I am being a selfish, shameless person. I am posting about a giveaway in the hopes that I will win! But maybe you will read this and discover what a fantastic blog My Sweet Savannah is! She has a beautiful blog, and gorgeous items that she sells in her etsy shop. And the giveaway this time around....let's just say that I would give up coffee for a week in order to win. Well, maybe not a week......
Go on, go check out her blog, and enter to win....or wish me luck!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
New blog addition
I started a home idea/design/family life blog...it is under my list of blogs here on blogger. I posted a new entry today. Check it out. :) Oh, the link is La Casa de Coffee
Friday, March 27, 2009
Blog friends
I clicked onto Novelle360's site yesterday www.novelle360.com and read her entry about lacking the time lately to blog and wondering if she was going to continue to do so. I have followed her for years...she used to blog on xanga, and I loved hearing about her life as a newlywed, and then being overjoyed to hear she was expecting a little one, and then crying and praying for her and Jerry when she lost that baby. I was privileged to read of her second pregnancy, and now to read her updates about life with Alli and all the joy and struggles that come with being a mom and a working woman and a wife and a friend and a daughter. I started to think about how long I've "known" her, and how much I would miss the daily glimpses into her life. This bloggy thing is a funny creature. It allows you to make friends without ever meeting them, but it also allows you to walk away from those friends without the crushing guilt that can come from breaking up with a real-life friend. I felt guilty suddenly for vanishing so often on my blog sites. For failing to update more regularly, for staying silent for weeks and even months at a time. I know how I feel when one of the blogs I read goes silent, and I wonder if others feel that way about me. I know this isn't where I have blogged for long, or made many "friends", but my xanga site is one of those places. I'm sorry for vanishing on you folks. I will try to do better. And I am hoping that Novelle360 (Kelly) will figure out a way to combine her busy life and her blog in a better way for herself. This is just a big sappy shout out to all you bloggy folks. I love ya man!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Cooking with Jules
Yep, cooking with me because this entry will be a dash of this and a pinch of that...the way I cook. :)
Going to take Landon and Corin to Moraine State park for a walk around lunchtime. It is going to be a balmy 56 degrees here today...and woohee does that feel like warmth to us. (Ummm Jenn, bundle him up and we need the car seat base.)
Told MOPS that I would not be on Steering Team next year. And feel really good about that decision.
Sat in on an interesting ministerium meeting yesterday. Local pastors get together once a month to talk and share their concerns and burdens. I liked being a part of it but came away very frustrated because all they did was talk...no action plans were set up, no decisions were made. Men....bah!
I have a big prayer request. Been thinking that God is leading in my new ministry direction, and need clarification of that leading. I am considering joining my Dad's mission. It would be as a mission representative, working most of the time here in the US. I'd travel to various churches and organizations, presenting the ministries of LATCOM, and I'd also lead a few teams to Bolivia every year. Here's the thing...it would mean raising support. In other words, the mission doesn't pay me a salary, I have to raise support like any other missionary does. I really, really, really am excited about this path, but I am praying hard to see if it is really what God would have me do. My heart would move to Bolivia in a nanosecond and start working at Monte Blanco (and the rest of my body too. lol), but my husband does not feel the same way. But this is a way that I can be contributing to that ministry without endangering my marriage. So pray for me. Pray for clarity on if this is where God wants me to go, and also for the support to come in if it is what He has for my life. I have until April to decide, because that is when the board meets, and they do all the hiring.
Emilie told me last night that she wants to be baptized. So we will be attending a "Your Child Wants to be Baptized" meeting in two weeks. They'll make sure she understands what it means, and whether she is ready for that or not. My heart leaped within me.
I have lots of thoughts I still need to share about my time in Bolivia. This is just for me to remember what those thoughts are when I finally get the time to sit down and write them out. Pointman Leadership. Testimonies. Old house. Grandpa and Grandma. Odd Pastor. Dead man.
I need to do laundry. Again.
