TWENTY * FORTY * SEVEN

TWENTY

We have been waiting for 20 months!  On the 19th that is!  I cannot believe that I am saying that!  TWENTY months sounds so long!  And well.....I guess that it is super long!  Haha!  The wait is hard, the wait is long, the wait teaches you, the wait, the wait, the wait, blah, blah, blah!  Hahaha!  When people ask me about the wait I sort of don't have much to answer with them.  Unfortunately, we will probably be waiting maybe another 9-12 months and that is a hard one to swallow.  And yes, that also means that we will probably have to do our entire dossier ALL OVER again.  All of your documents are generally good as far out as your notary....and that will expire in April of 2014....so I think we might start doing some updating now so we don't get ready to go to Ethiopia and fear that our documents will expire.  I don't want anything to hinder us when we are ready to go and get our little love!  I will be chatting with my case worker about all of this soon so please be praying that I have great conversation with her and that we can get a great timeline for all of this!

FORTY

Well, today is Ash Wednesday which begins the Lent journey!  I love this season.  I am a season sort of girl.  I love anticipation and I love intentionality.  Those are two things that the lent season brings.  It is more than giving something up....it is about preparing our hearts for what Easter really means.  I wrote a blog post last year about a new tradition we started thanks to my friend Stacia.  You can read it here!  And we are doing it again this year, but it will look a little differently.  There are three parts; Pray, Fast, Give and we are going to continue with these three but do them different than last year.  I also did A LOT last year (this is definitely a flaw of mine).  I get so excited for something and I over-do it all.the.time.  So I am making sure to be simple this year!

PRAY---We have a jar with wooden sticks.  On them the girls wrote down people or things they wanted to pray for.  We choose at breakfast or dinner each day one stick and that is what we pray for that day.  

FAST---We brought back out the "Give Out" Box and I got myself some jars for the pantry. Each day each girl will pick something for them to give out.  We talk about how we have to give away and that sometimes that means we sacrifice something of ourselves.  Yesterday we did this with some toys and books we don't play with anymore (more on that below) to sell at a garage sale! 

GIVE---I made my list each day for what we are going to count each day in the house.  Then we will give them that many pieces of change then give that money to Bible Study Fellowship.  The girls love this!

As for what I am doing personally for Lent season....it is pretty simple this year....I just want to hang out with the Lord each day.  I want this to be the very first thing I do each morning.  I am pretty good at this....but it isn't a habit yet.  So this season that is what I want to make my new habit!  I am also cutting out TV in the evenings with a few exceptions.  And I want to be intentional with spending time with my friends.

SEVEN

So we are starting back up our seven journey!  If you aren't familiar with this you can read about it here!  We have done Media, Food, and Clothes.  So this month we are embarking on Possessions.  And just like every other month, I am feeling good about it!  Haha!  When Jen did her possession month she gave 7 things away everyday.  That is great!  I must say, we are not savers.  At.All.  We throw things away, I have done two garage sales to raise money for our adoption.....so we are really at a good place with the stuff in our lives.  But I will say that there are rooms that need some attention.  Need some re-organizing.  Need to love the possessions that we have!  So, this month we are taking seven rooms in our house one at a time and organizing, throwing stuff away, and taking care!  I started with the Play Room/Piano Room.  Mostly because I was teaching a voice lesson and was practically sick to my stomach looking at this space!  Haha!  So I told the girls that we were going to take everything out of the room and get this space put together!  They loved helping!  I also cleaned the floors, the base boards, the windows...that felt great!  Then we went through all of our toys and put them in piles.  We got rid of things we don't play with anymore or things that don't make any sense or go with anything.  Then we filled bins.  Here is the finished product:

I got jars from Walmart that are for Flour, sugar and such to put crayons, markers, scissors, stickers, etc.  I also hung a string up for their pictures.  My girls LOVE to do projects.  So we decided they have 3 choices with them.  They can keep them and hang them up here, give them away to someone, or throw away because it was a practice run.  If there isn't a clothespin left on the string, they have to choose one to get ride of.  It has worked great so far!

I also made my piano look pretty.  This piano came from my Grandma Bertha and we have had it since I was 5.  It means a lot to me.  I spent a lot of time on this piano bench....not as much as I should have....but still.  Now it is a source of relaxation for me.  To play and sing. I also am teaching Maren to play now and that is fun!  I teach voice lessons from this space and I love doing that!  

I framed some of my most favorite hymns, my favorite picture of my girls, and Dave and I on our honeymoon in Greece!  Of course there is a candle and the lamp sits on two hymns from my family and then two scripts of shows I did at Interlochen Arts Camp.  Those were two of the best summers of my life!  So needless to say, this space holds a lot of meaning to me!  

Loving this start to our month of possessions.  In this room alone, my girls have joy in the things that reside there and I have joy in the things that reside there!  Love that deeply!

I know that I have not kept up with my musings from Created for Care, but it's a process y'all!  

Happy Ash Wednesday!