Here's why: I've begun homeschooling my 11 year old which I believe will be short-lived. I have two toddlers. I've been invited to lead worship for my Bible Study which means I have to dust off the guitar and learn some songs ;) I'm a wife. I live in a house with five other people, a dog, and a cat (though the animals stay outside). I am a writer (ha!). I'm the publicity coordinator for my MOPS group. All of these are great blessings. All of these use up my resource of TIME :)
That said, its 11:02pm. The kids are asleep. The cat is asleep. The dog is asleep. The hubby is working on school stuff. My guitar is locked up. My MOPS work is done (for the time being) and Im ignoring the unswept floor. Finally, my laptop is open before me. Here we go.
Since my last post we've had at least three more birthday
s, a child with a tummy ache (too much candy at one of the parties), an entire summer, and the beginning of the school year. CRAZY! I mention the tummy ache because it was the only time (in these last months) where I chose to break our resolution... for the love of a child.
Unfortunately for this resolution, my love language is gift-giving. My then 2-year old had snuck a gummy bear too many and his body was working it back out... of both ends. Sorry for the details. We moved him to our room so he could wake
us
up if he needed to. Did I mention he was potty training? (side note: he woke up one day and agreed to "no more diapers" and now wont let us put one on him if we try! He made it through the above episode without ONE accident! He'd wake us up in time to make it to the potty!) Back to the confession. He needed some crackers and 7-up...
both of which I was out of. So at 1am I headed to my neighborhood 24-hour Winco. God bless that store.
While there I saw a Buzz and Woody toy. I'd passed it a bunch of times knowing that I "couldn't" buy it out of loyalty for our decision. This time, however, I made the conscientious to love my
baby boy with a new gift. Hearing him say, "what's that?" and cry as his gummy bears punished his gut broke my heart and my resolution. I came home to a sweet son, dealing ever so gracefully with his situation, and gave him the NEW buzz and woody. He slept with them that night and recovered very well from his tummy-trouble. It made me happy to see HIM happy in a moment of such discomfort and pain...it was worth the break from our goal :)
Aside from that, though, we've really stuck with it! I've discovered some of the BEST thrift stores in town... and re-realized that I'm a yard sale junkie... so I'm not sure if this whole plan is helping my budget yet or not! We've had an Olympic-themed party, a Caribbean themed party, and a Lion King party... all using previously owned or handmade items. Even the gifts were either used or food. :) I've bought some beautiful handmade tutus from a friend as gifts for other little girl toddlers. SO cute. Here are some pictures of the various birthday parties
I stayed up till midnight making Pride Rock :) Fortunately I had the right Lion King toys already to complete the scene :) A closer look at the onlookers will ... well, you'll see some familiar characters. My son LOVED this (he's three so it didnt have to be amazing to anyone but him :)
Dirt cupcakes! We all enjoyed some "grub" with Pumba and Timon. Favors were animal crackers in some safari themed favor bags (last minute compliments of a friend, thanks!)
This was for my husbands birthday. This has been the year of making fun cakes (and I am NOT a baker). My husband is "from" a Caribbean island, San Andres. This was an ode to his islander side :) Everything was edible... the palm trees are made up of biscotti, bubble gum leaves, and white chocolate glue. The coconuts are chocolate covered raisins. The sand is ground up animal crackers. And of course, gummy sharks and fish.
Olympic-themed bday party for my oldest daughter! So much fun! We made all of the medals and awards with chocolate coins. Cupcakes were easy enough... as you can see :)
This is what I presented my daughter so she could blow out the candles. FUN!
We are still continuing to learn so much in this process. I'm still blown away by how easy it is to go meet our own needs and rob God of the opportunity to do it. Not that he doesn't sometimes meet our needs through Target... but I've had some really neat experiences waiting on Him. And its still amazing how much STUFF we have. Every time we have a yard sale or give something away I think: "Okay, now I REALLY have given everything I don't want away." And then someone says they need something, I happen to have it... and its gone. OR I just get in a mood of "thats gotta go." We will be having another yard sale in two weeks. :)
Thanks for patiently waiting for me. I'm not sure who I'm thanking really... maybe just the internet abyss out there... but regardless, its good practice :)
