Monthly updates...
So Ron I appreciate you wanting to hear from me. Maybe you'd like to come take care of the babies so I could steal a minute to get onto the computer!!!
It's a lot "constantly busier" than I had imagined. And it's overwhelming and more than one person can handle. I'm hoping to explore some alternative survival strategies in the next few days as the best one I've come up with is to go and live with my parents. This ironically made me feel the least crazy of all of the things I've tried.
Anyway, don't have time for a long post. So much I wish I could write about since I've been stewing and chewing on a few ideas.
Just an update on our Free 4 All held a few weeks back. (see my hubby's blog for details) Basically we decided to have a free garage sale and the responses were really interesting. It was fun by the way to give away our stuff. It made me feel like Oprah and she gives new EXPENSIVE stuff not just o.k. used stuff.
So the responses fit into a few categories...
1. Unable to accept a free gift and forcing us to take money for the stuff we want to give freely
2. The "can't believe it's not butter" response the "are you sure" looking back as they walk away with their finds wondering if the secret service will jump out of the bushes and catch them in
3.The don't ask any questions, take what you see and run
4. The truly thankful, look you in the eye and receive it
5. The ones more interested in wanting to know why we're doing this rather than receiving the free stuff
6. Not taking anything
The interesting thing about it was it felt like a lesson in how we receive grace. It felt like I had an inside peek at how we respond to God's free gift of mercy, grace and salvation. How many of us struggle to believe it's really free, that god really doesn't want our good works to earn it, that truly we can't earn it. But often, me included, we make ourselves feel better because we've "paid" for it. We've worked for it, and denied ourselves things in order to allow us to feel worthy of receiving it. If it's free, it's free. Paying is just a waste of your time and energy.
What struck me was how only one person of the almost 15 who came engaged me in a conversation about WHY we were doing this. We had initially thought about putting up info on the garage explaining why we were doing it but then it felt a bit like we were prostelytizing, or giving out a tract and then our "free" gift doesn't feel so free anymore because it comes with a price to hear why before you get your stuff. It made me wonder how many people just take God's free gift lightly, just say "well o.k. if you say it's free , thanks and walk away with their "stuff" without understanding why God did it. Or rather walk away looking back saying "are you sure, are you sure" thinking any minute it'll be stolen from them and they were right, it couldn't possibly be free. How can we receive his free gift freely, without needing to pay for it, without fear of it being taken away, or without understanding what it means to really accept it freely if we don't understand WHY he wants to give it to us for free.
Another interesting outcome was that we still have stuff left over. We thought we'd need to limit it so that one person wouldn't come and take everything. Human nature apparently proved us wrong. It seems having it free made people more thoughtful about what they took. We thought we'd see greed, instead we saw respect. I think if we'd labelled everything 25 cents it would have sold out pretty darn quickly. Who doesn't love a deal. But free is better than a deal.
One person's comment really stuck with me. She said "we've never seen such a thing" Why is giving away our overflow, the stuff we don't want so hard to comprehend? It makes me wonder just how much we as humans don't give away freely. Like love or forgiveness or even kindness. It needs to be earned, or we only give it to the people we like, or the people we know. Wouldn't it be cool if it wasn't so odd to receive things you didn't deserve all the time? Makes me want to practice this in so many facets of my life.
However, at the moment I've never seen my kids sleep through the night at the same time. I'm sure when I "see such a thing" it'll change me too !!!
So no promises about the next update. But I sure have missed keeping up to date on your goings ons. The girls are almost 10 weeks and 2 lbs different in weight. Very different kids and we're enjoying them mostly when they are not crying!
Until next time
It's a lot "constantly busier" than I had imagined. And it's overwhelming and more than one person can handle. I'm hoping to explore some alternative survival strategies in the next few days as the best one I've come up with is to go and live with my parents. This ironically made me feel the least crazy of all of the things I've tried.
Anyway, don't have time for a long post. So much I wish I could write about since I've been stewing and chewing on a few ideas.
Just an update on our Free 4 All held a few weeks back. (see my hubby's blog for details) Basically we decided to have a free garage sale and the responses were really interesting. It was fun by the way to give away our stuff. It made me feel like Oprah and she gives new EXPENSIVE stuff not just o.k. used stuff.
So the responses fit into a few categories...
1. Unable to accept a free gift and forcing us to take money for the stuff we want to give freely
2. The "can't believe it's not butter" response the "are you sure" looking back as they walk away with their finds wondering if the secret service will jump out of the bushes and catch them in
3.The don't ask any questions, take what you see and run
4. The truly thankful, look you in the eye and receive it
5. The ones more interested in wanting to know why we're doing this rather than receiving the free stuff
6. Not taking anything
The interesting thing about it was it felt like a lesson in how we receive grace. It felt like I had an inside peek at how we respond to God's free gift of mercy, grace and salvation. How many of us struggle to believe it's really free, that god really doesn't want our good works to earn it, that truly we can't earn it. But often, me included, we make ourselves feel better because we've "paid" for it. We've worked for it, and denied ourselves things in order to allow us to feel worthy of receiving it. If it's free, it's free. Paying is just a waste of your time and energy.
What struck me was how only one person of the almost 15 who came engaged me in a conversation about WHY we were doing this. We had initially thought about putting up info on the garage explaining why we were doing it but then it felt a bit like we were prostelytizing, or giving out a tract and then our "free" gift doesn't feel so free anymore because it comes with a price to hear why before you get your stuff. It made me wonder how many people just take God's free gift lightly, just say "well o.k. if you say it's free , thanks and walk away with their "stuff" without understanding why God did it. Or rather walk away looking back saying "are you sure, are you sure" thinking any minute it'll be stolen from them and they were right, it couldn't possibly be free. How can we receive his free gift freely, without needing to pay for it, without fear of it being taken away, or without understanding what it means to really accept it freely if we don't understand WHY he wants to give it to us for free.
Another interesting outcome was that we still have stuff left over. We thought we'd need to limit it so that one person wouldn't come and take everything. Human nature apparently proved us wrong. It seems having it free made people more thoughtful about what they took. We thought we'd see greed, instead we saw respect. I think if we'd labelled everything 25 cents it would have sold out pretty darn quickly. Who doesn't love a deal. But free is better than a deal.
One person's comment really stuck with me. She said "we've never seen such a thing" Why is giving away our overflow, the stuff we don't want so hard to comprehend? It makes me wonder just how much we as humans don't give away freely. Like love or forgiveness or even kindness. It needs to be earned, or we only give it to the people we like, or the people we know. Wouldn't it be cool if it wasn't so odd to receive things you didn't deserve all the time? Makes me want to practice this in so many facets of my life.
However, at the moment I've never seen my kids sleep through the night at the same time. I'm sure when I "see such a thing" it'll change me too !!!
So no promises about the next update. But I sure have missed keeping up to date on your goings ons. The girls are almost 10 weeks and 2 lbs different in weight. Very different kids and we're enjoying them mostly when they are not crying!
Until next time
2 Comments:
I like you.
I like your post.
ps I got the picture of the babies, thank-you, they picture is beautiful, and so are your babies.
(also not very identical but both beautiful!)
Yay, you're back!! And I would love to come over and take care of those babies. It's too bad we are so far apart! I miss babies. Well mostly miss babies. There are a few things I don't miss about them. I still remember dropping off that last diaper into the bin. It was glorious. But shame on me for talking about this to someone in the throes of it all. I have the picture you sent of the twins - looks great! I think a good caption would be: "Don't worry Madison, I'll protect you from that puddycat."
Post a Comment
<< Home