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SeaStar
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| Posted: May 21 2014 at 11:33am | IP Logged
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As I travel along the road of Getting Rid of Stuff in my house and life, I am always asking God to help me let go, as in: HELP! HELP! SEND HELP!!
It is so hard to let go, and at times it all feels overwhelming. My ds in particular is not on board with this idea, and I often feel stuck spinning my wheels. I often ask St. Francis to lend a hand.
Today, the help came from this post, which has given me new resolve for the day.
It's a beautiful story, and I was so happy to see the Shoeboxes in action.
However, I could not help but notice that it was, of course, a Franciscan orphanage.  
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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cathhomeschool
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Texas Bluebonnets
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| Posted: May 27 2014 at 5:15pm | IP Logged
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What a beautiful story.
I've meant to post on several "letting go of stuff" threads lately but have gotten side tracked each time. I'm trying to walk that road of simplifying and decluttering too, and not everyone is on board. So I am trying to balance my longing for *drastic* with everyone else's contentment with where we are right now. We did agree to sell our house and downsize (with everyone having different motivations...). Downsizing to what is still unclear, but we have until the end of July to figure it out... I have a pile of stuff in the garage that I feel I *should* garage sale, but it would be so much easier to just donate it to our church's garage sale which is accepting donations this week... Yeah, I think I'm gonna just load the car tomorrow and be done with it.
I think that it's a journey and I have to remind myself of that and be patient with the kids while gently showing them (and myself!) how blessed we are and how much need there is in the world. Seeing it first hand makes a big difference. My son has a new friend this year whose family is struggling financially. All the boys have on their own decided to give new toys and gift cards to this family because they see the need right in front of them and it hits home. Their biggest "decluttering" round came right after meeting this boy and hearing what his family didn't have. We've got a long way to go, but when those in need become personal and not just "the poor," it helps.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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SeaStar
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| Posted: June 02 2014 at 7:29am | IP Logged
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That is wonderful of your boys, Janette.
I think that is in part why it is so hard for us to let go... we don't often see the real need that is present in the lives of other people. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that every one has the same things and luxuries that we have.
I had a very interesting Goodwill trip the other day. I went near closing time, and when I pulled up to the drop-off site, the workers did not want to take my boxes! They did not even come outside to help me unload... so I peeked in the unloading door. What I saw... oh, my! The huge room was stacked floor to ceiling with all kinds of bags, boxes, etc. The workers looked exhausted. The woman I talked to asked if I could come back another day, as she did not know where they could put anymore stuff.
I cam away with this sad impression: we, as a nation, are being drowned by the excess stuff we own... so much that even charitable organizations
are flooded by the excess. How is this possible when people in the world
over don't have enough food or clothing- sometimes even water?  
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: June 02 2014 at 7:44am | IP Logged
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I know, Melinda.
This is a little off topic, but I happened upon a home decorating blog that I'd read years ago and clicked sround on some recent entries to see what they'd done recently. They had actually sold the house they were ving in and were in an apartment as they searched for a home in the same neighborhood to downsize to. Fortunately, in their most recent update, they had found a smaller home by the same builder as their older home that they loved, and it just needed a little updating.
Prior to that, there was a whole post about their buying a new construction home with photos of the workers installing all yhese finishes that the woman disliked but didn't have a choice about since that was how the builder kept the costs low. She kept talking about how they would be replacing the tile floors, backsplash, wood trim, cabinetry, etc....!!!
It blew my mind.
I vented to dh, "What kind of world do we live in??!!" It is wrong on many levels (I happen to think that strict occupancy laws make it difficult for people today to gradually build their own home like many in past generations did), but it just spoke volumes to the waste of resources in our society! Crazy!
And on the other end of the spectrum, we have a society where even poor people are drowning in STUFF!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: It would be the Franciscans...