Going to take Landon and Corin to Moraine State park for a walk around lunchtime. It is going to be a balmy 56 degrees here today...and woohee does that feel like warmth to us. (Ummm Jenn, bundle him up and we need the car seat base.)
Told MOPS that I would not be on Steering Team next year. And feel really good about that decision.
Sat in on an interesting ministerium meeting yesterday. Local pastors get together once a month to talk and share their concerns and burdens. I liked being a part of it but came away very frustrated because all they did was talk...no action plans were set up, no decisions were made. Men....bah!
I have a big prayer request. Been thinking that God is leading in my new ministry direction, and need clarification of that leading. I am considering joining my Dad's mission. It would be as a mission representative, working most of the time here in the US. I'd travel to various churches and organizations, presenting the ministries of LATCOM, and I'd also lead a few teams to Bolivia every year. Here's the thing...it would mean raising support. In other words, the mission doesn't pay me a salary, I have to raise support like any other missionary does. I really, really, really am excited about this path, but I am praying hard to see if it is really what God would have me do. My heart would move to Bolivia in a nanosecond and start working at Monte Blanco (and the rest of my body too. lol), but my husband does not feel the same way. But this is a way that I can be contributing to that ministry without endangering my marriage. So pray for me. Pray for clarity on if this is where God wants me to go, and also for the support to come in if it is what He has for my life. I have until April to decide, because that is when the board meets, and they do all the hiring.
Emilie told me last night that she wants to be baptized. So we will be attending a "Your Child Wants to be Baptized" meeting in two weeks. They'll make sure she understands what it means, and whether she is ready for that or not. My heart leaped within me.
I have lots of thoughts I still need to share about my time in Bolivia. This is just for me to remember what those thoughts are when I finally get the time to sit down and write them out. Pointman Leadership. Testimonies. Old house. Grandpa and Grandma. Odd Pastor. Dead man.
I need to do laundry. Again.
Monday, February 16, 2009
I'm speaking...
Tomorrow I have to speak at my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group, and I wrote it out first....
Here it is....
Today I am supposed to talk about marriage, and I will, but I am hoping that this will resonate with all of you, not just those of you who are married.
My name is Julie. I am 31 years old. I am married to Brad, and we have two children, Emilie who is 6, and Landon who is 2. We started dating when I was 16 years old, a junior in high school. He was a senior, and we both attended a small missionary school in Bolivia, South America. We fell in love quickly and easily, and that was the last time anything in our relationship was ever easy.
We got married when I was 21, and we were both still in college. I suppose some of our problems could be attributed to the fact that we married so young, but I think most of it has to do with the fact that we are two very different people. For example, I like easy listening music, oldies, mellow folk songs, and he likes rap. I like to go to the theatre and art galleries, and he likes sporting events. I like to be on the go, go, go and he likes to sit at home, watching television. I love to sing, and he likes to talk. I dream of being in ministry one day, and he wants to be a millionaire one day. I love God with a passion, and he isn’t too sure what he thinks about God these days. I vote republican, and he is in love with Obama. He likes things to be spotless and look nice, and I actually like things a little banged up. Most of those aren’t things that are wrong with either one of us, they are just differences. And they have sure made our path together a bumpy one. We’ve been on the brink of divorce numerous times. We’ve been to counseling many times. We’ve fought and cried and muddled along. There have been more times than I would care to admit that I have prayed that he would hit me or cheat on me, so that I would finally have a “real” reason to leave him. And I am sure that he has wished for me to disappear many times as well.
Summer of 2007 I had come to an understanding with our marriage. I had determined that I would give our marriage over to God. I started praying for Brad every day, and I started to pray for myself as well. I asked God to help me be a better wife. I asked Him to help me love my husband more….to flood my heart with love for Brad. I thought I had it figured out…If I prayed the “right” things, then God would wave His magic wand and our marriage would be better and stronger than ever before. July 24th of that year, I had prayed that in the morning. I wrote Brad a little love note and put it in his car. And then, once he had left for work, I sat down at the computer and tried to check my email. Only his email account was left open. And there were emails in there that opened my eyes to the fact that he was having an affair.
