Countdown is on!

There are 32 days left in this year. Where has the time gone? Its rather amazing. I thought "old" people were strange when I was young and they would say, "time just passes by more quickly the older you get!"  I must be old. Time is passing by rather quickly. Far more so than it seemed to as a kid.

I remember it feeling excruciatingly long between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now I hardly have a chance to catch my breath after the large Turkey meal before we are making a LOT of noise bringing in the New Year! What is this strange phenomenon that makes the same increments of time seem slower or faster depending on age? I'll save the answer to that mystery for another blog.

Back to the 32 days until the end of this year. I guess that means today marks the 333rd day of our 2010 Resolution to not buy anything new. Its... shocking? that we made it this long? Not that I didn't expect to. I'm a very goal oriented person and stick to my decisions (when I make them) very well. Others were skeptical. But here we are. We have failed a time or two... both intentionally and not. But the lessons we have gathered, the people we have met, the deeper relationship with God... are all such unexpected blessings to what we thought was just an experiment with the excess of our nation.

Someone asked recently if we've saved lots of money this year. It didn't seem so initially. I really like Neighborhood Thrift! :) But when I considered that we have had a pay cut with the economy (like so many others) and that we have adopted two children in the last year... the answer must be yes! It feels as though we are still paycheck to paycheck... and we are. But, are paycheck is considerably less and we are still making it!

Will we continue this on into the new year? In so many ways, definitely. Will I have guilt and shame when I buy something "new"? No way! But I wont trade in the neatness of seeing God provide for my own convenience any more (hopefully!) Those riches have far outweighed my own ability to meet my own needs. How about you?