Rachel Fahrenbach shares how she learned to embrace her own uniqueness, and how it was through the most unlikely practice -- learning to rest -- where this happened.

Resources Rachel mentioned:

Emily P Freeman's Podcast: Come Home to Yourself
The Book: A Brief History of Sunday
Her very own journal: Rest & Reflect

Connect with Rachel on Facebook, Instagram, or her website (and while you're there, be sure to grab her Sabbath Starter Kit. 

Rachel's favorite time saver is Excel - especially when it comes to time blocking. Here are a few templates to get you started. 

Hear it:

Watch it:

Read it:

This is a transcript of the This Mom Knows Podcast - Episode - 21

Jennifer Uren
Rachel Fahrenbach is an author and storyteller learning to embrace her unique design. Through her writing, she invites you to see the gift the Sabbath as a guide for discovering your sense of identity, purpose, and belonging. Rachel is no stranger to being unique. She grew up the oldest of eight kids in a Christian homeschooling family, where she discovered that she was a creative. Learning to embrace her unique design has been a journey and now she helps others implement a weekly Sabbath practice that gives space to the questions of "Who am I?" and "Why am I here?? So welcome, Rachel.

Rachel Fahrenbach
Thank you for having me, Jenn.

Jennifer Uren
Oh, I'm so glad to have you here. Now, that gave us a little overview of what you do. But why don't you tell us a little bit more about who you are? Where you're from? Maybe a little bit about you and your your own family, not necessarily the family you came from?

Rachel Fahrenbach
Yeah, so I'm married. My husband, Steve, and I have three kids, our oldest is going to be 10. And she reminds me of that every day these days. And then we have an almost eight year old and a four and a half year old. And so they are a lot of fun. A lot of work and all the things right. But I love being a mom, I really do. We homeschool and we live in the Chicagoland area. And I...

Jennifer Uren
excellent.

Rachel Fahrenbach
Yeah, I don't know. There's any more you want to know about them. But...

Jennifer Uren
Those are fun ages, because you're starting to get a lot of the independence. But you're not quite all the way at the teen attitude that's coming. But these are the fun years, you know,

Rachel Fahrenbach
yeah, that's what everybody keeps telling me. I do enjoy it. My kids are really creative kids. And so it's fun to walk in on like fort building and invention building and stories that are being written and played out. And so it's a it is a fun age to watch them get to explore the world in that way.

Jennifer Uren
Yeah. Oh, that's great. So today, you know, something that you know about is Sabbath and rest. And so we're going to talk about that today, but before we dig into that, let's just back up a little bit. And let's start talking about this idea you introduce of embracing who God made you to be. What was it that started you down the path of exploring the idea that being who God created us to be was something that we needed to embrace in the first place?

Rachel Fahrenbach
That's a good question. So as from my bio, you know, I kind of felt like an outsider, a lot of my childhood and teenage years, and even into college. Those different experiences while I loved being homeschooled, I loved being part of a big family, they didn't make me feel like I was a little bit on the outside of things. But even more so was the way in which I kind of processed the world, I feel things very intensely at times, and I can respond pretty emotionally. And I would get a lot of criticisms for that. I would be told that I was being sensitive, or that I shouldn't care what people think of me, or different things like that. I was also just I could see a lot of different perspectives and a lot of different viewpoints. And that was a little overwhelming at times. And so there was this part of me that would get criticized and so I started trying to chisel away at that. I wouldn't call myself a people pleaser like I wasn't fully somebody who would like just bend to the whims of somebody else. But I did definitely try to get rid of the things that I knew people wouldn't like about my, about my personality. And so that kind of prevailed throughout my life. I got to the point,

Jennifer Uren
you took that criticism to heart if somebody said this you, you really

