Join Me This Summer For The Summer Bingo Challenge!

 

Well my friends, it's June and summer will officially arrive on Sunday, June 21! To be honest, it's a little hard for me to wrap my mind around that we are nearing the half way mark of the year! And while the "official" first day of summer is still a few weeks away, in our home the summer season is marked by two holidays, Memorial Day in late May and Labor Day in early September.  We've observed it this way for more than a decade now and I still prefer it.

All that to say, a few years ago as these days were approaching,  I realized that if we are not intentional, summer was going to slip by us before we even knew it and we might miss out on some fun seasonal activities and traditions. And though there is always work to do, for me, it's important to keep a balance between work and play. I get burned out quickly if I don't set aside time to engage in more leisurely activities. And so I decided to create a fun Summer Bingo Challenge. In each square I listed an activity that I would like to be intentional about doing over the summer season, with the goal being if not to achieve a blackout, to at least score a couple of bingos. Then, come September, I can look back at all the happy memories we made together!

As before, I thought it might be fun to share it hear with you! I created a personal copy for me, and then another with a few blank spaces for you to be able to write in your own ideas. You can find the link below. If you need some inspiration, just click on the image of my personal copy at the top of this post and you'll be able to see what I included in mine. If you find that some of the activities that I've included add too much going and doing to your already busy schedule, you can choose others that you can do at home. In the end the goal isn't even about getting a bingo, but about being intentional with how we spend our time in this season, and I know for me, having it written down where I can see it is half the plan to getting there!

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday, my friends! 

Ordinary Days Of Small Things 2026 Summer Bingo Challenge

You also might enjoy my Summer Tic Tac Toe

a little simpler take on the season with fewer ideas!

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Homemaking Monday - A Soft Start For Summer

❊ I HAVE FOUND SUCH JOY

I have found such joy in simple things;

   A plain clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,

A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,

   The shelter of a roof above my head,

And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,

   Where yellow sunlight glimmers through a door.

I have found such joy in things that fill

   My quiet days; a curtain's blowing grace,

A potted plant upon my window sill,

   A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase,

A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,

   And books I long have loved beside me there.

Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might

   Tell every woman who goes seeking far

For some elusive, feverish delight,

   That very close to home the great joys are:

The elemental things — old as the race,

   Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

- GRACE NOLL CROWELL

Now Available - The Ordinary Days of Small Things Summer Day Keeper

Many years ago, I began creating seasonal planners as a way to be more intentional about making lasting memories with my family. Over time, these planners evolved into what I now call Day Keepers. Each Day Keeper follows the natural rhythm of the four seasons — beginning in Spring with (March, April, May) continuing through Summer (June, July, August), Autumn (September, October, November), and Winter (December, January, February).

Rather than following the calendar year, I chose to begin each Day Keeper in the Spring, a season of fresh starts, new beginnings, and the planting of seeds — both literal and metaphorical. The year then flows naturally through each season, ending in Winter — a time for rest, reflection, and restorative peace. This cycle mirrors the rhythm of life itself, giving space for growth, change, and renewal.

Over time, I began offering the Day Keepers here on my blog, and they quickly became a popular resource for those looking to live more intentionally and savor life’s everyday moments. It has been a few years since I last shared them, but this year felt right to give them a fresh update and bring them back for you.

I have always made these planners available free of charge, and I will continue to do so this year. However, as much of the content is now being reframed and expanded for my upcoming book, What We Keep: Making Time For What Truly Matters, this will be the last year the Day Keepers are available free of charge. In the future, they will likely be offered as a companion piece to the book. So for now, this is your last opportunity to download them without cost.

If you’ve been longing for a way to live more intentionally, make lasting memories, and follow the natural rhythm of the seasons, I invite you to download your Day Keeper today and begin your year with intention.

Download the The Summer Day Keeper Here

Download the Summer Quarter 2026 Calendars Here

Download the Summer Phenology Wheels Here

Print one phenology wheel for each month and record daily moon phase, weather, sunrise and sunset, high and low temperature, sketch flora and fauna and anything native to your location. The possibilities are endless!

May this planner guide you in noticing what matters, celebrating the small moments, and carrying intention into every day of your year.

Homemaking Mondays In May: The Theology of Homemaking A Four Part Formation Series — Week Four: Who You Are Becoming Matters More Than What You Do

I think I used to approach homemaking mostly as something I needed to do well.

Keep things in order.

Stay on top of everything.

Create a home that felt peaceful and looked cared for.

And while those things matter, they are not the deepest thing happening here.

Because beneath the routines and responsibilities, something quieter is taking place.

You are becoming someone.

Not all at once.
Not dramatically.
Not in ways the world would necessarily notice.

But slowly, through ordinary faithfulness.

Through the constant opportunities to lay down your own pace, your own preferences, your own expectations for how the day “should” go.

Through the interruptions.
Through the repetition.
Through the small daily choices to respond gently when frustration would feel easier.

And I think this is one of the hidden mercies of homemaking: it reveals us, but it also reshapes us.

It exposes impatience.
It softens sharp edges.
It teaches endurance in places we didn’t know we needed it.

“Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”

- ROMANS 5:3–4

There are forms of spiritual formation that can only happen through staying.

Through tending the same spaces.
Through loving the same people over long stretches of ordinary time.
Through embracing a life where much of the work is repeated tomorrow.

And while that kind of life may seem small from the outside, God never treats formation as small.

Because He is not only concerned with what you accomplish.

He is deeply concerned with who you are becoming.

- Patient
- Steady
- Tender-hearted
- Faithful in unseen places
- Strong in quiet ways that no longer need applause to feel valuable.

Your home is not just something you are building, it is a place God is using to build you.

And maybe that changes the questions we carry.

Not:

“Did I get enough done today?”

But:

“Did I become a little more loving?

A little more grounded?

A little more like Christ in the middle of ordinary life?”

Because long after the laundry is forgotten, the meals are eaten, and the rooms are rearranged again, the character formed within you remains.

The work matters.

But who you are becoming matters even more.

If this idea of homemaking as spiritual formation resonates with you, these books pair beautifully with this week’s reflection:

The Life You've Always Wanted — A gentle, deeply practical invitation into spiritual formation through everyday life and ordinary habits.

The Practice of the Presence of God — A quiet classic about finding communion with God in simple daily tasks and hidden work.

Adorned — A thoughtful reflection on biblical womanhood, discipleship, and the beauty of a faithful life lived within the home.

Liturgy of the Ordinary — A beautiful exploration of how God meets us through everyday routines and repetitive moments.

They each remind us in different ways that spiritual growth rarely happens through grand moments alone.

More often, it happens quietly, right in the middle of daily life.

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