Our family prayer journal

I had a few comments on Facebook about our family prayer journal, so I thought I would share the details with you. It has filled 2 needs for us...first, how to begin praying on a daily basis for all of our family and friends. This is an area where I struggled in consistency and I really wanted to set forth a good example for my children. Also, what to do with those beautiful pictures that we receive at Christmas? We used to put them on our refrigerator but we were running out of room.

This fall I came across a Mead Primary Journal in the clearance aisle at our local Wal-Mart. It is a composition book with a 1/3 of the page blank for the child to draw a picture. I have had it sitting on my shelf for a special use and I found one!! I use the unlined area to mount the pictures or prayer cards. And in the space below I have written the name, family members and any prayer needs I know of.

I have designated 3 pages for each day (6 pages front & back). The first page is for family members. I have included parents, siblings, aunts & uncles and any cousins we have kept in touch with. This adds up to quite a few in our family: my Dad has 6 brothers and sisters alone!

Next, we have civil and governmental leaders. Some we included are U.S. President, V.President, U.S Rep, U.S. Senator, State Rep. State Senator, Sheriff, police men, firemen, IA Family Policy Center, NICHE (our State homeschool group), etc. Because of the past election we have become more involved with our local political party and have been able to meet face-to-face many of our leaders. I look forward to the day when one of the boys walk up to one of them and shake their hand and tell them they have been praying for them. If you do not know the names of some of your leaders, please begin to do so. We need to be watchful and in prayer for our nation. When I ran out of names I began adding those who we rub shoulders with each day: our mail man, our vendors and salesman for our business, the librarians, the "box lady" (We have a center we take our boxes to for recycling. I have made a point to get to know Rhonda who works there so we can witness to her. The boys even sang to her at Christmas.)

On the third page of each day are our church families. We have a smaller church so we can cover all our families in 1 month. The fourth page is for friends. This is where a lot of the Christmas pictures went. :) I always felt badly when I started receiving Christmas cards and realized I hadn't kept in touch throughout the year. Now we can keep the friends fresh in our minds each month. I may also find the time to drop them an e-mail or card near the day we pray for them.

And on the fifth page are missionaries. Their prayer cards get mounted on the top of the page and their current prayer requests are written below. We have 3 families we have chosen to begin praying for that are not a part of our church list and the rest are missionaries from our church. My goal is to write those for whom I do not have prayer cards and request them so that we can begin to put more faces to names. Perhaps I may help the boys to find pen pals from these families too.

We still may tweak our system a bit. Sometimes I wonder if I have too many on our list? But then we have 5 boys, so each of us takes one page with some getting prayed for twice. It has been encouraging to hear our little ones pray. They used to get stuck praying the same words over again and over again, now they hear a name or see a face they know and are anxious to pray for them. I would also like to bring some of the needs before God on a more daily basis. This will hopefully happen in my own prayer time, which still needs some work of its own. I would welcome your suggestions on that.

'I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers," Philemon 1:4

My daily schedule

It is snowing today here in IA. So I can stay home and get some things done. I have wanted to post my schedule so you could know why I don't get to post as often as I want to. But I am sure that everyone's schedules are just as crazy. :) This is a typical weekday at my house...

6:00AM Bible Reading
6:30AM exercise/plan my day
6:50AM shower
7:00AM start breakfast/make Jon's lunch
7:30AM eat breakfast (wake older boys if they are not up yet)
8:00AM everyone does chores (on W,TH,F I give my sons' piano lessons)
9:00AM start school w/Bible, memory verses, singing
9:30AM do reading, LA & math w/ Jesse (older boys begin their own school, Joe & Jason at computer)
10:00AM Snack/work w/Jeremy (Jesse takes break)
10:30AM work w/Jonathan (Jeremy takes break, Jesse finishes seatwork)
11:00AM World history, poetry with all the boys
11:30AM make phone calls, start lunch
12:00PM lunch
12:30PM clean up lunch/ pack for shop
12:50PM leave for shop (we don't always get there on time :(
1:00PM-5:00PM work at shop (boys help out, finish school, play outside, Jason naps for 1 1/2 hrs.)
5:30PM start supper
6:00PM supper (we like to listen to Adventures in Odyssey while we eat)
6:30PM supper clean up
7:00PM family time (we play games, Wii, or sometimes finish school work)
7:30PM family devotions and read-aloud (currently Mr. Popper's Penguins)
8:00PM 2 & 5 yr. old bedtime
8:20PM 7 yr. old bedtime
8:30PM reading (The Westing Game) to the older boys
9:00PM older boys in bed I try to catch up with Jon, correct math, finish reading, etc.
10:00PM bed (I may have fallen asleep before this!!)

This schedule helps me to get the priorities done though my days do have a lot of variations... Right now we are involved in a music concert and drama with our church school. So on M, W & F we practice at the church from 2-3PM. On T & TH the older boys go to drama at the same time. On M and TH, I teach piano lessons in the late afternoon so I leave work early. On Tuesdays, we go in to work at 8:00AM and work all day. This enables me to get Jeremy to speech therapy at 10:00AM at our local middle school. On Tuesdays, I also get to share lunch with one of my very close friends and her girls. It is a special treat for me to get some "Mom time".

We make very few commitments on week nights. There is just not enough time. We feel that the boys and the shop are our priorities right now. "The shop" is Rich's Auto Repair, which my husband bought from his Dad 3+ years ago. He is a full time mechanic there while I answer the phone, write tickets and keep the books.

My weekends involve cleaning on Saturday morning. This is a family affair with each of the boys having their own chores. Saturday afternoon I spend 1-2 hours planning school for the next week. This makes the school days go smoother as I don't need to find what the boys are to do next just send them to read their schedules. Sunday we go to church at 9:30AM and again at 6:00PM. I usually get a well-deserved nap in the afternoon.

I have a lot of hobbies that have been set aside during this season of my life (sewing, cross-stitching, scrapbooking). I still allow myself the pleasure of reading and now blogging, but my time spent on these is carefully monitored. I have also been working on some herb courses lately, which will hopefully allow us to open a natural health store in the near future. In the spring, my Mom-In-Law and I put in a large garden which takes most of my spare time throughout the summer and early fall. This is like a hobby to me as I love to watch those little plants grow and see all those colorful jars on the shelves.

My ultimate goal.....
"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates."
Proverbs 31:30-31