It's About Time

Here’s a revolutionary thought: There are twenty-four hours in a day, and no matter how many things I want to get done, or how many hours I waste along the way, I can’t extend time.

Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. Job 14:5

Recently, I have listened to The Power of Less, by Leo Babauta, on CD. Actually, I have listened to it twice. “Do less, get more done,” he says.

The Power of Less is about identifying the essential and eliminating the unnecessary. Babauta says that in order to streamline your life, you have to set limits for yourself and focus your energy on achieving your goals.

Thankfully, God has set the limit of hours in a day and the days of my life. I know that if I were in command of the number of hours I could have in a day, I would be perpetually trapped, trying to just finish ONE MORE THING.

All I have to do is figure out what is important to me, how long it will take to get done, and when I’m going to do it. I need to set limits in my own life, so that I can focus on what is important to me instead of doing every little thing that comes up.

So the other day, I sat down to organize myself in a schedule. I made a plan for the hours of the schooldays for the rest of the school year, which is now less than three weeks. Hooray! And even so, I only planned out Monday through Wednesday, because some fun out-of-the-ordinary thing is happening at school every Thursday and Friday until the end. It’s a sprint to the finish every year!

I also scheduled my summer days with the kids, including quiet time, meals, chores, swimming… Then I realized that I had left post-pool SHOWERING out of the equation. It seems I was planning for a pretty nasty summer!

It looks like I have a ton of “free” time, which left me puzzled. I am putting MORE in my schedule, but seem to have MORE time? This should prove to be true, if I work efficiently. Hmm. Just evidence that I am a blatant time waster, and reason why this verse often haunts me:

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:27

OUCH.

I need to cut carbs from more than just my dinner plate! Hopefully my sparkling new schedule will help me get my stuff together.

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Growing Up

I started growing up ten years ago today. My grandmother pointed that out to me recently. We were talking about what a terrible child I was growing up. She said, “You didn’t really settle down until you had children,” as though it were a surprise… After all, how many nineteen year olds just up and decide to become settled? Not many, I imagine. None that I have ever known, anyway.

God has taught me so much during these ten years. I’ve learned that love for a child is a ferocious thing. I’ve learned what real commitment is, what relationship is all about, what it’s like to slowly, purposefully, faithfully lose control. Not that I have mastered these things. I just now know what they are.

I think of all those strong Biblical mothers who released their young sons to the will of God. Sarah, Hannah, Mary... What were their boys like at the fine age of ten? Were they sharp and testing like mine? Were they careful and skeptical? Were they imaginative? Clever? Witty? Were they dear? And loving? My Jackson is all of these things, and more.

Looking back I can hardly believe that God entrusted me, a clueless kid, with a precious baby.





I cherish the time that I have had with you, Jackson, and I look forward to the years ahead!

As you get older and seek more freedom in your days, I hope that you will lean on all that we have taught you. Don’t try to grow up too fast. Let the whole world see WHO you are and WHOSE you are.

I love you, Bubble!

Our Year Without Buying: April Update

So far, so good! I’ve never been a big shopper, so I must say that it’s been extremely easy for me to simply not shop. I’ll pass by a store that I like, thinking, “There’s no reason to stop… I have nothing to buy!” Before, I could’ve wasted an hour in Target or lost an entire afternoon browsing any of my favorite thrift stores. Not that I am swimming in extra minutes, but I am definitely enjoying more time.

And I’m really enjoying less stuff! We had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. In preparation, I spent loads of time pilfering the cabinets and closets for anything we could do without. I was shocked at how much excess we had, stashed away. Useless. At the end of our one-day sale, we loaded what was left and hauled it away to Goodwill.

With the earnings from our sale, we bought supplies for a little garden box in the yard. There are several more things that I want to plant in it, but I haven’t made it back to the nursery. I could take all the time I’m saving by not going to Target and spend every minute (and then some!) walking the aisles of every nursery and garden center in town.