Rachel Fahrenbach
I did. I took it toheart and i and i would in what was even more interesting is that I would hear what other people were saying about people around me and I would take that criticism to heart to I was like, Oh, note to self people don't like X, Y, and Z. And I would try to like mold myself. And while not getting rid of myself, completely, I just didn't want to be unliked. And so I about five years ago, everything that I knew as stable and good and working and all the things kinda got pulled out from underneath me. Looking back now I can see that God was working in all those moments, but at the time, it felt very lonely. It felt very just kind of everything exploded. It's what it felt like. And I suddenly was being faced with this question of like, Who am I? Because I thought I was being a good mom, I thought I was being a good spouse, I thought I was being a good friend thought I was being a good ministry leader. And yet none of those things seem to be going well. And if they're not going well, then who am I? And at the time, I felt very like, disjointed, and through a variety of things, ended up starting to consider the practice of Sabbath. And in was in that space of Sabbath that I started to really talk with God about those questions of Who am I, what am I here for. And he started answering me and started showing me that it wasn't about what I was doing, but who I was at the core of how he had designed me. And so through that conversation with him, I started to understand, okay, to embrace my unique design meant more than just doing things, but actually living into who I was, and not apologizing for that. But or feeling like it was wrong, or all these things, but learning what it meant to, to embrace those things in a way that was submitting to the Holy Spirit at the same time.

Jennifer Uren
So instead of trying to figure out how you fit into a situation you started leading with who you were and what you could offer to the situation, is that kind of a fair flip?

Rachel Fahrenbach
Oh, yeah, exactly.

Jennifer Uren
Yeah, it's subtle, but it's powerful.

Rachel Fahrenbach
It really is. Because you you move from a position of I'm headed into a situation, and what is it that they're expecting from me to heading into such a situation saying, This is what I can offer, and how can I serve? And so that's a different perspective, when you're in, especially in the space of community, and, you know, relationships.

Jennifer Uren
And I think it probably trickles even to how you manage your own self. So like, I have the really unique position of having known you for several years, and having known you through this. And for example, I've always known you, as a writer, but I've really seen you transition from being a writer as an aspiration of what you would like to be known for, to something that you know, and something that was tangential to your real life to really it becoming a core part of who you are every day. So is that kind of what you're talking about with this embracing your unique design?

Rachel Fahrenbach
Yes, yes and no. Because, um, I have to, it's hard with the, with the example of being a writer because we tend to think of a writer as somebody who publishes things. And what I've come to understand is that there's actually like two different types of writers there's are the two parts of writing, there's the part of like the crafting, the creation, the processing through the written word. And then there's also like the work of being a writer, there's the business side of it. And so I just want to like clarify that, what I'm learning to, I'm actually learning to embrace both sides of things. But how I came to embrace the craft side of things as part of my identity was a few years ago, I was in a small group in the small group leader, referenced a podcast episode by Emily P. Freeman. In that I believe it was, welcome yourself home or something like that. I can't remember the exact title of the podcast. But she read part of it. And then later on, I went back and listened to the episode. And in that episode, Emily - I had never heard of me before. I was like, Who is this person? But she had asked this question about if you were to show up on your doorstep, how would you welcome yourself in? And I was like, that's a very interesting question. Because it was in this space of this five years where everything felt so chaotic. And so like, I didn't know who I was anymore. And there was parts of myself that I was like, very upset with and, and I would, and my response to that episode, was to write a short story. I had two characters. And they were both me. And it was from the perspective of each character. And they, the two characters talked about each other, once again, both of them being me, but about each other, and about the things that they missed about each other and the things that they didn't like about each other. And it really was about who I had become and who I knew I was at my core. And so I processed this identity question through writing, and that's when I really started to understand that I personally have to take all these big emotions, these big thoughts, these big ideas and process them with my Creator in the space of writing. And so for me, that's how I, really when I understood a little bit more tangibly, that even if I never published a thing, right, I needed to keep writing, and I need to make space for it in my everyday life, or else I was going to have too many bottled up emotions that I couldn't process properly. It, writing for me is almost like prayer. And it really is a sacred space with with God.

Jennifer Uren
So it really required intentionality. And moving it from this, you know, pampering selfish type of enjoyable activity to this is this is life giving to me, and that was part of how you embrace. Okay, that makes sense. Side note what's interesting, and I don't think I didn't realize all that about the small group and that episode, which I will link to in the show notes. But that same small group, that same episode sent me on my journey of getting to where I am today. So that's, that's just really interesting.

