Stuff....

Stuff.  I have had a lot of time lately to think about stuff.  I love this quotation by William Morris, and I want this to be my new mantra.

As we begin to pack up for our move, we have had to face just how much stuff we have. And it's a LOT.  We just held a garage sale for the past two days, and wowee, have we accumulated a lot of things that we do not need!  

As I consider what the Bible says about stuff, this verse from Luke 12:15 leaps to my mind:

15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Which makes me take a hard look at why we obtained so many things to begin with.... was I being covetous?  Did I think those things would improve my quality of life and make me happy?

Moving is forcing us to face our tendency to collect things we:

A. Think might be useful some day  OR

B. Enjoyed for a while and have hung onto far beyond their time of usefulness to us OR

C. We like, but don't have a place for, so we have parked in the garage or basement OR

D. Feel attached to because someone we love once used it.

But all that stuff can become oppressive.  When I saw the garage jammed full of things we hoped to sell, I almost had a panic attack.  "What if people don't buy it and we have to decide whether to throw it away or bring it back into the house?"  I had to admit I still actually felt attached to much of it.

God was extremely gracious to us, and most of the things did sell.  That is a double-blessing because we are donating the proceeds to the new church-plant in Florida, so we could gratefully accept the extra dollars from some friends who overpaid for their purchases.

We've already decided to have another garage sale before we move, and to be even more strict with ourselves about which items we'll take to our new home.  I also need to be vigilant about not allowing myself to gather too many new things in our new home.  I really want to start fresh and stay on-track.

What do you think? Do you struggle with this too?  I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this.

Book Review: The Artist's Daughter by Alexandra Kuykendall

This book captured my attention immediately because that adorable girl on the cover looks quite a bit like my darling niece.  Once I examined it a little more closely, I was intrigued by the summary on the back and decided to read it.

It's rare for me to find a memoir that I can hardly put down, but that was my reaction to this book. Alexandra Kuykendall has written an amazingly transparent recounting of her life as a fatherless girl.  She writes of her first meeting at age eight with her father in France, and how the void left by his absence has impacted her at all phases of her life. In spite of her mother's constant love, she still wonders if she is truly loved.  Even after she became a Christian, Alexandra continued to struggle with feelings of inadequacy.

At times I wanted to cry while reading, because I could feel the emotional pain she tried so hard to bury, and I could truly understand where that was coming from.  Though my story is a bit different than hers, I had a few "aha" moments for myself.  The perfectionism that can result from father-issues is something I relate to.

I highly recommend this book for Christian women. Alexandra's story is just plain interesting, but more than that it caused me to look inside and ask some good/hard questions.  It also helped me realize that everyone has a story, and when I meet someone, I need to take the time to listen and hear where they have come from in order to understand who they are.

Get it from Revell Publishing or at any online bookseller.

Staging the Farmhouse

It was quite a job getting our house ready to be looked at by potential buyers.  We did some painting and took care of a few minor repairs that needed attention.  Then it was time to declutter.... big time.  We could have done more, but we were working on a deadline once we invited people in.  We hired a couple of teenagers to help us move some furniture and boxes of stuff out to our storage shed.  I emptied every closet of excess stuff, leaving all closet floors empty...  because my sister said that was a rule when showing your home.  Whew, was that a lot of work!

My good friend Teresa came over to help me stage it.  Her mantra was, "LESS IS MORE." She kept saying that as she suggested which items needed to be removed and put in the shed.  It was super helpful!

On the morning of the open house, I even put my toaster, Kitchen Aid mixer and a bread basket into the trunk of my car! Here is how a few of  the rooms ended up:

Living Room: Took lots of stuff away from the coffee table and mantle. Opened all the blinds and put flowers on the coffee table.

Family Room: Put away all gaming devices, DVDs, remotes, shoes, ironing board, etc etc.

Bedroom: Removed 15 framed family photos from shelf over bed, put TV away, got rid of stacks of books on each side of bed.

Kitchen: Cleared almost everything off counters except a couple of decorative items.

Upstairs Bathroom: Same story... everything off counter, only left a couple of nicely folded towels hanging on bars, took out hamper.

Looks pretty good, huh?  Not perfect, but we do still live here and we tend to be messy people. So  just clearing counters made a huge difference.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of our house.  I only showed you the good stuff.  Maybe later I'll post a picture of our shed. :)