The pain of that was crushing. It hit me in the gut, over and over again for the next few days, weeks, and months. I would literally double over with the pain of that, gasping for air. I cried, and cried, and cried some more. My heart broke. And I didn’t know what to do with all of the hurt and anger and grief. There are two main things I learned during that time.
First, I learned that I was not alone. Some of that I learned through the care and love showered on me by my friends here at MOPS and my church friends. But most of it I learned from the care and love showered on me by God. I’ve been a Christian basically my whole life….but during that time of pain I learned what it really meant to trust in Him. I felt betrayed by my husband, and lost within all of my doubts about the future. And I felt totally alone. There is a song by a group called BarlowGirl entitled Never Alone that has these lyrics in it…
I waited for you today
But You didn't show
No.No.No.
I needed You today
So where did you go?
You told me to call
you said You'd be there
And though I haven't seen You
Are You still there?
Chorus
I cried out with no reply
andI can't feel You by my side
So I'll hold tight to what I know
You're here and I'm never alone.
And though I can not see You
and I can't explain why.
Such a deep, deep reassurance
You've placed in my life
ohWe cannot separate
'Cause You're part of me
and though You're invisible
I'll trust the unseen
I cried out with no reply
andI can't feel You by my side
So I'll hold tight to what I know
You're here and I'm never alone.
I heard this song and thought, “yes, this is it….this is exactly how I feel”. And I did the only thing I knew how to do. I held tight to the truth that God promises His children that He will always be there….that they are never alone. And I slowly begin to feel the truth of that. He told me that I wasn’t alone in so many ways. In the notes from friends. In the songs at church. In the sermons that our pastor preached during that time. And even, on a particularly bad day when I thought my marriage had no hope of surviving, in the timing of a gift from a friend. She sent me a necklace…a pendant with a tiny mustard seed inside…and the verse from Matthew 17:20 that says “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” I didn’t have to have faith big enough to change my husband, or save my marriage….I just had to have faith that I was not alone and that God would work all of this out in His timing and for His glory.
The second thing I learned took a lot longer to figure out. When I found out about the affair, and in the midst of all that pain and uncertainty at first, I had the thought that God would use all of this pain I was going through to finally, FINALLY reach Brad. I thought that all of it would be worth it if Brad was able to understand that he needed God. I thought that I would be able to handle all of that pain if it meant that our marriage would finally be “right”.
Only it didn’t happen. Brad didn’t see his need for God. He didn’t turn his life around. And our marriage still continued to limp along. And I couldn’t understand why. Why was I having to deal with all of this? Why did this crappy thing have to happen to me? I got mad at God. And I got mad for a nice long time. And it is only in the last 6 months or so that I am starting to figure out a little bit of the why.
Our church is fond of saying that “God doesn’t waste a hurt”, and I really believe that is true. Here’s the deal….I hadn’t been through anything truly horrible before in my life. I hadn’t lost a family member, I hadn’t been abused by my parents, I hadn’t had violent boyfriends, I hadn’t lost a child. I’d been smooth sailing it through life. And my life sure looked “purty” on the outside. But this came along and blew all my pretty little life to pieces. I gathered up all those broken pieces of my heart, my faith, my life, and I took them to my God. I held them out and asked Him to “fix this please”. And He put them back together, but in His special way. See, He left all the cracks there, He left the holes here and there. He left my life looking not so pretty on the outside, but useful now to Him. Let me explain….my life before was like this jar. Pretty. Neat. Clean. But when He would try to use my life to shine His glory out into the world, it was all kept within myself. But when I gave my broken pieces to Him, and He mended them back together again, He gave me a jar like this one. Not so pretty. Definitely not crisp and smooth. Lots of holes and cracks. But now, when He wants to shine His love and glory out to the world, there it is, shining through those cracks.
