Three days down

Note to reader:  

If you do not know what experiment I am talking about then click HERE to see what Dave and I are up to for the next 7 months!

Here we are three days into our experiment.  We decided to kick the month off with a fun family night.  Doing something that we haven't ever done before!

 We went bowling and had the best time!  It was fun to do something we had never done as a family and experience something new with our girls!  So much fun and a great way to kick off Media Month!

Let me see if I can break down the last few days!
Day One (Sunday):  
I drove to church early because I was on worship team.  And without even thinking I had the radio blaring to help me wake up and to warm up the ol vocal chords.  Already messed up there!  Ha!  I didn't even realize it until I was driving home and put it all together.  That's ok....I needed to notice that I don't even notice the sound you know?  We had a great family lunch together and then I put Savy down for her nap.  Dave and Maren went to the basement to paint while I fell dead asleep on the couch.  When I woke up, this is what I saw:

This is really sweetness to my eyes because Maren is such a Mommy's girl.  She prefers me all of the time.  She even asked me to walk her down the aisle when she got married which broke Dave's heart.  But today....Dave had margin to invest lots of time into his oldest daughter.  He helped her create a painting downstairs instead of him painting while she was painting.  Complete attention on her there.  Then they came up to lay together!  And that ended him with holding her during her nap.  Sweet, sweet, sweet!  I loved waking up on the couch beside them and seeing this!  Made my heart so very happy :)  
Thankful for this moment!




Day Two (Monday-Labor Day):  
In the morning we did a family devotional.  And would you believe what the devotional was about.  Here is the Devo we read:

"God is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace."  1 Corinthians 14:33 (ICB)

This world is full of confusion.  So many things compete for your attention- school, sports, church, family, and on and on.  You are constantly bombarded with more and more interruptions- from the radio, television, internet, your cell phone and iPod.  In this world, there is no tasting peace.

Life on planet earth has changed so much since I first gave the command to be still and know that I am God.  But I have not changed, and my ways have not changed.  Come to Me with all your confusion, even if it's over something small.  Tell me everything, I will still your mind and help you sort everything out.  I will take away the confusion and replace it with My Peace.

Jesus Calling for Kids by: Sarah Young

After Dave read this he just looked up at me.  Amazed.  Thank you Lord!  Yes, that is what happened.  God did not change--I changed.  I directed my attention else where.  He never looked else where.  Always right at me.  At my heart directly.  Waiting.  Waiting.  All the while I was living a life of no peace, no still mind, no peace....and the worst part.  I didn't even notice!  The rest of the day was great!  We got a lot of projects done which felt awesome.

Day Three (Tuesday):  

And then the storm after the calm.  I was prepared for today to be hard.  I knew that it was easy to not long for distractions when Dave was here.  But I was thinking that once he went to work and we were back in our normal routine yet without all of our normal "activities" it was going to get hard.  And let me tell you, today was hard.   I wish that it wasn't.  I am sort of embarrassed that it was.  I cannot tell you how many times I went to my phone in order to peruse facebook status updates.  How easy it was to log on the internet and click on facebook.  Or how I wanted to play a "quick" game of solitaire.  How much the girls just hung on me and wanted my attention so badly.  And while the plumber was here all I wanted to do was turn on the tv in order to distract them.  I heard things like, "I am SO bored!"  "There is nothing to do at our house!"  So then this conversation unfolded:

Me:  Why don't you go play with the 500 toys in your playroom

Maren:  I don't like the toys in my playroom

Me:  Great.  Then we should go box them up and give them to kiddos who don't have toys

Maren:  That is a great idea Mom.  I don't like any of them!  I am so bored!

Woops!  That did not go as I was hoping at all.  Needless to say we did not box them up.  And we made it through our first day at home all day.  And by the end of the day the girls were making up stories, playing house, school.  They were starting to "play".  And we normally do....but it was nice to see them realize that I am not going to give in and let them watch their shows.  And I got 3 loads of laundry completed before 1pm!

Nap time came and that is usually Cosby show time for me and Maren.  Instead we cleaned up our "boring" toys then had a bowl of ice cream.  Here is that conversation:

Me:  Today is hard for me.  I miss watching TV.  What about you?

Maren:  I really miss TV

Me:  It has made me realize that I don't turn to Jesus at all during the day

Maren:  I know!  I haven't even done my devotional today

Me:  Maybe we should start doing a devotional together at nap time

Maren:  That's a great idea Mommy!

Then the door bell rang.  It was two people selling magazines.  They work for a team of people who train inner city young adults and support them while they learn work ethic, get up on their feet, people skills, etc.  They have been to our door many times.  I begrudgingly went outside to hear their shpeel.  I instantly felt connected.  Not sure how to say that more but I did.  They shared their stories and they shared their hopes and dreams.  We talked about the Lord and how amazing He is in our lives and how much He loves us.  And before you know it, little ol me was inviting them back at the end of their day to my house for dinner.  They accepted with great excitement.  I walked inside and thought, "what did I just do??"  I called Dave to let him know we would have dinner guests.  Of course, I wanted to look up a great recipe and go buy some groceries.  But I made myself figure something out with what slim pickins we had.  And you know what?  It was great!  It was one of the best dinners I have ever had.  We laughed.  Shared our testimonies.  Gave thanks to the Lord for how far He has brought us.  Encouraged each other.  Read scripture together.  They prayed for us and we for them.  It was awesome!  

So despite today being really hard---margin was created.  And I got a chance to see the amount of SPACE I have in my day!  I have tons of space and I need to be available for that. My sweet friend Annie came over and it wasn't for a tv show, it was to share some clothes with each other and see each other.  We spent an hour in my room laughing so hard with my girls.  Dancing around.  Making up songs.  Listening to Savy rap.  It was fun!  We just were together having the best time.  Thankful for that margin.

The new normal will come.  And I am hopeful it will stay.  I am hopeful that my instincts to check my phone/facebook/email constantly will subside.  Hopeful that my desire to connect with others outside of me will fade and that my heart to connect to God will increase greatly!  We all like a great status update, but why do I feel good after seeing people "like" something I said.  Or if they comment on a photo?  Why does that give me some sort of gratification?  And are we really connecting?  Facebook is a great way to keep up with what is happening in people's lives, but we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking that we are connecting with others.  Hearing the story behind the picture being told by the one in the picture is so much more meaningful then just scrolling through.  Remember, when you would share the stories of your trips and flip through your pictures that you had developed at Wal-Mart.  Remember when you just took pictures and had no idea how they would turn out until after you picked them up?  I want to connect with people for real.  I want to connect with the Lord for real.  

 Thankful for what God is teaching me and showing me.  Not easy---but nothing worth it ever is!  Keep it comin Lord!

You....the one who has been reading this.....go and make some margin today.  Shut down just one thing today and see where it takes you!