The other day I watched The Story of Stuff, by Annie Leonard, which talks about, well, stuff. Where it comes from, and where it goes. Eye opening. And I say this as a person whose eyes were already open. I cringe when I throw things away, knowing that my stuff is rotting away in a landfill. Bleh. But that’s how it is. Some things just have to be thrown away. Things beyond their usefulness, beyond salvage. Things like this:



These were J's shoes. It wasn’t a shock… I knew that we were going to have a shoe crisis. I just didn’t know it would be so dramatic, and so poorly timed. J wore these shoes, in this condition, to church Easter weekend. How embarrassing! I am SO thankful for the grandparent intervention, providing us with several new pairs. Thanks, Nana! I hope the boys appreciate this blessing as much as I do. (They probably don’t. I know.)

Speaking of Easter...

Last week, P had to take a dozen eggs to school, each stuffed with some sort of non-candy prize. I keep a stash of little junk toys in the pantry. They are all trinkets from school and birthday party goody bags. And the boys never even notice that I’ve swiped their new junk toys and put them in my little bag. So, I stuffed a dozen plastic eggs, which we already had, with little toys, which we already had. Wasteful spending averted. Whew!

The boys’ Easter baskets were a bit ironic. They were filled with candy and hygiene items. How random is that? But since we don’t really “do” the whole Easter Bunny thing, I didn’t see any sense in making purchasing exceptions for their baskets. We’ve said from the start that we would allow the purchase of hygiene items and food… candy is, after all, edible. Besides, my kids love to get new toothbrushes and Star Wars Band-Aids, and it's fun to watch Peeps expand in the microwave.



I’m glad that this holiday was easy to navigate within our chosen limits. But best of all, I’m glad that the boys understand that Easter is not about chicken embryos and sneaky bunnies. They know that Easter is a celebration of Jesus, the sacrifice for our sin. They know that because of His triumph over death, we can someday reach Heaven.

And that is worth everything in this world!

Reading Books

Today, I’m at the library, utilizing their fabulous bank of computers. Our home computer has been down for a while, so I haven’t had much opportunity to blog. Worse, I haven’t had much opportunity to read other people’s blogs.

Since I haven’t been reading a lot of blogs, I’ve had my nose buried in books. If you don’t care what I’ve been reading, I don’t blame you. I promise I’ll write something more interesting or post pictures of my new garden or something even better next time. For now, you get books.

The kids and I just finished A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket, on Friday. We celebrated by watching the movie which only covers the first three books, presented out of sequence for the sake of Hollywood. But whatever. I think the boys liked it. I’m not sure what we’re going to read next… I have a few random novels that I’ve checked out from the library, but I’ve also picked up this:

The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us About Moral Choices, by Edmund M. Kern. I’m not sure about reading Harry Potter to the kids, so I’m reading this book to investigate the possibility. Who doesn’t love a teachable moment?

While we were wrapping up Unfortunate Events as a group, the kids were individually devouring Magic Tree House books, by Mary Pope Osborne. Their obsession continues but, at a rate of about one book per day, I have a feeling that they will be done with that series in a blink!

Speaking of kids, I’m reading Taking Back Childhood: Helping Your Kids Thrive in a Fast-Paced, Media-Saturated, Violence-Filled World, by Nancy Carlsson-Paige. Long title, long book. Reading this, I feel like some of my concerns are being validated. I’m not being overprotective… I’m being a responsible parent.

And while we’re on the topic of responsibility, let’s talk about Green Mama: The Guilt-Free Guide to Helping You and Your Kids Save the Planet, by Tracey Bianchi. I’m barely into the first chapter, but I fell in love with her concept in just the introduction! Allow me to quote, “…when it comes to saving the planet, I cannot separate the cause from the Creator of the world.” I love it when authors unashamedly point to God. I can hardly wait to see what the rest of the book has in store!

Finally, at the bottom of the pile, I have Spring Cleaning: The Spirit of Keeping Home, by Monica Nassif. I’ve thumbed through it. It looks informative. And useful. And it means that I have a lot of work to do! Now that the garage sale is done (Praise the Lord!), I can get to it. Oh. Happy. Day.

So that’s it! I have others around the house that I think I’ll read. Soonish. And I have a growing list of books I want to read after these. Imagine if I had started liking to read when I was younger!

