Sunday, November 14, 2010

Getting It Done

All in all, I must say, this was a very productive weekend.  If nothing else, I’ve managed to post twice to my much-neglected blog.  But that’s certainly not all!

Jeff spent most of yesterday framing up a friend’s basement, with the help of several others in our various small groups.  This family had some damage to the drywall in their basement and tore all of it out some months back; as this area is, or was, their family room, they’ve really been at loose ends with the space not livable.  The wife is dealing with a health crisis right now, and the project was moved to the back burner.  There is still a lot of work left to do, but the guys made a good start yesterday.

While Jeff was gone, I finished up a project that I started last week, which was doing a major clean out of everyone’s closet.  By the time I finished, over half of my current clothing was bagged and ready to go to Goodwill.  It’s almost embarrassing what I finally managed to purge…skirts and dresses from when we last attended a church that required them, t-shirts from high school and college, stuff that I haven’t worn in YEARS. 

Both older kids’ closets and dressers got similar treatment, and Jeff got rid of enough stuff that he had to go shopping for new work shirts!  Jeremy, who is now wearing 12-month clothing, also had bags coming out of his room, along with baby equipment that he’s already outgrown.  Now, it’s all piled up near the front door, waiting to be loaded up and shipped out.

There is something very liberating about getting rid of stuff.  I always wonder why I don’t do it more often!  Of course, I gave the kids the opportunity to get rid of any toys that they might not be playing with anymore.  They both got panicky expressions on their faces and said that there weren’t any of those. 

They know me well.  They’ve often come home to one of my cleaning binges and have pulled stuff out of the trash can that I hadn’t buried deeply enough.  So, the toys were spared…this time. 

Today, we stayed after second service at church to help sort Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  This is one of my very favorite mission projects sponsored by one of my very favorite charities, and I was thrilled to sign up to help this year.  Richwoods had a goal of sending 500 boxes this year, and we managed to surpass that with the 518!

Jeff, Elijah, and I, along with seven others, went through every single box to pull out the shipping money and make sure that all items inside were legal, while Charlotte had play practice.  She got done in time to sort through a few herself, so she was pretty excited.  We have been sending shoeboxes since she was a baby, and a highlight of her Christmas season is filling one.

When we got home, Jeff and I finished a project that we had started before church that morning:  hanging the Christmas lights.  Lest you think we are getting started way too early, I’ll just tell you.  Waiting until the day after Thanksgiving to hang lights in central Illinois is a dicey proposition.  Since it was sunny and relatively un-windy today, we decided to just get it done.  The temperatures have already dropped into the upper 40’s for highs, and we definitely didn’t want to be hanging lights in the snow!  I think I saw two other families getting their lights up today, too.

And now, we all go back to school and work tomorrow to get some rest.  Hope that your Sunday was good!

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