A Little of Dis, A Little of Dat

I realize that I just got back from vacation, but my mind is REELING. Unlike most family holidays, this one proved to give me some much needed "think-time" out on the beach to reflect, observe, listen, and decide some nagging life quandaries that I've been dealing with lately. Things may start to take a couple of different turns here on the old bloggity-blog.  Don't get your panties in a wad, I will inevitably be consistently sarcastic and cynical at times.  I'm not sure how to live my life not seeing the ironic and humor in the daily grind. But there are some things that my soul is sorting out, and I find it necessary to PURGE that on my viewing audience. My apologies. :)

For one, I am starting a new blogging experiment in conjunction with a book I am reading. I picked up 7 by Jen Hatmaker and I can already see my wheels turning and my perspective changing.  I'm on Chapter One and the conviction has set in. I know that I (along with many others) feel the constant burden of EXCESS & WASTE in our lives. I can walk in my little ones bedroom and am overwhelmed with guilt. Toys line the floor and walls and spill out over the designated toy boxes.  Their closet is another realm entirely. There are so many articles of clothing, that I have run out of room to hang, thus creating mounds and mounds of outfits lining the shelves as well. It's pretty pathetic. Some would say, at least you are not in need, to which I would reply, yet everyday, one of us thinks we need something new. Good gracious, the CRAP is abounding. Not only are we not in need, and not only do we have MORE than enough, we have WAY. TOO. MUCH. Here's a small peak into our situation:

Pay no mind to the naked toddler. As if he has no clothes to wear!

I'm realizing that stuff and clothes are not the only two categories where we are living in excess. I feel the sense of dissatisfaction every time I open the kitchen cupboards to see mountains of food I'm "not in the mood for. . .". You know you've all been here. There's nothing to eat! you say after just returning from the grocery store with a $200 receipt. What do we do?. . .let's order out, or swing thru the drive-thru. I'm not in the mood to cook tonight.  SPOILED. BRATS. You know we are. There are starving people in Africa, you know!? Isn't that what our mom's and grandmas used to say?  It's true though. Millions of people around the world will go to bed with less than a cup of plain rice in their bellies from the entire day. Makes our PB&J's sound a bit more sufficient. 

All this to say, I'm starting a new family experiment based on this inspiring book. For the next 7 months, I will take on a mind-set of SIMPLIFYING. I'll focus on 7 different areas of life and will write about how the fast is going at the end of every week. Stay tuned for that. 

I've also decided to start focusing more on the empowerment of parents. I can be real honest and say that I didn't have the best of the best in the parental department. My mom and dad struggled, to say the least. I love them dearly, but dysfunction was the name of the game in our household. There was a lot of manipulation, anger issues, depression, lack of spiritual guidance, divorce, selfishness, emotional/mental/physical abuse (at times) and an overall theme of survival growing up. I'm thankful for some of the ways that the past has grown me through the years, despite some of the turmoil and heartache. The one thing that resounds in my heart about it all is that history inevitably repeats itself. You give what you get, you teach what you're taught. Not in my family.  I realize my parents didn't have the best teachers themselves. They didn't have an outlet or a community of parents all doing it together. They didn't have a place to go to vent and/or receive advice or help. Believe me, I am not saying that this blog can be that outlet. Lord knows I consistently do it ALL wrong most of the time!  Just read any one of my posts to figure that out! Ha! But I hope to be able to offer some tips that I'm picking up along the way that are reshaping the way I parent. Some been-there-done-that-and-totally-screwed-it-up moments for others to gleam experience from.  And I am meeting a whole slew of peeps along the way, a community, so-to-speak that are constantly speaking words of life into me as a parent that I can hopefully pass along. A HUGE influence for me recently has been a friend of mine's blog EpicParent.  I've guest-posted over there some, and hope to be more involved in the future. I'd like my pitfalls as a wife, mother, and woman, in general, to be used to better others. So expect some more exploitations of my embarrassing moments, hopefully with an added lesson mixed in as well! 

For now, I'll just bide some time with you guys by giving you a glimpse of our family vacation. Enjoy!

First time at the ocean!

We be stunnin.

Daddy and Mr. Stinky Pants

The boys LOVED the ocean! I may have future surfers on my hands!

Highlight of the trip for the kiddos....feeding the seagulls! They even named their two favorites--Cantelope and Pancake.