This edit of The Collection is all about our back to school routines and some of the rhythms that hold us steady. As we move out of summer, we’re returning to reliable bedtimes, home cooked meals, an abundance of coffee, and all things homeschool.

As we prayerfully added a baby to our family, we also welcomed an additional season of sleep deprivation to our marriage. I keep reminding myself that it’s significantly easier this time around, but we’re definitely operating in a sleep deficit over here. Thankfully, we’re moving past the 4 month sleep regression, and this sleep sack has been an essential part of our 5 month old’s sleep routine. As soon as we zip it up, his eyes get heavy. It’s the 1.0 Tog which is great for a room kept between 69-73 degrees.

It was time to replenish our fruit and vegetable wash, and I decided to try this plant-based, non-toxic option. We aim to do all our grocery shopping on Sundays, so washing all of the produce is a part of that Sunday routine, too.

The Time Timer is a great visual timer for younger children. Our reading rhythms change with the seasons and ages of our children, but lately, we’ve been setting this timer to 20 minutes for independent reading. I’ll share more about our current reading rhythms in a separate note.

I have been wearing and sharing Bauble Bar necklaces all summer long, but this is the one I reach for over and over. It’s the perfect neutral as we head into fall.

The song that’s been stuck in my head lately? The one that’s been the source of all the kitchen dance parties? Just That Good by Kristian Stanfill:

'Cause You're just that good, just that faithful
And You're just that kind, I'm so grateful
That You saved my life like You said You would
So with my hands up high, heart abandoned
And a faith on fire, singing and dancing
'Cause You saved my life like You said You would
'Cause You're just, 'cause You're just that good

This is a little niche for homeschool, but I have loved these post-it tabs for marking the page of our lesson books. We’ve always just used a regular post it note, but these give such a polished look and feel more intentional.

Recently picked up this lip treatment from Sephora. Loved it so much that I gifted it to a friend for her birthday! I keep reaching for it.

For a few years now, I’ve been loyal to my laundry system. Since having another baby, I’ve changed it up a little bit but the goal remains the same: think about laundry less. I’ve always accomplished this goal by doing laundry in one day. Because if it all gets done in one day, I’m not having to think about it the rest of the week. Recently, I decided two days would be more realistic. It is so wonderful to not think about laundry the other 5 days of the week. I’ll share more about my process later, but what I really want to share with you is our laundry baskets. They are tall, slim, inexpensive, and I actually love that there isn’t a lid. Your clothes can breathe, they hold so much, and they are a simple yet sturdy design. If you’re in the market for new laundry hampers, these are the ones we love!

Every morning we gather on the couch to watch World Watch News and read a devotional as a family. Our last few years of homeschool, we’ve used one of Louis Giglio’s devotionals. This year, we chose to reread The Biggest Story Bible Storybook as our morning family reading. It intentionally reminds children that every story in the Bible points to the biggest story: Jesus! A beautiful sharing of the gospel with beautiful art along the way.

Supergoop’s SPF lip balm goes everywhere with me. A purse essential for the mom on the go (especially if you’ll be spending a lot of time at a sports field this fall).

This blue splatter mug is so classic. Would be such a fun happy to gift to a teacher or a friend this fall. Stick a treat or gift card inside and tie it up in cellophane!

I prefer the feel of a wooden spoon when cooking, but sometimes you just need the silicone option. We were overdue for some new ones, and I love these from Amazon.

That’s all for now. Until next time!

Before I get to some tangible ways we share our faith in our home, it’s important to remember that it all starts with our personal faith. We can read all the stories to our children and help them memorize all the verses, but our personal relationship with Jesus makes the greatest difference in the lives of our children. One of the simplest ways I share my faith is by asking my children for forgiveness when I sin. It shows my children my need for Jesus’ grace. So while the list below is important in their faith development, we must remember they’re learning the most from our example: “Christ in you, the hope of glory!” Colossians 1:27

A few resources (more here) I recommend for your own faith formation:

• CSB She Reads Truth Bible / CSB Study Bible

• Everyday Gospel by Paul David Tripp

• Christ-Centered Family (a collection of essays)

• Praying the Scriptures for Your Children by Jodie Berndt

• Habits of the Household by JustinWhitmel Earley

Below I’ve shared seven simple practices we use in our home to shepherd and disciple our young children.