Rachel Fahrenbach
Very funny, isn't it? I think, I think I've heard you mentioned that before. And I was like, Oh, that's interesting that that happened. Yeah. But it's interesting, because how did you respond? Like, how did you begin to process that episode? Like, what was your res, like, how did you go about analyzing it?

Jennifer Uren
it was the beginning of giving me permission to start to say no to what other people wanted from me and to begin to take things off my plate so that I could be who I was supposed to be, which at that time was a mom to the the two littles that we just adopted at that - I didn't have the space in my life to really give them what they needed. So. So it took a lot of things off my plate, let me figure out who I was, what I was supposed to be doing, and then intentionally add in whatever supported that. So.

Rachel Fahrenbach
So I think it'll be interesting, like, did you make a list and start crossing those things off? Like moving them off your list? Is that how you processed it?

Jennifer Uren
Yes, because I'm much more of a list person. Yeah.

Rachel Fahrenbach
Isn't that interesting that the way that we respond to processing things and the way that we respond to these identity questions, say a lot about who we are at our core, like you're very analytical person, Jenn. And you're like, you have to think through things, right. And I'm more on this, like, storytelling side of things. And so I had to process through storytelling and you had to process through an analytical list, right? The idea, I think that's where, how I think that's what I'm talking about, when I'm saying embracing your unique design, understanding that it is actually more than just what you do. It's more than just what you like, or what your preferences are, it's about who you are at your core that the way in which you respond to the world, the way that your hopes and your dreams and your fears, the way that your sin tendencies are, your growing up, your background, all those things, inform - your community, how your community has shaped you - all those things inform who you are. And one of the things that came out of that exercise of writing the story was this moment where God like, showed me He's like, Rachel, you're trying to chip away at these things. And that's not what I'm calling you to do. I'm not calling you to chisel away, I'm calling you to let me restore them to what they should have been in the first place. And when I realized that embracing my design, my unique design was not about like, being empowered to be more of who I was, it was more about being empowered to become more of who God had designed me to be. That's when I really felt like, I had so much peace about it. And I stopped worrying about making, I mean, I still I still worry at times about making mistakes and like I am afraid of like people being upset with me. And I'm working on that. That's something I'm trying to hand over to God. But that fear lessened its grip on me a little bit.

Jennifer Uren
Hmm. So you've kind of you've kind of talked about this journey of embracing your own unique design, but I'm especially curious to know, how did you create the space in your life to do this with children in tow, because when you have kids, you don't have the luxury of I will take a day I will go on a long walk by the waterfront or you know, all these things that you normally think of when you ponder or work through a life change.

Rachel Fahrenbach
So a couple of ways. It was it was a it wasn't an overnight switch, right? Like it was a couple of trial it trying things and then adjusting those things. And one of the things that we tried was first I had joined a writing group and that helps me immensely because it gave me language for things that I knew, intuitively, but I didn't have words to describe kinda like for example, talking about crack-time and chunk-time, which is kind of a money term. But really what that means is that there are certain tasks, tasks that you can do while you're multitasking or like in 15-minute increments. But there's some work that you can do that you cannot do like that you have to have like a dedicated three or four hours to really dive in. And having that language and understanding that began a comm... gave me a way to talk to my husband, about the need to create a schedule that would allow for that. And so, we do homeschool. So I needed to protect that. That is a priority of ours. And there, it became really clear all of a sudden that oh my goodness, there's not many hours in the day. And so we had to get creative. And one of the ways we got creative was on Saturday mornings is my work morning. And well, Friday nights and Saturday mornings are my like really big chunks of time. But what I what really helped me though, was this practice of Sabbath that we created in our week. And I didn't know it at the time, when we first thought about making Sabbath a practice for us, that it would allow for this moment of really understanding who I am and processing those things. We, but in that space of of creating this 24 hour Sabbath for our family to practice, practice together. I was finding I suddenly had this hour of time to myself, that I got to sit with God and say, Okay, tell me, let's reflect on my past week. Show me what what you want me to know about this past week, show me where you've shown up, and I've missed it, and show me where I could use some refining, and show me ways that I can love others. And so that was that particularly has been huge in helping me understand who I am. And what he wants me to do,

Jennifer Uren
So let's talk about Sabbath. So most of us know it as one of the 10 commandments and something that was required to be met - an obligation. So what exactly is Sabbath? At least from the way that you're approaching it?

