Children's Moment About "Stuff"

Well, the move is over!!! ~whew~ I actually had another dump run, and a full truck load that went to Goodwill before it was all over and done. But... it.. is.. done...!!! This was the first time that I have had to do the bulk of the packing, and organizing, and throwing stuff out. I was emotionally and physically drained, and after the close of the sale of the house, when I was all moved into my Dad's house, I had to take a day off work just to sleep and re-charge.

Ok, enough said about that -- on to my Children's Moment about "Stuff."

I told the children that I had just move and had to get rid of a lot of stuff. I asked them if they had a lot of stuff in their rooms. A coupld of them said yes and a couple said no. I asked them what kind of stuff they had. They said clothing, toys, books.

I then asked them if they needed all the stuff they had. They all said yes of course. I responded with "you really don't need all of it, but I am sure that you want it and like it" which did not really go over very well.

My next question was if they thought Jesus had a lot of stuff. A couple of the kids shrugged, but the pastor's son responded "nope, because he didn't even have a house... well, he has a house but he was never there." This boy is 8 by the way. So I asked the kids what they thought Jesus did have that he kept with him. A couple of the responses were clothing and shoes.

They were pretty good at getting the point that Jesus did not have anything, because he was always walking from one city to another in order to tell the word of God. That he didn't have much because what he had he had to carry with him, so basically only had the one outfit and maybe one pair of sandals, and nothing else. I asked what Jesus did when his clothing got smelly, and what did he do about food and sleeping. The preachers son again answered.. saying "Well, when he got dirty he would just wash his clothes in the river when he was taking a bath, and he lived in a tent like about the size of the entry over there (pointing to our tiny church entry)." I then pointed out that Jesus also had to rely on other people for his food and water, and even shelter a lot of the time.

Then again I asked them if they really needed all the stuff they had at home. Most of them shook their heads indicating nope they didn't. "So, then why do we have so much stuff that is so hard to get rid of, if Jesus didn't need it all to get by?" Again, the pastor's son, stating the obvious: "WELL, they didn't have things back then like TV's and video games, and movies, so he didn't need to have them like we do."

That was the lesson...

The Little Engine that Could... I think I Can...

Well, final moving day is almost here. Six days from today I have to be moved out of my house... I don't know how I am going to find the time or energy to do it all. We are signing the papers tomorrow, and the title company officer said that everything will be done by Tuesday.

My house looks like a hurricane came thru. I have stuff half packed here and there and literally EVERY WHERE!! I have mentioned that I am a pack rat and that is so darn true. I have been going thru the shed which was packed to the rafters (I think it does have rafters) with "stuff".. much of this has been sitting around not looked at or thought of in the 2 1/2 years I have lived here. A couple weeks ago we took two truck loads of garbage (literal and figurative) to the dump. Those two loads both equaled 1900 lbs. My friends I have done the math and that is almost 2 tons of crap. It does not end there either.

The next week we took another load of stuff to the dump. Now a lot of that load was metal which we got to dump for free, and so therefore were not required to weight before going in. We took the load in to the metal dumping area and got rid of it then had to go back thru the scales, weighing in the actual "garbage"... another 540 lbs. Again, it does not end there.

Much of the furniture that I have downstairs will also be going to the dump: chair, couch, end table, coffee table. Also, the empty cardboard boxes that use to hold most of the stuff from the first two dump loads must go... as well as whatever else I find that I do not need and that can't be recycled thru Goodwill/Salvation Army.

Speaking of which, I have probably a full truck bed load that will go to GW/SA. Mostly books.. I have a lot of books... at least four large boxes of books which I have reluctantly talked myself into giving away. I talked myself into keeping the Left Behind series after they were already in the give away pile. I am resolved to get rid of most of my Lawrence Sanders, Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson books... I have read them and they were great, but I will probalby never read them again. I have tossed my son's baby books, most were in a box on the bottom of the pile in the shed for the last two years, and there is a bit of weather damage to them.. so no reason to keep. I did filter out those books which were given to him by grandma or grandpa, etc. I tossed the Little House on the Prairie books I bought before I knew if he was going to be a boy or a girl, the Narnia Chronicles, the Hardy Boys... my son you see does not like to read. He does not share my PASSION for the written fictional word, so he will not miss them, but I will. Sob, Breath, Sigh... release, let go and let GOD, and let someone else enjoy them!

I have bags and bags of clothing that I have wisely decided to part ways with also. The size 14-16 dresses, jeans, shirts... the tie-dye outfit I love, sundresses, suits, skirts... items I bought in my smaller days, my dreaming of smaller days, and those that were given to me by others going thru weight loss/gains... Some of these items I have had packed up for more than 2 years also. Why keep them?? I don't know but it is time to "clean out my closets" and "trim down" ...

Last night my dad and brother came over to help move some of the large furniture that I am taking with me -- dresser, desk, computer, my mom's sewing machine. We are going to take a load each night this week and I should hopefully have it all done in time, with enough time left over to clean. I really hate cleaning too!

Tonight I think I am going to have them move the freezer outside so that it can defrost in time to move it to storage. Luckily we have been having mid-60 degree temps (unluckily the mosquitoes like it also) and I should not have to use a heater. Then we are going to load up the truck with the furniture for the dump. Yes to the dump and not GW/SA, because I have a dog and a cat, both who LOVE furniture, scratching and sleeping on.. and both were hand-me-downs when I got them.

I hope that I can get as much done as possible before this weekend because I have a great women's retreat on Saturday that I have paid for and been looking forward to for the longest time. Sunday I have church and then afterwards a luncheon to attend at Ruthy's... so, I will be doing the Hustle !! Smiles, :0)

Anyways, I must go and pick Charlie up from school so we can get home and get busy.

As always, In His Loving Arms...