God doesn’t want perfect people. He wants the broken, the hurting, the lost. He wants us just where we are, at the point in our lives that we are at, exactly as we are. He wants to shower us with His love. He wants to mend our broken pieces. And He wants to use us to show His love to the rest of the world. People don’t feel welcomed and accepted if the people doing the inviting are perfect and flawless. People feel welcomed and accepted if the person doing the inviting is open and shows their cracks…shows their mistakes…shows their hurts…and then shows how God can change all of those things into gorgeous beautiful perfect people in His sight.
I don’t know where you are when it comes to knowing God. I don’t know if you have ever given your life to Him. But I do know without a doubt that you have been hurt by life. And I know without a doubt that you can come to God at any time, and He will never leave you or forsake you. And He will not waste a single hurt. If you don’t know God, if you’ve never asked Him to come into your life and make you one of His own, please talk to me today. I would be happy to pray a simple prayer with you. Won’t you come to Him and lay down your hurts?
Here it is....
Today I am supposed to talk about marriage, and I will, but I am hoping that this will resonate with all of you, not just those of you who are married.
My name is Julie. I am 31 years old. I am married to Brad, and we have two children, Emilie who is 6, and Landon who is 2. We started dating when I was 16 years old, a junior in high school. He was a senior, and we both attended a small missionary school in Bolivia, South America. We fell in love quickly and easily, and that was the last time anything in our relationship was ever easy.
We got married when I was 21, and we were both still in college. I suppose some of our problems could be attributed to the fact that we married so young, but I think most of it has to do with the fact that we are two very different people. For example, I like easy listening music, oldies, mellow folk songs, and he likes rap. I like to go to the theatre and art galleries, and he likes sporting events. I like to be on the go, go, go and he likes to sit at home, watching television. I love to sing, and he likes to talk. I dream of being in ministry one day, and he wants to be a millionaire one day. I love God with a passion, and he isn’t too sure what he thinks about God these days. I vote republican, and he is in love with Obama. He likes things to be spotless and look nice, and I actually like things a little banged up. Most of those aren’t things that are wrong with either one of us, they are just differences. And they have sure made our path together a bumpy one. We’ve been on the brink of divorce numerous times. We’ve been to counseling many times. We’ve fought and cried and muddled along. There have been more times than I would care to admit that I have prayed that he would hit me or cheat on me, so that I would finally have a “real” reason to leave him. And I am sure that he has wished for me to disappear many times as well.
Summer of 2007 I had come to an understanding with our marriage. I had determined that I would give our marriage over to God. I started praying for Brad every day, and I started to pray for myself as well. I asked God to help me be a better wife. I asked Him to help me love my husband more….to flood my heart with love for Brad. I thought I had it figured out…If I prayed the “right” things, then God would wave His magic wand and our marriage would be better and stronger than ever before. July 24th of that year, I had prayed that in the morning. I wrote Brad a little love note and put it in his car. And then, once he had left for work, I sat down at the computer and tried to check my email. Only his email account was left open. And there were emails in there that opened my eyes to the fact that he was having an affair.
The pain of that was crushing. It hit me in the gut, over and over again for the next few days, weeks, and months. I would literally double over with the pain of that, gasping for air. I cried, and cried, and cried some more. My heart broke. And I didn’t know what to do with all of the hurt and anger and grief. There are two main things I learned during that time.
First, I learned that I was not alone. Some of that I learned through the care and love showered on me by my friends here at MOPS and my church friends. But most of it I learned from the care and love showered on me by God. I’ve been a Christian basically my whole life….but during that time of pain I learned what it really meant to trust in Him. I felt betrayed by my husband, and lost within all of my doubts about the future. And I felt totally alone. There is a song by a group called BarlowGirl entitled Never Alone that has these lyrics in it…
I waited for you today
But You didn't show
No.No.No.
I needed You today
So where did you go?
You told me to call
you said You'd be there
And though I haven't seen You
Are You still there?
