When people are cleaning out their stuff….and they come across toys and such that little boys would like….who do you think they often think of to give it to?
Yep…our family is often the first to come to mind when folks think of little boys.
We have been the blessed recipients of many wonderful toys…and even more wonderful clothes! It’s always fun to be handed a box or a bag to go through.
Recently however…I feel like I have stuff coming out of the woodwork…bulging out of the cabinets….overflowing the drawers…rising like bread dough out of the toybox(es).
And the overflow has made it’s way onto my kitchen floor for me to trip over and kick when I’m trying to cook…and onto the living room furniture when I’m trying to read Geography to the boys….and onto my computer desk when I’m trying to blog!! Now that’s where I have to draw the line!
So last weekend we started to clean out stuff…keeping only the toys and books that we truly love and play with often. (And by “we” I’m talking about the “we” who play with light sabers and legos and action figures and balls every single moment that is available.)
Thankfully, the boys kind of got excited about this project and got into “clean out mode” like Mama was!
And clean out we did! I carted box after box to our basement for our next yard sale.
After box…after box…
Shew! It felt so good!
So this Gratituesday….
I’m very thankful to have more stuff cleared out of our lives so that we can more easily keep our house clean.
I’m thankful to be so blessed that we rarely have to buy a toy or piece of clothing because others are generous enough to share with us.
And I’m very thankful to be so blessed that I actually have to teach my boys to “pick and choose” their favorite toys to keep.
We truly live a life of abundance.
What are you grateful for this Gratituesday?
Kari says:
Oooh! I feel cleansed just reading about your going through stuff! I’m gonna have to go with the vicarious feeling for a while, but I did almost get through another pile of my own this weekend and while I put the stuff away instead of tucking it away for garage sale, it felt good too.
Anyway, what I’m thankful for is automotive related again. On Sunday, we were leaving church and heard a “clunk, chink, chink.” Never a good sound when related to the automobile! Randy pulled over and walked back to find a bolt about 4-5 inches long on the ground. He looked around under the engine (by the way, also thank for a husband who can look around under an engine and not just be pretending). Didn’t see anything obvious so off we went, praying that everything would stay together.
Yesterday our wonderful mechanic actually FOUND where the bolt came from and put it back. It came from the motor block. Doesn’t that sound ominous?
So, I’m very thankful that we heard the thing drop out of the car, that we weren’t on the freeway when it happened, that Randy was with me, and that the mechanic fixed it so that my engine won’t fall out! Plus, he didn’t charge me (which is probably because of a big job last month and another one that needs to be done, but that’s OK. Later on, I’ll try to be thankful that we had enough in our savings account to pay for those things…)
March 11th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Char says:
I think we’ll be getting rid of a lot of stuff this week too… we have an entire storage unit that needs to be emptied, and the garage has room, but not THAT much room, since all our STUFF is overflowing. I will be really thankful when the sorting is done and we can take a few (hundred) things to goodwill.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Suezque says:
I “borrowed” your picture for my gratituesday post- let me know if that’s okay or not.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Mishelle says:
Amen sister.
When my life slows down I need to have a declutter day.
Mish
March 11th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Catherine says:
In answer to your question, I am grateful that strangers often remind me how cute, adorable and special my 4 little girls are. Somedays I get so overwhelmed with the ‘constant-ness’ of my life looking after 6 children, while my husband is deployed, that I forget how blessed I really am.
March 12th, 2008 at 4:31 am