Stephanie Schweitzer
Melissa Richard
Jill McMillan
Hour by Hour Challenge | by Hope Minter
We have another Hour by Hour Challenge completed by the Hope Minter! Here is what she had to say about her experience!
>
“I’ve had in my mind that I wanted to do a documentary project where I took a photo each hour for a whole day, but hadn’t really planned a specific time to do it. Yesterday when I woke up, the thought crossed my mind again, and I said to myself, “why not?” So, I set an alarm for the top of every hour and kept the camera close at hand as we went about our day. It was an incredibly fun project and I loved flipping back through the images. I think I’ll repeat it every spring just to watch how my family grows and our routines change. I also had a few observations about myself and my family…but, we’ll talk about that later.”
7am – We’re up and beginning our morning routine. I glanced out the window to be entirely captivated by the way the sun was dancing on the wet grass. All creation really does testify to God’s glory!
8am – The girls both still request a cup of milk first thing in the morning, and in my mind it keeps them “little” just a while longer. Milk and Paw Patrol for them while I drink my coffee and have time in the Word to myself.
9am – Zoom call with friends during breakfast to celebrate a very special 3-year-old’s birthday.
10am – I began cleaning the house and the girls asked to go play in the garage since the wind was still a little bit chilly.
11am – The sun had things warming up a bit, so they made their way outside. A quick grab of their “diggers” and they set off to prepare dirt and rock meals. The imagination kids have is incredible.
12pm – This one is always the first to make it back inside. She has no trouble finding little things to tinker with and play all by herself. Sometimes, I think she’s going to be a bit more of an introvert like her mama, but then other times she’ll strike up a full conversation with a stranger.
1pm – With all the cleaning and playing going on, we got a late start on making lunch, but they didn’t mind because we made pancakes and I let them crack the eggs. Risky business, but it all turned out just fine!
2pm – The girls pulled out their rings of cards so that we could do our devotion and prayer time. These cards have been such an awesome tool for us and they love the bright colors. A little reading and prayer then we’re off to “rest time.”
3pm – About 45 minutes into rest time and I have one trying to escape and the other, accidentally I’m sure, has completely given in. She doesn’t sleep during rest time often, but I try to steal a picture when she does.
4pm – I was preparing to fold some laundry and stepped away for just a moment. Next thing I know this little one is digging around trying to find yet another outfit change. Have you taken note of how many different times she has changed clothes so far this day?
5pm – I needed to start cooking, so I set up the girls with a little art project. This may have been a mistake as it ended up taking me twice as long to cook with all the time I had to stop and help. But, they really loved the finished product.
6pm – Dad’s home and it’s time to eat, but we’ll practice patience skills sitting at the table without eating until all the plates are prepared and mom and dad sit down. This is an incredibly difficult task for them, but we’ll call it part of our necessary life skills education.
7pm – After dinner we headed out to practice riding bikes and spend quality time with daddy. Major bonus, God sent us the most beautiful sunset to enjoy while we were out. Since we’re pretty new to the bike scene, our one mile ride took quite a while and we were late heading home for bedtime.
With these images hitting the 12 hour mark and being behind on getting the kids to bed, I decided to call this project complete. I noticed a few things when thinking back over the day…
-
Being aware of the start of each hour really helped me to be more on top of the tasks I needed to complete. Maybe I should do this everyday?
-
My children are really, really good at playing independently and I should pause to be thankful for that more often.
-
It is no wonder I have so much kids laundry to do because between the two of them, they wore 16 different clothing items this day alone.
-
There really is beauty in each moment of every day. I’m so very blessed.
I encourage you to slow down and take notice of the beauty all around you. God is at work even when we can’t feel it or see it, but I think if we take a careful look we’ll see it in the little moments a lot more often.
Are you up for the challenge?
We have a regular feature to see how all of YOU spend your days! If you are interested in completing this challenge, and writing a few paragraphs about your day to go with your images, I’d love to feature you on the blog! Email your text and images (sized 2048px on the long end) to hellostorytellerblog@gmail.com!
So beautiful! I loved looking at the picture and reading about your day! As a mommy of two ( soon to be three) I loved getting a look into another mommy’s routine with the kids at home! Thanks for sharing! You’ve inspired me to do this, too! I’d love to look back one day and see how our routines have changed over the years!
Love this. Beautiful photos! Thank you!