138 Hours Outside - June 2022

June -  138 hours (523 total)

What a month! This month very much consisted of pre-road-trip planning, road trip, and post-road trip recovery.  We went to a couple parks and on some walks at the beginning and end of the month (the boys particularly enjoyed our trek to the "gingerbread house" local candy store where they each got to pick out their own candy), but the bulk of our hours outside were from our 2 week road trip out west. I'm working on blog posts to chronicle that journey in entirety, but we spent a lot of time at local parks and splash pads on the road. It was neat to see the changing scenery out the window from farms to wind turbines to mountains to desert mesas back to flatlands. We also experienced varying temperatures from near-100 degrees in Tulsa to sweatshirt weather in the mountains.  Our one night in the tent landed us in the van because of high winds and predicted thunderstorms.  It all was an adventure, for sure!

Here’s our month in daily 1 second increments: 

And here's our daily breakdown of hours outside:

June 1st - 3 hours Johns Turn with Daddy

June 2nd - 4 hours yard, Moondance

June 3rd - 12 hours yard, clean van, tent

June 4th - 12 hours tent, KidCity lunch @ Shillito, yard

June 5th - 5.5 hours Simple Church, Colson party

June 6th - 2.5 hours Jacobson, paddleboats

June 7th - 4 hours yard, back neighborhood

June 8th - 3 hours yard (road trip binders)

June 9th - 2 hours Lower Howard Creek

June 10th - 3.5 hours front yard, prep

June 11th - 3 hours STL Citygarden, Centralia Park

June 12th - 5 hours parks, rest areas, pool on farm

June 13th - 6 hours Mingo, Parmer Park, treehouse, Meadow Music

June 14th - 10 hours yard, Elks Park, mini golf, walk to N. Boulder

June 15th - 7 hours Bald Mountain hike, Eben Fine, Pearl Street

June 16th - 6 hours Boulder Falls, Nederland, Chautauqua

June 17th - 8 hours yard, Paco, Clinton Gulch, tent

June 18th - 6.5 hours Mancos Burro Fest, Canyon of the Ancients

June 19th - 3 hours Four Corners, Centennial Park, school playground

June 20th - 1.5 hours drive to NM, A Park Above

June 21st - 4 hours Cadillac Ranch, AMBUCS playground, Penny's

June 22nd - 3 hours OKC morning, Tulsa HOT!

June 23rd - 3 hours Saint Louis Zoo

June 24th - 0.5 hour (Daddy day)

June 25th - 4 hours walk, DJMAC backyard, CHILL dance

June 26th - 1 hour yard

June 27th - 4.5 hours yard

June 28th - 4 hours Alexandra's, yard

June 29th - 3.5 hours Children's Garden, yard

June 30th - 3 hours walk to Candy Store (HOT!)

109 Hours Outside - May 2022

May -  109 hours (385 total)

May was a month of being outside and meeting new friends.  We had originally planned on continuing our homeschooling year until around Memorial Day, but the weather was just so nice and there were so many opportunities to meet up with new and old friends. We joined a homeschooling social group in April and attended many events with them in May, including park play dates and Field Day! We had some family dinners outside with our new-to-us table. We met up with cousins at Eckert's Orchard on Memorial Day.  We had our family Survivor challenge that Lucas planned. We camped in our backyard and attended some home church gatherings outside (which was SO good to be in fellowship with other believers!). 

Here’s our month in daily 1 second increments: 

And here's our daily breakdown of hours outside:

1 - 2 hours yard

2 - 3 hours front yard

3 - 3 hours Evans, backyard

4 - 2 hours Nicholasville Park

5 - 4 hours forest, yard

6 - 1.5 hours

7 - 1.5 hours (cold, rainy)

8 - 3 hours yard, Wellington

9 - 4 hours yard, Cooper date, flower-planting

10 - 4.5 hours Legacy Grove, yard

11 - 2 hours Arboretum

12 - 4.5 hours Evans, back deck

13 - 12 hours noon-midnight camping, baseball game

14 - 9 hours tent, yard

15 - 3 hours Simple Church

16 - 3 hours Southland, yard

17 - 4 hours Walkers in Wilmore, Memaw

18 - 3 hours Masterson (playground, sheepdog trials)

19 - 1 hour yard

20 - 5 hours Field Day!

21 - 0.5 forest tour with Robinettes (started thundering)

22 - 2 hours yard, Mimi

23 - 2 hours geocaching event - Centennial

24 - 4.5 hours Legacy Grove, dinner

25 - 2.5 hours yard, Survivor challenge

26 - 2 hours yard, deck, Southpoint (rainy)

27 - 3 hours yard, rain

28 - 4.5 hours yard (table games), creek

29 - 4 hours yard, Hill n Dale picnic

30 - 4 hours Eckert's Orchard

31 - 5 hours front yard, back yard (hose), Veterans Pool

Summer of Psalms Family Challenge

I'm challenging YOU to memorize a psalm with someone this summer! 

Why a psalm?

• They're varying lengths, so you can pick one that would be a challenge but not too hard
• Psalms were meant to be spoken/sung out loud, and they connect with our hearts

Why with someone?

• Not only does it hold you accountable to memorize with someone else, it gives you a shared experience together.
• My context is being married with 5 kids, so that's my current "family," but you could memorize with a spouse, sibling, or friend!
• You don't even necessarily have to live in the same house or town -- your memorizing buddy can live halfway around the world!  Just have a shared experience and check in occasionally.

Why this summer?

• short-term goals are easier to achieve than long-term goals
• we shift our thinking during different seasons, so it's a perfect time to set a goal

Do I have to memorize a whole psalm? There's no "right" or "wrong" in this -- any time spent memorizing Scripture is a worthy investment.  If you'd like to pick a shorter segment of a psalm, you totally can (Psalm 119 with 176 verses may be a little too ambitious in its entirety!).  I also think there's value (and momentum for future memorizing) in knowing that you've memorized a whole chapter of the Bible (even if is "only" five or six verses).

To make this a bit more practical, here are some steps to get you started: 

• declare yourself by choosing a psalm to memorize and get your people on board by mid-June.
• make a plan for how to break up your psalm into weekly or monthly segments over the course of June, July, and August
• check in at the end of each month with your progress! 

If you know anything about my Scripture memory journey, you know that I prefer and encourage memorizing with song.  There are many great Scripture song artists on YouTube who focus on psalms (like Sons of Korah, The Psalms Project), but I want to highlight my favorite -- The Corner Room (ESV).  If you pick one of these psalms, you can listen to the song as a family, and then committing it to memory will be that much easier.

• Psalm 1 (6 verses) - Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked... 
• Psalm 8 (9 verses) - O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name...
• Psalm 13 (6 verses) - How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
• Psalm 16 (11 verses) - You make known to me the path of life...
• Psalm 23 (6 verses) - The Lord is my shepherd...
• Psalm 42 (11 verses) - As a deer pants for flowing streams...
• Psalm 46 (11 verses) - God is our refuge and strength...
• Psalm 63 (11 verses) - O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you... 
• Psalm 67 (7 verses) - May God be gracious to us and bless us... 
• Psalm 100 (5 verse) - Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 
• Psalm 121 (8 verses) - I lift up my eyes to the hills
• Psalm 127 (5 verses) - Unless the Lord builds the house...
• Psalm 139 (24 verses - 4 separate songs) - I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made...
• Psalm 150 (6 verses) - Let everything that has breath praise the Lord...

Here's Psalm 100:

Let me know (through a comment or to me directly) if you're in!