1. Read Bible Stories

I like to introduce my children to the Bible using The Rhyme Bible. The simpler, rhyming text and beautiful illustrations both capture and keep the attention of a young child. As their attention and interest grows, we enjoy reading The Jesus Storybook Bible and The Beginner’s Bible. We use this type of children’s Bible to introduce Bible stories. For my older children, we love The Biggest Story Bible Storybook. Our ultimate goal is to introduce our children to a full-text Bible. For their 6th birthday, we gift our boys the Explorer Bible. We teach them how the Bible is setup and practice finding scripture. We read specific verses and passages alongside them in our homeschool Bible study.

As we read God’s Word, we learn about the character of God. We see his kindness, knowledge, and power in the stories of the Bible. We also teach our children that the Word of God is alive. It corrects and instructs. It is also completely true and historically accurate

2. The Five Finger Prayer

This is one of the first prayers we teach our children. The simple sentences and movement make for a memorable prayer. While teaching and memorizing the prayer, I explain the meaning of each sentence. For example: Why do we tell the Lord good morning? Why does he deserve our attention first thing in the morning?

This prayer gives our children an outline for prayer. We praise and honor God. We submit to His will. We ask for His help.

Good morning Lord. (hold up 1 finger)

This is Your day. (hold up 2 fingers)

I am Your child. (hold up 3 fingers)

Show me Your way. (hold up 4 fingers)

Amen! (hold up 5 fingers)

The Five Finger Prayer helps us introduce prayer to our children. We want to teach our children that they can talk to God anytime, anywhere, and about anything. Make prayer a habit in your home: pray before meals and pray at bedtime. But also, model prayer throughout the day as you converse with God about your day. The picture book Any Time, Any Place, Any Prayer is a great resource for introducing children to prayer.

Pray First for Young Readers by Chris Hodges is a fabulous prayer resource for older kids.

3. ABC Memory Verses

Scripture memorization allows the Word of God to be written on our hearts and minds. Our young children’s minds are eager for knowledge. My prayer for my children is that the tool of scripture memorization will plant seeds of faith and truth in their lives. Using the alphabet, we memorize 26 Bible verses, each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet.

Memory verse flash cards and activity pages can both be found at the end of my free Biblical Truths for Children resource.

4. Biblical Truths for Children

Biblical Truths for Children is a free resource that I created for families. It teaches 10 Biblical truths in kid-friendly language and illustrations. To learn more about this resource, head over to my blog.

With my older children (6+), I love reading The Ology: Ancient Truths, Ever New.

5. Songs of Worship

I let my kids request songs in the afternoon, but mornings at home and in the car are filled with worship! I am always adding to and editing our Family Praise playlist on Spotify. We also listen to my personal worship playlist.

6. Devotionals

With my toddlers, I love to read The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers at bedtime. It offers practical wisdom, scripture, and prayer.

We also love Louis Giglio’s devotionals: How Great Is Our God, The Wonder of Creation, Indescribable, and You Can Count on God.

7. Biblical Picture Books

We love to read in our home! You can shop our favorite picture books that hold a biblical worldview here. The “Tales that Tell the Truth” series is my favorite!

I hope these 7 practices give you vision and clarity as you pass on your faith to your children.

Each morning, we gather around the table to read a story and turn the numbered blocks to reveal the image that matches the story of the day. Advent Blocks help us to remember that we are celebrating Emmanuel, God with us!

2. Advent Devotional

Each evening, we read “The Way to the Manger” 25 day devotional.

3. Advent Wreath

We make an Advent wreath using a fresh wreath, leaves & berries from the yard, candle sticks, and candle holders. We place the wreath in the center of our dining table. On each Sunday of Advent, we gather around the table to sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”, read Bible verses related to the 4 themes (Hope, Peace, Joy, & Love), pray, and light candles.

4. Advent Countdown

Our boys love our fabric Advent calendar to help them count down the days until Christmas. There are so many fun yearly Advent calendars you can buy too: chocolate, Legos, Play-Doh, and other small toys. We’ve also made red and green paper chains to help us count down the 25 days of December.

5. 24 Book Countdown

Before December 1st, I wrap up 24 books (we own 24+ Christmas books, so each year I just choose 24 books to wrap from our collection). Every night leading up to Christmas, our children unwrap a bedtime story.

6. Christmas Traditions

Delivering our favorite Christmas mix to friends and family, decorating gingerbread houses, a visit to Santa, watching our favorite Christmas movies, making paper snowflakes, and driving around to look at Christmas lights are a few of our favorite Christmas traditions. We make a list of our favorite family traditions to help us celebrate intentionally.

