Ahhhhhh.........

Garage Sale Weekend is now behind us.  MUCH has left this household for good.  Windows have been washed, floors mopped, furniture polished.  Order restored and then some.  It's a good feeling.  No, it's a GREAT feeling.
I am not one to function at optimal capacity in the midst of disorder.  Even if the disorder is relegated to the closets and drawers, it mocks me from those pent up places.  I hear it call my name and it becomes the itch I can't quite reach.  I don't like this about myself.  It's a weakness, really.  Life is messy, and we need to learn to not be distracted by that fact.

In my frenzy to declutter, simplify, and restore order I learned some things:

1.  We have too much stuff.

2.  Garage sales don't make you money.

3.  They do make you crazy.

4.  They are a great reminder of how awful it is to have too much stuff.

5.  Simplicity (which in my mind includes organization) is a lifestyle, not a once a year or so event.

6.  I don't want to waste one fleeting moment with my children (this reminder came as I wept over little, tiny clothes they used to wear and the remembering that goes with the sorting and weeding and the realization of number 7......).

7.  Time flies.

8.  I love that we still play with toys in our house.

9.  I need a system to stay balanced.... I'm a system-needer.

10.  It needs to be simple (read:  NOT flylady)

11.  Less is more.... in a BIG way.

So, there it is.  I totally recommend this kind of deep cleaning/purging.  There is a lot more I learned from it, but some of it's personal and I won't bore you.  Suffice it to say... it's worth it and makes for some cheap, but highly effective therapy!  :)

And now getting on with giving thanks:

~the canopy of green surrounding the back of the house filling with bird and other creatures

~the ultra muzzle for a pup too anxious to protect his peeps

~having what I need and knowing where it's at

~God stoking a fire

~toaster

~free musicals

~my precious and words-can't-describe-how-awesome husband

~how the Lord leads us and makes us of one mind

~how he submits and I submit and we submit to Him and to each other, and...

~how nobody but the Lord taught us how to do that, and

~how that is a gift I do not take for granted

~being called into something bigger than we can figure out

~knowing we can trust Him