Our Fourth Anniversary
Our Third Year:
Restaurants we loved: CC’s City Broiler (always), Pancheros, 44 Canteen, Barred Owl
Meals we made: Korean Beef, Barred Owl Burgers, Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Salads, Sausage and Roasted Veggies, Smoothie Bowls
Shows we watched: Veep, Better Call Saul, You, Dr. Disrespect and Kitboga on Twitch
Movies We Saw: Fantastic Beasts, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Isle of Dogs, Wont You Be My Neighbor
Places we went together: La Jolla/San Diego, CA, Las Vegas, NV, Lake Geneva, WI, Kansas City, MO
Things We Did: celebrated a huge and exciting job change for Kevin, invited two of our favorite people to live with us for extended periods of time, went to multiple gaming events and expos, joined Twitch, played (and won!) at trivia, celebrated 9 years together, watched some of our best friends get married, remodeled our bathroom, and tailgated for almost every Mizzou football game.
Thanks so much for reading! You can read about previous anniversaries here: our first anniversary, our second anniversary, and our third anniversary.
Prayer Binder Set Up
At the beginning of last year, I made a goal to spend the entire year focusing on connecting with God in prayer. I read a couple books and did topical bible studies based on prayer and in August, I upped my game by creating a prayer binder. It has easily been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done to invest in my quiet time with God. Now that I’ve had some time with it, I thought it might be a good time to share it here, too.
First things first, a prayer binder is a tool that helps to keep all of the things I want to pray for in one place. The best thing about using a binder, as opposed to a journal, is that it can always be evolving. Throughout the past 5 months, I’ve rotated and changed things out so that the flow of prayer comes naturally to me. My prayer binder now incorporates prayers (both written by me and by others), scripture, photos, and a couple embellishments here and there. I’m really into paper-crafting, so I had a lot of supplies on hand that I used to get started. Even though mine has lots of patterned paper and decorative bits, it can also be as plain as you want it to be. Here are the supplies I used:
- A Binder – I used the Carpe Diem in Robin’s Egg but the Avery 1″ mini binder is also a great option.
- Black Ink Joy Pen and Tombow Markers
- Card stock and patterned paper for the dividers (7-10 pieces)
- Plain white or lined paper (amount will vary based on what you need per section)
- Photos – of people, groups, etc that you want to pray for or praise God for
- Sticky Notes
- Stickers and fun embellishments
- Washi Tape
- Binder
- Hole Punch
- Tab Punch
When you get down to it, my binder is comprised of 4 main parts that are made up by the acronym PRAY: Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield. I also have a resources section to keep random information and notes. Each day, I start by praying my way through both the praise and repent sections. When I get to the ask section, it’s set up into daily and weekly prayers. There are things I pray for each day, an then a rotating list of things I pray for weekly. This process give me a more reasonable amount of things to pray for each day and it helps remind me of specific details that I may forget without notes in front of me. This is followed by a section where I yield and being still before God. Throughout all sections, I write my prayers on sticky notes so that they are easily movable. It’s a way for me to wait expectantly, because when God answers the prayers, they get moved to the praise section. This way, I can continually see the work he’s done and the prayers he has answered. Here’s a look into what I’ve included in each of the sections:
P – Praise
- Song Lyrics and Bible Verses about Praising God
- Pictures – nature makes me feel especially worshipful
- A list (and some photos) of my 1000 Gifts from the book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp
- A page full of sticky notes of praises and answered prayers
- Words/names that describe God – particularly in ways that resonate with me in this season of life
R – Repent
- Sticky notes of sins I am repenting and convictions that have been brought to light
- Prayer of repentance
- Bible Verses about Repentance
- I have a couple quotes from the book 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke
- I pray specifically for the sin in my life and for my eyes to be opened to the things that I need to bring before the Lord.
A – Ask – Daily
- I use an “emergency room” section (an idea from The Reset Girl) which is a spot for anything that is urgent, needs daily prayers, or for specific and upcoming prayer requests.
- Bible Verses I include with the “emergency room” section
- Psalm 147:3 (healing)
- Jeremiah 17:14 (healing)
- Psalm 31:3 (guidance)
- Psalm 57:2-3
- Deuteronomy 31:8
- Joshua 1:9
- Ephesians 6:11-17 (spiritual warefare)
- I also pray for Kevin and our marriage daily using the 9 Prayers Audrey wrote as a template.
- I pray daily for myself, my heart, goals, divine appointments, and my relationships as they relate to the prayers for the next section.
