured.

Until now.

The farmhouse playroom is all I had ever hoped for.

It sits opposite the new bathroom, with the older girls' bedrooms on either side.

When Harlee's wall is complete and the new bathroom has a door, I will do a walk-through of the whole upstairs.

Can't wait to share it with you SOON!

Happy Sunny Saturday from the Farmhouse, friends!

❤️🏡❤️