harmony

i don't particularly buy into the whole horoscope thing. i will say that the biggest theme in my life is love. everything revolves around that word. the other theme? balance. i have a great need for balance.harmony.compromise. {for the record, i'm a libra.}

for almost a year, we've been planning this purging of "stuff" in order to get back in balance. because we knew we would be building another house right about now, we waited on this time to coincide nicely to de-clutter our lives. our hearts.

i am not a clutter person by nature. i mean, you have seen my house here, right? i like bold, simple statements & i cannot think when i have piles on my counter. the de-cluttering? that is the 12 foot x 4 foot closet that i have that is filled with clothes from size 2 to size 12. it is the 95 pairs of shoes. it is the choice of 15 different serving trays. 4 full sets of wine glasses. decorations that change with the season's hot color. the t.o.y.s

am i saying that all these blessings are bad? absolutely not. i fully believe that God desires to bless us and for us to enjoy them. here's why i haven't been enjoying them though: when i see a little $14 tank top that i used to love.....now i see it as ONE HUNDRED meals that could be provided in Africa. when i see that $7 latte and bagel, i now envision 7 Africans getting clean water for ONE YEAR. when i see my outrageous shoe collection, i now see the BILLIONS of children that get preventable diseases for the simple reason that they don't have even one pair of shoes.

now, i must say that some of the best advice that matt and i ever got early on in our marriage was to set up a giving fund. we automatically deposit [at least] 10% of our income into that account & it is used solely for giving. a very large part of that joyfully goes to our church....our church family whom we love dearly. the other part....well, it is so fun. we enjoy discussing what we can give to certain causes and when our heart feels stirred to give, we can act. let me be very clear here: i do not say any of this to boast. here's one of my points:

i believe that we have been blessed {yes, EVEN financially} because of our commitment to give.

so, as we purge, i am feeling more in balance by the minute. more peaceful. riding right along in His will.

{we have plans to somehow have a fund-raising sale with all this purged stuff. what an awesome thing to be able to use some of the material things that we've been given to raise funds to bring our children home! details being finalized. more on that....soon-ish.}