7. The Shepherd on the Search

Our shepherd arrives on December 1st along with his book. We read the story where the shepherd shares how he will be hiding throughout the house all month long. Our boys love waking up to find the shepherd’s hiding spot. On Christmas morning, he is found by the manger scene with the first gift of Christmas. The boys unwrap the box to find baby Jesus (from our family nativity scene).

In my opinion, we’re taking far too many photos and videos. I understand it, and I’m guilty of it. We want to capture everything. We want to remember it all. But then, what are our plans for the memories? How will we ever look through thousands of photos? Will it even feel special? Will it even be possible to sort through them all?

If we really want to collect memories that we’ll treasure forever, we need to be more intentional about the photos and videos we take. And when we overdo it, we need to be intentional about deleting those images so they don’t waste space.

3 Ways You Can Change Your Mindset:

1. Be intentional. Think ahead about the photos you want to take. When we go to the beach, I love to capture a family photo, a sibling photo, and maybe one of each child playing. Once I have those photos, I can put away my phone and enjoy the day! Having a plan helps me to both capture memories and live in the moment. Think about summertime. Are you at the pool everyday like we are? I don’t need a photo of each day at the pool. But maybe 1-3 days over the summer, I intentionally take photos of my children doing things they love at the pool. And the rest of the summer, I get to enjoy the day with them without the task of taking photos!

2. Find the best, delete the rest. Every single night, scroll through the photos and videos from the day and delete the ones you don’t want to keep forever. This is so important. Quality over quantity.

3. Click record. While I love photos, videos capture our moments most authentically. We don’t have to wait for our children to give us the perfect smile, and I can more easily watch my children with my own eyes rather than through the screen while recording. Have you thought about that? When we’re looking at their faces through our phone’s screen, they see our phone. As often as possible, I try to make sure my children’s and my eyes meet when I have a device in front of them. Similar to photos, I still want to limit how many videos I’m taking. We’ll talk more about how to preserve your videoed memories.

Taking less photos will help your organization process tremendously. In the spring of 2020, I began the endeavor of organizing my photos. I had thousands. All those tips above? I hadn’t been doing any of them. I had probably 200 photos of a 3 month old with a little sign that said “3 months old” – trying to get the perfect one. My rookie mistake was that I never deleted the unchosen photos.

In 2020, I discovered Nancy Ray’s Legacy Photo System. It was so helpful in giving me practical steps to organize my photos. I’ll share a few of my biggest takeaways here, but I highly recommend purchasing her course if you want all the details and video explanations of how to get your photos organized once and for all.

Organizing your Photos and Videos

Your phone is not meant to be a storage device.

Get into the habit of moving your photos off your phone and onto your computer (or external hard drive).

On the first of every month, I load all of the photos and videos that are on my camera and/or DSLR onto my computer. Well, I don’t actually load them to my computer. I don’t want my computer operating as a storage device either, so I use an external hard drive. However, you can absolutely just use your computer’s storage. The Legacy Photo System showed me exactly how to use Image Capture to load my files to my device. And if you’re interested in using an external hard drive, the Legacy Photo System also showed me how to set up the hard drive appropriately.

You might be wondering how I manage the photos and videos on my phone after I’ve loaded them to my external hard drive. I like to keep 1-2 years of photos and videos on my phone, just so I can reference recent events quickly. I delete the photos and videos from previous years off my phone. Let’s use this year as an example. On January 1, 2024, I deleted all of 2022 off my phone. If I need to access any of my photos or videos from previous years, I know exactly where to find them on my external hard drive (more on this in a minute).

Organize your photos and videos into yearly and monthly folders.

The easiest way to organize your photos on your computer is using Desktop Folders. I used iPhoto for years and years and years. Moving my files from iPhoto to folders was a huge headache, but it was worth it.

I’ll mention the Nancy Ray Legacy Photo System again. It did an excellent job of walking me through setting up my folders. She teaches how to create specific event folders and even advice on editing your images so you’ll have folders filled with beautiful images. I took her wisdom and made it my own, but my advice is to find an organization system that works for you and be consistent in using it. Here’s a basic view of how my folders are set up to keep me organized:

Make sure your photos and videos are stored in at least two places.

Most people keep all of their images on their phones and utilize iCloud for backup. Since I delete off my phone, I don’t use iCloud. Instead, I use a second external hard drive to back up my original external hard drive. That might sound confusing, but I have one external hard drive that I use daily and I have another one that is kept in our safe. Every few months I make sure to copy over anything new from the one I’m using daily to the one in the safe. Regardless of your method (some like to use an online option), make sure your files are always saved in two places.