I’m so thankful that my children love to read. There are so many things to be read… things to learn and imaginative places to be unlocked. The possibilities are endless!

So… Do you have any recommendations to share?

No Impact? Man!

Around the beginning of our year without buying, I learned of No Impact Man. His name is Colin Beavan, and he lived a year in New York City with no net impact on the environment. No net impact. Since we all have an environmental impact, simply by existing, Mr. Beavan set out to do good for the environment to balance it out.

The No Impact Project offers us all the opportunity to form groups and try this experiment for just one week. While I don’t plan to sign-up for my own No Impact Week, I am inspired by the daily concepts. Last week, The Green Paige participated in a group in New York City and chronicled her adventure en vlog.

Her posts are thought provoking, at least for me – a garbage nerd. Even without participating in a No Impact Week myself, Paige’s posts have heightened my awareness of my own wastefulness. But even better than that, I feel capable of change, of breaking out of the cycle.

As Colin Beavan says, it’s about doing more good… Not just less bad.

I’m not saying that everyone should follow the No Impact Blog, or become a fan of The Green Paige on facebook, although it’s what all the cool kids are doing. I’m just saying that, if you are even the least bit interested in the environment, you might want to.

Praying for Faith

There have been lots of things swirling around my brain since my last post. Yesterday I was trying to decide what I wanted to talk about, finally sitting down to read up on what other bloggers have been talking about, when I read about Faith. And all the swirling came to a halt.

There is urgency here, friends.

Please stop and pray for Faith and her family. You can pray without information, right? If you don’t have a full box of tissues nearby and twenty spare minutes to have an emotional breakdown, I suggest that you stop reading here, shoot up a prayer, and come back later. If you have the time and the tissues, or you think you can handle it (I couldn’t), then continue.

Or should I say, “Welcome back, now that you’re ready to do some heavy sobbing.”

I first read about Faith yesterday on Marla Taviano’s blog. She is an author in Ohio. This is today’s post:

If you missed yesterday’s post, Faith, a little 6-year-old girl at Ava’s school, has just been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. It’s extremely aggressive, and while doctors originally (a couple days ago) gave her six months to live, now they’re saying she could stop breathing in as little as 6 weeks. And I heard from a teacher today that they’re thinking even sooner.

Basically, she needs a complete and total miraculous act of God to live. And that’s what I’m praying for. And will keep praying for until He heals her or takes her home.

Her mom’s faith in God is incredible. She said today that “I do not understand God’s purposes or plans, but nothing that could ever come about in this life will make me love him any less.” You can keep up with how Faith is doing on her Caring Bridge site. And if you didn’t get a chance to leave a comment yesterday, please sign her guestbook. I know she and her family will be so encouraged.

During radiation today, they asked Faith if she could meet anyone in the world, who would it be? Faith’s answer? “Jesus and God.”

Please pray especially for Faith’s sister, Trinity (9) and Faith’s first-grade teacher, Mrs. Taylor. They’re both having a really rough time.

This family’s situation is unfathomable. I struggle to wrap my head (and especially my heart) around coping with such devastating news. Read the Caring Bridge updates. Faith’s mother’s words are awe-inspiring. Her faith in the Lord is extraordinary.

Please join me in prayer for this family.

February 9, 2004

I had been working my new job in the Spiritual Development department at Fellowship Church for exactly one week. During that week, I was alone in my office, awaiting the girl who would fill the empty desk in the room with me. I was pretty nervous about spending so much time in a confined space together. I’ve never been very good at making girlfriends, and there are few women that I trust, or even like, instantly. Very few.

I had no idea what God had in store. I had no idea what type of relationship would be formed within those four walls. How could I have known that this sassy little thing would become one of my very best friends?

Over these six years, we have been through many things. Buying houses, having babies, changing jobs. We’ve endured deep sadness and enjoyed loads of laughter. But through all the changes, the fundamentals of our individual lives - God, our Church, and our priorities - remain constant. This common ground is what keeps our relationship centered and strong.

It has been quite some time since we shared an office. We’ve been in different life stages and had long stretches of time without seeing each other, but our friendship doesn’t miss a beat.

I pray that everyone can have a friendship like this. I love you, Andrea!

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10