Chorus
I cried out with no reply
andI can't feel You by my side
So I'll hold tight to what I know
You're here and I'm never alone.
And though I can not see You
and I can't explain why.
Such a deep, deep reassurance
You've placed in my life
ohWe cannot separate
'Cause You're part of me
and though You're invisible
I'll trust the unseen
I cried out with no reply
andI can't feel You by my side
So I'll hold tight to what I know
You're here and I'm never alone.
I heard this song and thought, “yes, this is it….this is exactly how I feel”. And I did the only thing I knew how to do. I held tight to the truth that God promises His children that He will always be there….that they are never alone. And I slowly begin to feel the truth of that. He told me that I wasn’t alone in so many ways. In the notes from friends. In the songs at church. In the sermons that our pastor preached during that time. And even, on a particularly bad day when I thought my marriage had no hope of surviving, in the timing of a gift from a friend. She sent me a necklace…a pendant with a tiny mustard seed inside…and the verse from Matthew 17:20 that says “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” I didn’t have to have faith big enough to change my husband, or save my marriage….I just had to have faith that I was not alone and that God would work all of this out in His timing and for His glory.
The second thing I learned took a lot longer to figure out. When I found out about the affair, and in the midst of all that pain and uncertainty at first, I had the thought that God would use all of this pain I was going through to finally, FINALLY reach Brad. I thought that all of it would be worth it if Brad was able to understand that he needed God. I thought that I would be able to handle all of that pain if it meant that our marriage would finally be “right”.
Only it didn’t happen. Brad didn’t see his need for God. He didn’t turn his life around. And our marriage still continued to limp along. And I couldn’t understand why. Why was I having to deal with all of this? Why did this crappy thing have to happen to me? I got mad at God. And I got mad for a nice long time. And it is only in the last 6 months or so that I am starting to figure out a little bit of the why.
Our church is fond of saying that “God doesn’t waste a hurt”, and I really believe that is true. Here’s the deal….I hadn’t been through anything truly horrible before in my life. I hadn’t lost a family member, I hadn’t been abused by my parents, I hadn’t had violent boyfriends, I hadn’t lost a child. I’d been smooth sailing it through life. And my life sure looked “purty” on the outside. But this came along and blew all my pretty little life to pieces. I gathered up all those broken pieces of my heart, my faith, my life, and I took them to my God. I held them out and asked Him to “fix this please”. And He put them back together, but in His special way. See, He left all the cracks there, He left the holes here and there. He left my life looking not so pretty on the outside, but useful now to Him. Let me explain….my life before was like this jar. Pretty. Neat. Clean. But when He would try to use my life to shine His glory out into the world, it was all kept within myself. But when I gave my broken pieces to Him, and He mended them back together again, He gave me a jar like this one. Not so pretty. Definitely not crisp and smooth. Lots of holes and cracks. But now, when He wants to shine His love and glory out to the world, there it is, shining through those cracks.
God doesn’t want perfect people. He wants the broken, the hurting, the lost. He wants us just where we are, at the point in our lives that we are at, exactly as we are. He wants to shower us with His love. He wants to mend our broken pieces. And He wants to use us to show His love to the rest of the world. People don’t feel welcomed and accepted if the people doing the inviting are perfect and flawless. People feel welcomed and accepted if the person doing the inviting is open and shows their cracks…shows their mistakes…shows their hurts…and then shows how God can change all of those things into gorgeous beautiful perfect people in His sight.
I don’t know where you are when it comes to knowing God. I don’t know if you have ever given your life to Him. But I do know without a doubt that you have been hurt by life. And I know without a doubt that you can come to God at any time, and He will never leave you or forsake you. And He will not waste a single hurt. If you don’t know God, if you’ve never asked Him to come into your life and make you one of His own, please talk to me today. I would be happy to pray a simple prayer with you. Won’t you come to Him and lay down your hurts?
