That being said, while I haven't been focused on my eating as much while ill, or having much energy...there ARE a number of things we've gotten done! For one thing, we went through all of our dishes. We now have only ONE plate, cup and bowl per person, each a different color, for daily use. Each person is responsible for washing their own plate, bowl or cup after each meal so that it's available for the next meal. If they do not, they don't get to eat at the next meal until they take time to wash it! This has drastically cut down on the the amount of dishes needing washed on a daily basis and IT. IS. LOVELY. When we have company we have two options...we can either use our nice dishes that are a set of simple white dishes, or we can use paper plates. The ones we choose depends on the situation. This change has created a greater sense of responsibility in each child, including the girls!
We also finally managed to go through the girls clothes. THAT was a task! I sat down with them after making sure everything they owned (outside of what they were wearing) was washed. We broke the larger pile into piles of short sleeved shirts, tank tops, long sleeved shirts, shorts, skirts/dresses, pants, pjs and underwear/socks. Then we made a pile for each girl in each category. I started with our oldest daughter and laid out all of her short sleeved tshirts. I kid you not, she had 25!!! I was appalled. I had her pick her top 5 favorites. I also allowed her to keep the ones she had that matched with her sister, outside of those 5. Then repeated with our youngest daughter. So in all, they each kept 8 tshirts. Then we moved on to tank tops. I let them keep 5 total. Then long sleeved, and so on. In each category I attempted to keep no more than 5-8 items (except for underwear/socks). By the time we were done, we had TWO full trash bags of clothes to sell/giveaway. The girls didn't even complain--in fact, they have commented how nice it is to not have so much stuff. Mission accomplished!
Sean and I sat down two nights ago and discussed plans and goals, both short and long term. We truly want to minimize the amount of junk we have. I say "junk" because I've come to realize that if something doesn't add value to your life, if it doesn't bring you joy to have it around, then it truly is JUNK. I'm realizing in this process, that I've held on to things for sentimental reasons, for "I might use/wear this again someday" reasons, and sometimes just for the sake of not wanting to deal with something. NONE of these reasons are valid. I don't need to hang on to every. single. little. thing. So, one by one, I am going through it all. And only keep what I use, need or absolutely love. It has been tremendously freeing!
My time with God is consistent and growing and my prayer lists are lengthening every week. Regular time in the Word truly helps me keep my focus on what is important--and to keep my cool with my children when they are determined to drive me insane! LOL
Overall, I am making progress...slowly, but progress none the less. The thing about change is, it's not instantaneous (as nice as that would be). It takes time. And it's NOT easy. It is a struggle, every single day. And some days, I fail miserably (like the great Oreo fiasco of last week LOL). But as long as my good days outweigh my bad, as long as I have more choices of doing the RIGHT thing than choosing the easy way out, then I win. I'm getting better. I'm becoming stronger and slowly, more disciplined. And as long as I stick with it, I will hit those goals! Here's to perseverance!
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
~James 1: 4
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