Time To Take It Off! - A New Year Begins!

My first post in 2013 comes complements of one of my other blogs, Time To Take It Off!  The link to this post is below:

Time To Take It Off!: A New Year Begins!

Happy New Year! 

So it's been awhile since I blogged - work is nuts, but should slow down in September.  Hallelujah!  But I do have a recent post that you can visit here, that walks a slightly different journey for me. 

Hope you are all doing well!

--Debbie

Simplicity Projects

As some of you know, my small group is going through Cynthia Heald's "Becoming A Woman of Simplicity".  Though the book is more geared toward the spiritual, a lot of the lessons have really convicted me in simplifying other areas in my life.

In a nutshell, I have too much stuff.

Not that it isn't useful stuff, mind you!  I am frugal by nature, so keeping three 3/4 empty bottles of shampoo under my sink is normal (It will get through an empty bottle crisis if I run out and can't get to the store, says my logic), or keeping the partial container of spices that are at least four years old (Oregano!  Oh no!  What if I run out!).  In light of the fact that we are creeping up on the one-year anniversary of move into the new house, I am frustrated with the fact at how much we have STILL not unpacked.  Or organized things that were haphazardly thrown into closets or cupboards just so we could function post-move.  Or simply tossed the junk that has moved with us several times or sat in our storage unit for four years.

In light of that, I am launching a small series of simplicity projects.  One small thing a day to help me simplify my life.  Less clutter and less mess is less stress.  More time with my sweet Savior, to focus on my family, to have more energy towards more healthful living.  So today's project took about 35 minutes and consisted of two kitchen cupboards that have driven Jonathan and I crazy for months.  I forgot to take before pictures, but here is the after effects of my work today:

If you have not been in my kitchen before, you wouldn't know that my spices filled the entire larger cupboard, and my coffee mugs and our medicines overflowed the smaller one. On top of that, I have had no where to put my leftover containers and they were just piled in with the pots and pans.  Enter in a Simplicity Project and viola!  Space (and the realization that I am out of K-Cups)!  As soon as let a few more days of dishes/leftovers from the fridge and dishwasher cycle through, any spare lids without an owner will be tossed and my batter bowls will on the top shelf as well.  So in reality, it was really three cupboards that got organized today.  :o)

And in light of simplifying, I even ordered the Large (2 Cup) Measure All Cup at a Pampered Chef party tonight.  I only have mismatched measuring cups, so out the window they will soon go to help cut back on some space as well.  Simple and practical!

Yes, I Am Still Alive...

...just a very busy working mom!  Hopefully normal blogs will resume soon (as in this week), but I am also blogging over at http://timetotakeitoff.blogspot.com/ right now as well.

Hope you are well!

--Debbie

A New Year, A New Direction

Image compliments of Google Images

So this blog is nearly two weeks overdue; however, I was sworn to silence as we waited for some events to fall into place.  Yet now it is time as Jonathan and I ready ourselves for a launch towards of new direction in our lives, both individually and as a family.

For two or three months now, we have begun to sense a season of change.  We love the area that we moved to this summer and have definitely been made aware of the need that is here, but have continued to see that the reason we originally came to Effingham County and our heart for ministry in this area no longer lie on parallel paths.  In light of that, Jonathan has resigned from his pastoral role within the church to accept a position with Lifeway Christian Resources, and we are truly excited to see what God brings out of that!

In addition, I am also going back to work full-time outside the home.  Not so much for the money or benefits, though those are a huge plus, but we have felt the need to bring a bit more security to our home.  In light of that, I have accepted a marketing and sales position with a landscape design company which all but fell in my lap in a completely divinely-appointed way.  It was overwhelming to see how God orchestrated this position, and I am very excited to be starting with them tomorrow.  It will be a change for all of us, the kids included, as either Jonathan or I have always been home with them, but once again, God just laid a perfect situation with a mom in the church to watch them during the week.

God has continued to lay Isaiah 43:19 before me during this time, which says: "Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, [and] rivers in the desert."  Each new year, I normally gravitate to a verse or passage, and this seems to be the one for 2012!  In addition, I was introduced to a song named "Beautiful Things", which has so utterly captivated my heart during this time where we have stepped out in faith and obedience, which I will share with you.  May it touch your heart as it has mine!

I'm A Dreaming...

Truthfully, the week after Christmas and before New Year's is almost more fun than the whole Christmas season combined.  Well, for me that is.  And maybe a few other nerds like myself.  Why?

It's time to dream!

Most would call dreaming goal-setting, which is the whole purpose of dreaming.  Every year we do this, for ourselves individually, as a couple, as a family, for the business.  It is an act we bathe in prayer, do lots of writing, and usually, many exciting things come forth out of this time.  Some years, theme verses, quotes, and/or songs are birthed during this week that are often found months later to give great comfort and support for a season that is to come.

It's exciting.

I love it!

"Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, [and] rivers in the desert."

Isaiah 43:19

Jesus Versus Santa Claus

Jonathan and I are right smack dab in the middle of the Santa Claus issue.  Before we got married, we had decided that we would not "do Santa" with our children, and up until this year, it hasn't been that much of an issue.  However, this year is different!  This is really the first year Emily has been "into" the whole Christmas season, and oh my!  We are being suffocated with the commercialism of the holiday.  I think we have asked each other over a dozen times "where did she get that from?" when she tells us what she wants Santa to bring her, how the toys get to our house, and on and on.  Now, if you know us, and if you have ever met our daughter, it is not that we discourage imagination.  Right now, she is playing that she is rescuing Bambi from the lions (i.e. our two dogs) with her imaginary friend, Diego, using pixie dust so they can fly away.

Yet balancing Jesus and Santa is a chore!  It seems that once a year a figurative character is given God-like status and I often feel like the proverbial Grinch when I say a hundred times a day that we celebrate Jesus birth and giving to others at Christmas, be it at the checkout line in Walmart when she sees a Disney toy she asks if Santa can bring her or when someone asks her if she has written her letter to Santa yet.  Truthfully, I cringed yesterday when a random stranger at the mechanic's shop told Emily she needed to be good so Santa would bring her lots of presents.  I feel like all my parenting of teaching Emily how to make wise decisions because of right and wrong based on the Bible has flown out the window.  Why on earth would a child, mine or not, want to learn to recognize sin, confess, repent, and bear the consequences when a few weeks of "acting nice" creates the illusion of reward?

However, it has opened up the door for more learning for her (yes, we turn everything into a life lesson).  I have enjoyed teaching her the background of Saint Nicholas, and giving to those who need more than we do.  In her Sunday School class we are leading up to Christmas with focusing on part of the Christmas story each week with our homemade paper Advent wreaths.  We are planning and making gifts for family, church friends, and neighbors and trying to show her what a joy it is to give.  It doesn't have to be money (and we don't have much to give), but it can be love, time, relationship, and even our home.

Who knows what she will remember twenty years from now, but we are trying our best to follow the advice my mother gave us when Emily was born:  to make a difference against the world we live in, we have to parent radically.  Does that mean I have to repeat myself about celebrating Jesus next time I'm in the check out line?  Yep.  And please, don't think I have all the answers.  We don't.  We are very much not perfect parents.  And the Jesus vs Santa debate will go on in our home for years to come.  But something must be sinking in a bit.  She's been known to jump on her bed singing her made-up song "Praise Jesus, Praise the Lord!" very loudly so Santa can hear it at the North Pole.

That's my girl.  Hopefully it will sink in via osmosis to Ethan, right?  :o)