Friday, January 23, 2009
New Year
I know, I know...I am WAY behind the 8-ball on this one. The New Year began weeks ago. Whatever. This is how I roll. I still have Christmas gifts on my dresser, waiting to be mailed. For that matter, I have my brother's birthday gift too...and his birthday was in November. I'm the worst procrastinator in the world. Really. I went through college, never doing a paper until the day before it was due. Many times I did it the day of...and a few times I turned it in late and thanked God not only for some natural charm, but also the smarts He gave me. Don't know how, but I graduated with honors. LOL.
I made what I am calling Attempts rather than Resolutions this year. Because that is all they turn out being anyway. My all focus on the word Repair.
I made what I am calling Attempts rather than Resolutions this year. Because that is all they turn out being anyway. My all focus on the word Repair.
- Repair my marriage. Date nights, counseling, I'm reading through a few books, etc.
- Repair my health. Exercise, eat healthy, lose weight, blah, blah, blah.
- Repair my kids. LOL. By that I mean redo the chore chart and stick with it, family devotions, outdoor activities.
- Repair my relationship with God. Devotions and prayer time.
- Repair my house. Patching of holes, painting of rooms, purging of items.
Dem thar are it. Nothing fancy. But this is the year of Repair. If it ain't about fixing one of those things, then it can't be added. The end, love Stemmler. (Inside joke for myself)
I'm going to Bolivia. For two weeks. With my parents. Brad is staying home with the kids. He is still unemployed, and they are paying my way, so I had to take this opportunity. I am thrilled but also strangely afraid. I think it may be just that old mommy fear, but just in case it isn't, I have taken the time to write Brad, Emilie and Landon their own letters. I love you letters. That they can have to read over and over if something happens to me. I'm going to miss them like crazy. And I hope Brad will be okay...I know he will be.
More another day.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
My two cents...
I've seen something rumbling just below the surface, and I want to talk about it. You're here, so obviously you care what I have to say. I don't promise that my two cents are worth two cents, but I do promise that they are my two cents, not borrowed ones. Stick with me folks, it'll all tie together eventually (maybe).
Here is my take on our current economic mess. I have been saying for months now that I am fed up with people not taking responsibility for their part in this mess. I really wanted one of the candidates fore presidency to stand up there and say that the mess we are in is our own fault. But no, they want to blame Wall Street and banks and lending institutions and mortgage companies. I want someone to stand up and say it is our own greedy fault. We, who took out too much debt, who bought stuff on credit cards, who bought a house too big for our own use, who had to not only keep up with the Jones' but surpass them...it is our fault. I have seen an underground movement starting over the past year or so, and I think it is finally coming to the surface. I've seen family after family, mom after mom, blogger after blogger talking about a desire to return to a simpler life. Families have grown tired of the excess spending, and are starting to save more. People are more interested in "going green" and "reduce, reuse, recycle" now. Moms want their kids to be responsible with their things and money, and not just buy all willy-nilly. I hear the talking heads on "news" shows talk about the consumer fear that is driving our economy ever lower, and I don't think it is fear that is doing this at all. I think it is that we have finally come to our senses and realized how out of control we had allowed ourselves to get. We want to buy with money we actually have. We want to pay off our debts. We want to have a quieter life. And the media hasn't caught on to that yet. The tv shows haven't realized that yet. Hollywood doesn't see it yet, but they all will.