Rachel Fahrenbach
Yeah. So there's a lot of different viewpoints on Sabbath, which it's very interesting. I'm reading a book right now. I'm gonna mess up the title, I think it's called The History of Sunday, I think is what it's called. And I forget the author's name. But he is talking specifically about how the concept of Sunday developed throughout the centuries after Jesus' death and resurrection. And what is interesting to me is that Sunday, as we know it, is not what Sabbath is. It's not. And it wasn't what the early Christian church would have practiced either Sabbath truly is this commandment that God gave to the Israelites to show them that a better way of life. And so for me, when I look at Sabbath in the Scriptures, the things that jump out at me are a couple, couple things. One, I believe it's part of the creation fabric, I think the fabric of creation. We see the six days that God works and then on the seventh, he dwells with his creation, he rests with his creation, he communes with them. And so I personally see Sabbath as God's, his dwelling with, with us his communimg, communion with us, and his wanting to be with us. And I, I see Sabbath. That's what it was originally intended to be right? That Sabbath day was God being with us, and what has happened because of sin, that obviously was broken. And we lost that. As a, as humanity, we lost that intimacy with God. But God gave the Israelites a practice to remind them of that coming, that that coming restoration that was going to take place where that that intimacy with him was going to be restored. And so the practice of Sabbath is meant to remind them of that. In Exodus, we see another layer where it's to remind them that they're no longer slaves, that God is their redeemer, and he had, you know, he gives them freedom, and these, the symbolism, all starts pointing to Jesus, and what Jesus' ultimate, you know, death and resurrection was going to bring about. So to me, Sabbath is a symbol, symbolism of this better rest that was coming. The Sabbath practice that God gave to the Israelites. But now this side of the cross, I see Sabbath as a way to remind us, that of Christ's work on the cross, but also what's going to be coming when there is a new heaven and a new earth established. And so that final, real rest with God where that intimacy with God is fully restored and we get to live with him. So that's what I see Sabbath as. And so in that space of it being symbolic, and a reminder, I approach it that we don't have to be legalistic with it. But I do think that there are some things that the Jewish tradition has carried throughout the century that is beneficial in that symbolism. And I do think there is something to be said about it being a 24 hour day, since it was designed that way, originally, that original creation story. And even in Exodus when it talks about a day, that 24 hour period, I think, really allows for more than just, it gives us physical rest. But it also gives us opportunities to reconnect with God and with others. And so it's a space in which to do all that.

Jennifer Uren
So for your family or for any family, what I hear you saying is it's an intentional time of stopping and focusing on relationship primarily with God. But secondarily relationship amongst your family, would that be correct?

Rachel Fahrenbach
Yes, you said it so much better than I could! No, that's perfect. That's exactly what it is. It is an intentional setting aside of time to reconnect with God and others, it really is.

Jennifer Uren
And so I've watched you, as you have practiced the rhythm and the routine of implementing a weekly Sabbath for your family. I've seen the impact that this intentional rest and reflection has had on you personally. But really, it's counterintuitive, because there just feels like there's so much we have to do, so much that demands our attention, and I think this idea that you have to carve out time and space and stop is actually what keeps most of us from even entertaining this idea because I have too much to do to stop. So tell me how you kind of broached this idea with your husband and got your family on board with this crazy idea of carving out a whole day?