Publishing your Photos and Videos

This is your permission that you don’t have to have all of your systems figured out quite yet. Learning to focus on quality over quantity and creating an organization system for your photos… those are the hard parts! Once you have those practices in place, publishing your photos becomes less overwhelming.

I currently have a few systems in place for publishing photos, but I’m still deciding on other systems. And that’s okay! As my children grow and my relationship with photos shifts, I’m gaining new perspective on how I want our photos to live on. What types of albums do I want to create? What will we cherish? I know that since my photos and videos are seamlessly organized in folders on my external hard drive, whenever I decide on a project, they will be easy to find and work with.

Family Photo Albums

I print yearly family photo albums that will live with Matt and I, in our home, forever. I use Artifact Uprising to print our albums. They are a bit pricey, but the books always turn out so beautifully. I always wait for a sale before I place my order. I prefer the 8.5x8.5 Hardcover album. I select the full book jacket and the Seamist color option.

As for the kids, they each have a baby book that includes photos from their first year of life. I also have a little photo box by J. Devlin that stores photos from their first year. I have an idea that I’ll create photo albums for each of them, but I haven’t tackled that project yet. I’ll have to report back once those details are decided.

Printed Photos

I began a project with printing photos (4x6), but I decided to press pause. I felt like I was printing too many. I’ll revisit this project eventually and share what I decide at a later date. I’ll make sure to update this post.

Home Videos

I use iMovie to create yearly home videos. I like to make each video 60-90 minutes long. Depending how many videos I took in a year, I’ll have 1, 2, 3, or even 4 volumes for the year. Our home videos are simply the videos from my phone loaded back to back to back in iMovie. Hopefully I’ve kept up with purging my videos throughout the year. If so, creating the home videos is so simple because every video I load is a quality video that I want to keep for years to come! I don’t add any special effects or music or transitions. Creating these videos can be super simple, and they’ll be a family treasure!

My children love watching the Reels that I create on Instagram. In order to preserve these memories, I have begun loading my reels into iMovie with the same music. Our boys watch them all the time on my phone, so I know having these videos saved on my computer will be special to us in the years to come!

Q&A

If you’re still reading, how about a little Q&A? These are questions that I was recently asked on Instagram:

Q: Where do I begin? My photos are a mess.

A: If you’re truly overwhelmed, I would purchase the Legacy Photo System. Take some time to decide what you want your relationship with your photos and videos to look and feel like. I would also encourage you to start where you are and don’t stress too much about the years behind you. Begin purging your photos and videos each night, only keeping the best. Maybe you need to take less in general! Create a simple folder system on your computer. Take time to load your photos from the month into the appropriate folder. Eventually, you can look back at the photos from years past. It might take some time and be a bit overwhelming (I know because I’ve done it!). But first, focus on creating new habits to set you up for future success with your photos and videos.

Q: Would love to know more about the Legacy Photo System. Thinking about purchasing it.

A: It is $149 and truly worth every penny. My photos were so out of control when I purchased the course. I thought I had them organized, but I still just had way too many and wasn’t doing anything with them. The course helped reshape my mindset and give me a plan moving forward.

Q: When during your day do you sit to delete duplicate photos? Is it habitually at a certain time?

A: Yes, I go through my camera roll every night, before I go to bed. I want to handle the tasks of today, today! If I let my camera roll linger, it’ll fill up and feel overwhelming by the time I return to it.

Q: Do you use a “nice” camera? If so, which one?

A: Yes, I do. I use my DSLR very intentionally, only pulling it out for specific moments/photos. Our iPhones have gotten so great at taking quality photos, that it’s just easier to reach for my phone. However, I still love the crisp and bright images my DSLR offers. I own a Canon 5D Mark iV. I shoot with both a 35mm and 50mm lens. I taught myself to shoot in manual because then I don’t have to worry so much with editing the images later.

Q: How do you edit your photos?

A: I truly don’t like editing photos. However, I see a big difference when I make small adjustments. I use Lightroom to edit my photos, but I mostly just play with Brightness, Contrast, Shadows, and Temp. The Nancy Ray Legacy Photo system actually gives some advice about editing (and exporting) your photos in Lightroom.

Q: What computer do you have?

A: I have a MacBook Air, 13 inch with 500 GB of storage

I truly hope all that I shared helps you in your journey of organizing and publishing your family memories. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out on Instagram (@francieoutlaw) or by email at heyfrancieoutlaw@gmail.com.