We haven't seen the end of this economic fall yet. Oh no, we still have the credit card debt to hit. And once that does, we will see a bleaker newscast than any we've seen in our lifetimes. However, we will see some wisdom finally coming back into our homes. I think this will be a good thing, nay, a great thing for our nation. A return to the values that are true and lasting. A return to family gatherings, and memory making, and healthy consumption. I'm not afraid of being broke. (She says, oh so naively....yeah, I know, what do I truly know about being broke?) Who needs stuff anyway? So I might have to say goodbye to television and internet access and lattes and crazy Christmases. Oh well. Bon voyage. I'm hoping I'll be saying goodbye to that and saying hello to game nights and homemade bread and canned jelly and sitting by the tree telling stories and gathering close to my loved ones. Here's hoping we all have a simple, lovely holiday this year...with many more to come. Think back over your favorite holiday memories...how many of them involve a gift you got, or a thing you bought? Most of mine are things we did together, activities we did, songs that were sung, hikes that we took. The only gift that stands out in my mind is one my mom made me a year when we had no money. So, instead of camping out in that line at 4:00am on "Black Friday", why don't you stay warm in your bed, then get up, make your own coffee at home, and start writing your ideas down on what to do with your family that will be a lasting memory. Who needs another digital frame anyway? Or another sweater? Or another Bratz doll? Honestly, do any of us actually NEED any things? Or do we all long for and need someone to listen to us, someone to laugh with us, someone to let us know we aren't alone in this crazy world. Put away the credit card, get out the heavy coat, and take your loved ones on a walk. You'll thank me for it...no, better yet, you'll thank yourself.
So there ya have it, my two cents. Think we'll be using those more now and tossing them in wishing wells less?
Here is my take on our current economic mess. I have been saying for months now that I am fed up with people not taking responsibility for their part in this mess. I really wanted one of the candidates fore presidency to stand up there and say that the mess we are in is our own fault. But no, they want to blame Wall Street and banks and lending institutions and mortgage companies. I want someone to stand up and say it is our own greedy fault. We, who took out too much debt, who bought stuff on credit cards, who bought a house too big for our own use, who had to not only keep up with the Jones' but surpass them...it is our fault. I have seen an underground movement starting over the past year or so, and I think it is finally coming to the surface. I've seen family after family, mom after mom, blogger after blogger talking about a desire to return to a simpler life. Families have grown tired of the excess spending, and are starting to save more. People are more interested in "going green" and "reduce, reuse, recycle" now. Moms want their kids to be responsible with their things and money, and not just buy all willy-nilly. I hear the talking heads on "news" shows talk about the consumer fear that is driving our economy ever lower, and I don't think it is fear that is doing this at all. I think it is that we have finally come to our senses and realized how out of control we had allowed ourselves to get. We want to buy with money we actually have. We want to pay off our debts. We want to have a quieter life. And the media hasn't caught on to that yet. The tv shows haven't realized that yet. Hollywood doesn't see it yet, but they all will.
We haven't seen the end of this economic fall yet. Oh no, we still have the credit card debt to hit. And once that does, we will see a bleaker newscast than any we've seen in our lifetimes. However, we will see some wisdom finally coming back into our homes. I think this will be a good thing, nay, a great thing for our nation. A return to the values that are true and lasting. A return to family gatherings, and memory making, and healthy consumption. I'm not afraid of being broke. (She says, oh so naively....yeah, I know, what do I truly know about being broke?) Who needs stuff anyway? So I might have to say goodbye to television and internet access and lattes and crazy Christmases. Oh well. Bon voyage. I'm hoping I'll be saying goodbye to that and saying hello to game nights and homemade bread and canned jelly and sitting by the tree telling stories and gathering close to my loved ones. Here's hoping we all have a simple, lovely holiday this year...with many more to come. Think back over your favorite holiday memories...how many of them involve a gift you got, or a thing you bought? Most of mine are things we did together, activities we did, songs that were sung, hikes that we took. The only gift that stands out in my mind is one my mom made me a year when we had no money. So, instead of camping out in that line at 4:00am on "Black Friday", why don't you stay warm in your bed, then get up, make your own coffee at home, and start writing your ideas down on what to do with your family that will be a lasting memory. Who needs another digital frame anyway? Or another sweater? Or another Bratz doll? Honestly, do any of us actually NEED any things? Or do we all long for and need someone to listen to us, someone to laugh with us, someone to let us know we aren't alone in this crazy world. Put away the credit card, get out the heavy coat, and take your loved ones on a walk. You'll thank me for it...no, better yet, you'll thank yourself.
So there ya have it, my two cents. Think we'll be using those more now and tossing them in wishing wells less?
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