Rachel Fahrenbach
Yeah, because we do do a 24-hour Sabbath. So yeah, it is a little a little counterintuitive. I was very fortunate in the fact that both my husband and I were part of a small group that was going through the 10 Commandments. And I was asking some questions in that Bible study. And he was there with me hearing my questions and hearing the answers and hearing the conversation and contributing to that conversation. So I was fortunate in that we both walked out of that, like that Bible study time going, I think there's more to this thing than our culture gives it. And that there's something here that is a gift that we need to really, really embrace, for lack of a better word, but to really like start thinking about for our own lives about what that could look like what that practice could look like. And so it was I, I will be honest, like, there was a lot of pushback from my husband, he's like, Wait a second, how can we really fit this in? Like, our weekends are the only time we have to do things like how are we going to like really, like devote a whole 24 hour period. And I I'm, so I started researching it, I started looking into what typically is done. And I when I came back to him like you know, it's not just about ceasing. It's not just about like, let's not do anything for 24 hours, it let's relax, let's reconnect with one another, let's reconnect with God, let's remember what he has, how he's provided for us. Let's remember Jesus's death and resurrection let's, let's have a time of rejoicing and celebrating and these different things. And so when I put it that way to my husband, he's like, oh, okay, like, we're not just like, like, let's just be at home for 24 hours to sitting on the couch doing nothing or napping, or whatever. And then so that was that was the beginning of the conversation about how we could really tailor it to to be something that we enjoyed and delighted in and found life from instead of just like, I think we do, I think we do a disservice right now in our, we, our culture, this doesn't really have and I'm by culture, I mean, like Western, you know, Western church culture. We, we just don't really have a full understanding of what Sabbath could be we we've kind of like adopted this idea that Sabbath is just Sunday, all day. And you go to church in the morning, and then you you kind of do some stuff in the afternoon. And we we're not very intentional with it. And so we really don't have a framework. And so a lot of my husband's hesitation was just coming out of that, like what is the framework like how do you even do this thing. And so as we developed a structure for what our 24 hours look like, that's when we could just rest in that structure rest in that time frame. And we know what's going to happen with our Sabbath. We know, each week what's going to happen. And I think there's a little bit of relief that can happen when you know, what's what's coming.

Jennifer Uren
Yeah, and I appreciate that you've said it's intentional, but not legalistic. Because I was at a retreat several years ago, that talked about this idea and one of the women there had a personal 24 hour Sabbath period. But she was like, it starts at you know, two o'clock on Tuesday, and my family knows at 2:01 they better not interrupt and ask a question, they should have thought of it at 1:59. And I thought it was such a turnoff to me, because I thought, well, this is, you know, why would what it's not inviting, we're what I feel like what you're suggesting is inviting to everyone. And now you your kids are little enough, you're able to just sort of tell them, this is what we're doing.

Rachel Fahrenbach
And you know what they actually because, um, you know, it gives them something to look forward to, to because we do a meal together to start our Sabbath time, because we actually do Saturday afternoon, late afternoon to Sunday, late late afternoon. And it gives them, they know that after our meal, they have one on one time with us. That's part of our reconnection with them. And so they're like all about it, because they know they get mom and dad all to themselves for a good 20-minutes or so. And they get to pick whatever they want to do during that time. That's how we've structured our reconnection with them during that 24 hours. They also know that mom and dad won't be working during that time. They know that we're not, if we're on our phones, it's to take a picture, or to look up directions somewhere, right? I'm not complete, like, oh, our phone is nowhere near me like that's not right. Because I think I don't have a camera so I would miss pictures. Yeah, but only my phone. We're having a working camera too. So Steve can't even take pictures. But we do. Like they know that these things are true. And they know that they can expect it and they know that it's going to happen. And so for them, they're like, yeah, we like Sabbath because Sabbath means we're with mom and dad, and we get their attention and they're not having to work. So.

Jennifer Uren
Mmmm. Now you had talked earlier about having this hour to sit and pray and reflect and speak with God, which sounds like that is part of how Sabbath has helped you in embracing who you are. But how do you ensure that each, each person in your family has space to do something like that as well? Or do you?