A – Ask – Weekly
- Monday – Our Marriage
- Even though I pray for Kevin and our marriage daily, I include it on Mondays as well in more of a ministry type of way and the way we welcome people into our house and life. This is also a catch-all for anything else related to our marriage that doesn’t fall into the daily section. For example:
- Our House
- Hospitality
- Our goals
- Even though I pray for Kevin and our marriage daily, I include it on Mondays as well in more of a ministry type of way and the way we welcome people into our house and life. This is also a catch-all for anything else related to our marriage that doesn’t fall into the daily section. For example:
- Tuesday – Friends, Small Group
- This is easily my most robust section, as it includes both photos of each person/couple, scripture I pray over each, and any prayer requests or things going on in their lives that I want to pray for. It brings me so much joy to see their sweet faces as I’m lifting them up in prayer.
- Wednesday – Non-Believers, Social Media/Influence, Blog
- The third day of the week is all about praying for non-believers all over the world and non-believers we interact with on daily basis. I pray for interactions with non-believers and the people we may have influence on in terms of social media, the blog, etc.
- Thursday – Our Jobs, Work, Stewardship/Finances, Military
- This is a big one – I pray for our specific roles and interactions at work as well as the way we steward our money and pay off our student loans. I ask God to continually give us direction in these things. I specifically work with people who have served in the military, so i’ve included that in this section as well.
- The prayer below is from Belief Net
- Friday – My Family
- This is pretty self explanatory, but I also have pictures, verses, and specific things I am praying for for each person in my immediate family and my relationship with them.
- Saturday – Kevin’s Family
- This is the exact same set up as I have for my family, except with Kevin’s side.
- Sunday – Government, Our Community, The Crossing (Our Church), Missionaries, Ministries and Organizations we Support
- This is also quite the doozy of a section. I originally had these split apart but I kept feeling myself overlapping them in prayer, so I put them all together. I’ve found a couple really great prayers online for each of these.
- Isaiah 9:6c-7 (Government)
- Colossians 3:14-16 (The Crossing)
Y – Yield
- Bible Verses on Being Still + Hearing from God
- Conditions for hearing God’s voice
- Enneagram Quote about Resting in God’s Presence – As I have studied the Enneagram, I have learned a lot about the impact it has on my faith and some of the things that I have a hard time with. For me, that is being still before God. No question that this has always been a struggle, but I had just always called it a distraction or wandering brain. I picked out a couple quotes from The Sacred Enneagram and some images from @xoenneagram on Instagram that relate to this topic and the Enneagram.
Resources
I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from Cori the Reset Girl (her video is below), but there are tons of great resources on the internet.
- Mysa Home Styling’s Setting the Table – you have to sign up for emails to get this little guide, but I’m telling you, it’s worth it. I keep this in the front of my prayer binder and it’s been a good reminder to make my home more comfortable for others.
- The Hour That Changed the World – A PDF that goes through 12 different aspects of prayer
- Rachel Wojnarowski – Rachel’s website has LOTS of prayer patterns and resources you can use in your prayer binder
- The Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul E. Miller
- Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller
- Prayer for Uncertainty
Now it’s your turn! What’s in Your Prayer Binder?
Snowpocalypse 2019
This weekend was incredibly snow-filled! It started snowing at about 10am on Friday morning and didn’t quit until late Saturday night. All in all, we got somewhere between 17-20 inches of snow, which might have put it into the top snowfall that I’ve ever experienced. It was fun to get stuck at the house for a couple days and spend some time playing in the back yard with Chloe – she loved it! I don’t have snow boots, so I had to document my size 7 feet in Kevin’s size 13 boots. I can’t complain, my feet stayed nice and dry.
The Year of Rest + 2019 Goal Setting
For the past three years, I’ve set goals for the year (and month) using the Cultivate What Matters Powersheets. It is always such an incredible experience of reviewing the victories, fruit, and down falls of the previous year in order to make intentional goals for the next. I typically carve out time between Christmas and New Years to sit down and work on the Prep Pages. Writing it all out really helps me to solidify my plan and hold myself accountable.
My process for setting goals, always starts with a word of intention, or a One Little Word. I mentioned last year that I’ve chosen six words so far, and 2019 is no different. The word Rest starting whispering itself to me in September and I officially decided on it in November. As I considered this word, I really had a couple things in mind for why I chose it and how I wanted it to impact my 2019 goals. Here are some of the overarching themes for this year:
- Resting secure in God.
- Cultivating a life of less.
- Drawing from an overflow of rest.
- Listening to my body and heart.
- Resting and rejoicing in change and growth.
This is likely going to be the most challenging one little word, but I can’t wait for all that this year holds.
Here are my 2019 Goals for the year of REST.
Goal 1: Cultivate a life-giving home and marriage.
Why? To continue growing our marriage and make our home a place of rest.
The positive affect taking action on this goal may have on me and others: I want our home to be a place of comfort and rest for everyone. 2018 brought a lot of opportunities to have friends and family in our home and I would LOVE to continue that into 2019. I also want to make it more of a place for us by hanging and making sentimental items more visible.