Rachel Fahrenbach
Um, that's a really good question. Yes, we do. So our Sabbath meal. Our Sabbath meal has a specific script that I, I go, we read. And in that, in that time frame, we, um, we remember that you know, how God has provided for us through solving, you know, the salvation that Christ brings. We do communion with our kids during that time. And we and then we talk about our weeks, in, you know, some ways we do a devotion time with the kids. So to kind of further reflect on how does God wants you, you know, it's kid friendly, friendly, friendly questions about who am I and how does God want me to live. So we talk through those things with them during that time. And we then my husband said, the blessing over them, and, and a blessing for their upcoming week. And I think in doing that, there's a little bit of reflection, like, oh, like, the added speaking truth to who he sees, God has created me to be, and dad is reminding me like, this is you know, you are a unique individual. And you do have a life that God has designed for you to walk in. And so those moments we do with our kids give them time to reflect. And then also part of our 24 hours is our church service. So there's moments in that that they get to reflect, but really through that, really that Sabbath meal at the beginning of our Sabbath, that's really when the conversations have happened. And it's very interesting because having that dedicated, so it doesn't happen every week that they go into these deep questions with us. But there have been weeks where the kids are, we'll be talking and all of a sudden they'll be like, whoa, hold up, hold up, mom. What does that mean? Dad? What do you mean by that? And it gives us a chance to talk to them about questions, you know, about identity and purpose and belonging and all those things in their in their terms and then their you know, their words that they can understand. And so for them that their reflection time. For me it's the hour after that, after during the kids going to bed, Steve puts them to bed. I spend that time writing out in my journal asking myself the same reflection questions, and really digging in deep with God during that time. Steve and I spend time after that reflecting together as a couple. And talking through this past week, and what we hope for the next week and ways that we've seen God show up for us and, and different things like that. And then, Steve, Steve doesn't have a, like, dedicated time during our Sabbath for his own reflection. But he also has an hour long commute. So he does a lot of reflecting during that.

Jennifer Uren
So now you've talked about a lot of things that you've created a schedule, a prayer, all those types of things. And so to someone going well, this is interesting, but this sound kind of overwhelming on how to even get started, but you have created a resource for people to help them get started. So can you tell us about that?

Rachel Fahrenbach
Yes, I would love to. So I created a guided journal. It developed out of my own rhythm of writing, reflecting on the same couple questions each week, and realizing "Oh, I, I could help other people do this, too." And so I designed the journal to help you in to implement those rhythms of rest and reflection throughout the week. So that each day, there's a little bit of rest and reflection happening so that by the time you get to your Sabbath, it's just an ability to dig in deeper into what you've already been looking at throughout the week. And so it starts with a devotion, a devotional, that's short and easy to read. And then it gives you a little bit of a truth to rest in. And then each day, there is a question to further ponder that truth that was talked about in the devotional, and then a space for prayer so that you're reflecting and you're also giving those prayer requests to God and resting in his faithfulness. And then that goes throughout the whole week till you get to Sabbath. And then there's a spot for sermon notes so when you're at church, you can jot down things you want to look into deeper. And then there's further reflection questions. And so there's a weekly look back that has the same three questions that you're asked yourself each week. And then there's further questions and questions that you can further dig into. And so I suggest picking only three because, you know, it can be overwhelming to do a lot. So I just suggest pick three out of the list. And then there's a space to go into that. And then it wraps up with looking back on the prayer requests that God has answered. And and then there's a Sabbath prayer, too, at the end of the week to end with. And so that's how the journal is structured. The, the way that the devotional they're set up so it's interesting because I didn't write about rest. In the devote- in the guided journal, I wrote about the questions of identity, purpose and belonging. And so really, the the journal is helping you ask those questions with Your creator in the space of Sabbath. So it implements those rhythms and of rest and reflection in order so that you can have these conversations with God about who am I? What do you want for my life? And how can I live into that?

Jennifer Uren
That's great. And so the journal is called restaurant reflect. And it's a 13. Week 12 week,

Rachel Fahrenbach
12-weeks. There is a three month look back to it, though you can come. There's technically 13 weeks even though it's a 12-week journal.

Jennifer Uren
Okay, cuz I'm like a quarter is 13 weeks.

Rachel Fahrenbach
Which is why there's , yeah. Cuz you and I both know, we're like, we're like real followers. Like, there's 13 weeks in the month and half the average 13 weeks in the journal.

Jennifer Uren
13-weeks in the quarter.

Rachel Fahrenbach
Quarter. Yeah.

Jennifer Uren
So, but you have it set up so it's day one, day two. So if you say my Sabbath, because of how I work is going to be Thursday dinner to Friday morning. You, you can adapt it for yourself. It's not rigid in that regard.

Rachel Fahrenbach
Yeah, I kept it very generic. Because, um, so yeah, so day one. And even the weeks are generic too, so that it doesn't matter where you start in the year with a journal, you can just start that week.

Jennifer Uren
Okay. So for the mom listening, who is juggling all the things, family and work, and since she's gonna order this journal right after this interview is done, and she's not going to have it for a few days, what is one thing that she could do today to start moving into a place of Sabbath rest.

Rachel Fahrenbach
So I will say that one thing she could do would be to pick, pick a day, just start with that. Deciding how much time you're going to spend, like devote to Sabbath, and which day you're going to do that on, that would be the first thing you need to do. From all else, that's kind of like your anchor point. When you know that then you can prepare for it, you can plan for it, you can figure out what the structure was going to look like. But until you get that anchor point in there, you really can't move forward. So that's what I would suggest doing. Figure out is it gonna, are you going to start with one hour, a week? Are you going to try to do 10 hours? Are you going to do a full 24 hours? Start there? And then decide, okay, which day of the week? Is this going to happen on and then just commit to it? And just do it.

Jennifer Uren
So be intentional, pick a date, put it on the calendar, protect it. And I suppose as mom, she could decide to start with an hour for herself before she begins to to pull her family into this practice?

Rachel Fahrenbach
Yeah, well, um, yes, you could do that. That would be if you're hesitant if you're like, I don't understand how that or not sure how this would work with everybody else. You know, give it an hour, just, and I don't I want to make I want to stress the point of like picking a day and a time because if you're not intentional in that way, it can just fall off the calendar. It's like, Oh, I'm gonna do this hour. And it's gonna happen on Tuesday night sometime. If you're not intentional of when exactly then it's very easy, like, oh, you know, things got crazy at work. And then it got crazy at home with dinner than baths and putting kids to bed and now I'm exhausted. I'm just going to fall asleep. So, it really does. It really is important to pick the date and time.

Jennifer Uren
Yeah, well, those are. That's great advice. It's good. It's a lot to think about. And so thank you for sharing all of that. And as our time wraps up here, and we get to the end, I'm going to ask you a question that I ask everyone, which is, what is your favorite time saving gadget?

Rachel Fahrenbach
Oh, I knew, you asked this too. And I forgot to like really have an answer. Like, your time saving gadget - whoo, umm, it'snot really a gadget. It's my spreadsheet.

Jennifer Uren
Okay.

Rachel Fahrenbach
It's my, it's my Excel spreadsheet. Like him being able to allocate time to things is like, it's how I save my time. Because if I don't allocate them, you know, things can kind of bleed into other things. And then I The thing that I intended to do, and that's not happening so that so that's kind of like a really big deal for me is like my Excel spreadsheet.

Jennifer Uren
Okay, so it's how you plan out your time. That's, that's what saves you time. That's great. Yeah. So Rachel, how can people connect with you and learn more about you and your journal and maybe any other resources that you have to offer?

Rachel Fahrenbach
Yeah, so my website is RachelFahrenbach.com if you want to learn more about the journal is RachelFahrenbach.com/journal, so really simple to get you. I'm also on Instagram @RachelFahrenbach and on Facebook @RachelFahrenbach. So you can connect with me any of those different ways you can find me there and check out more writing about Sabbath and embracing your unique design and check out the journal, too.

Jennifer Uren
Excellent. Well thank you, Rachel, for your time today. Thanks for being here and I look forward to seeing what you have for us down the road.

Rachel Fahrenbach
Thank you so much for having me, Jenn.

Jennifer Uren
You're welcome.