Mini Goals:
- Love + serve
- Be present at home
- Create a gallery wall of our favorite places + family photos
- Get professional photos taken
- Regular date nights
3 Starting Steps (and when I’ll do them): Paint the craft room in gracious greige (12/31/2018), find a basket or a place to put my phone while I’m at home (by 1/31/2018), and browse through gallery walls online (12/29/2018)
Encouraging Words: Proverbs 31:10-31, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, 1 Peter 4:8-9
How I’ll celebrate at the end of 2019: Host a gathering and thank God for a place for people.
Goal 2: Intentionally limit consumption of social media and self-help information.
Why? The information I take in from social media and non-fiction books tends to lead to more mental clutter and longer to-do lists. As I consider what it looks like to rest, limiting these things seems like it could make a big difference in this area.
The positive affect taking action on this goal may have on me and others: This could completely change my life and my relationships. I often feel like I want to slow down my pace of life and I think this would be a great way to start.
Mini Goals:
- Limit non-fiction (specifically self-help) books to 2 for the whole year
- Limit screen time and scrolling
- Unsubscribe from emails
- Refrain from taking on new creative projects
3 Starting Steps (and when I’ll do them): Deactivate Facebook (12/31/2018), unsubscribe from emails as they come through (1/1/2018), and review current list of podcasts and narrow down (12/30/2018).
Encouraging Words: Proverbs 4:23
How I’ll celebrate at the end of 2019: Happy dance, because this one is ALWAYS on my list.
Goal 3: Focus on deeper Bible study and prayer.
Why? To cultivate a stronger relationship with the Lord at a slower pace than I have in the past.
The positive affect taking action on this goal may have on me and others: This changes everything because it will help me to have a more in tune relationship with the Lord and help me to live it out and be more willing to share his Word. More Joy.
Mini Goals:
- New morning routine
- Deeper study of 3 books of the Bible
- Scripture Memorization
3 Starting Steps (and when I’ll do them): Research habits and morning routines (by 1/31/2018), prayerfully choose 3 books of the Bible to study(12/31/2018), prep my prayer binder for the new year (12/29/2018).
Encouraging Words: Psalm 16:11
How I’ll celebrate at the end of 2019: A day full of random acts of kindness.
Goal 4: Steward and take better care of my body.
Why? To live a more healthy lifestyle and live in better stewardship of this body that the Lord has given me.
The positive affect taking action on this goal may have on me and others: I’ll increase my time outside and moving my body, which will create an overall healthier lifestyle and more self-confidence. Plus, Chloe will enjoy lots more walks.
Mini Goals:
- Kick the soda habit
- Meal Prep Sundays
- Exercise goals (10K with Mom in March)
- Oils
3 Starting Steps (and when I’ll do them): Start weening off caffeine (12/15/2018), create a loose exercise plan for the year (1/1/2019), and buy meal prep containers (by 1/31/2019).
Encouraging Words: Romas 12:1, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
How I’ll celebrate at the end of 2019: I’d love to celebrate with an awesome hike.
Goal 5: Love things above, not of this word.
Why? To steward our money well and continue paying down our debt quickly.
The positive affect taking action on this goal may have on me and others: Our debt prevents us from saying “yes” to things we’d like to. Having financial freedom would be a game changer on so many amazing levels.
Mini Goals:
- No spend month(s)
- Capsule Wardrobe
- More ethical purchases
- Intentional gift giving
3 Starting Steps (and when I’ll do them): Print off a Debt Free chart and fill it out (12/1/2018), review current budget (12/29/2018), and review our debt snowball plan (1/1/2019)
Encouraging Words: Matthew 6:19-21
How I’ll celebrate at the end of 2019: I’d love to celebrate meeting financial goals by enjoying a fancy dinner out.
Goal 6: Cultivate rest by having a weekly Sabbath.
Why? To practice rest as a rhythm and not a rescue and to fill up my cup before it’s empty.
The positive affect taking action on this goal may have on me and others: There are so many good things to come from this. I’ll be more refueled and refreshed to do His good work, which will positively affect all of my relationships and interactions.
Mini Goals:
- Take each Sunday as a day set aside for the Lord – limiting work, social media, and shopping on Sundays in order to leave time to get outside, go on dates, and do fun things.
- Study what the Word has to say about Sabbath.
3 Starting Steps (and when I’ll do them): Research Sabbath in the Bible and online (by 1/31/2019) , start praying for my weekly Sabbath (1/1/2019) and mark Sabbath days on my calendar (1/6/2019)!
Encouraging Words: Hebrews 4
How I’ll celebrate at the end of 2019: I’ll celebrate with a day-long retreat and thank God for a wonderful year of resting in Him!
Shout out to Taylor for painting me the most beautiful Bible to make my word visible every. single. day. this year.
There you have it – six (admittedly) huge goals all aimed at finding rest in Him throughout 2019. Cheers to an amazing year.
What I’m Pinning – 2019 Vision Board
