Bare foot for water

The kids and I just went for a walk down our road.  A few minutes into it I said, "Let's pretend that we are walking to get water for our family.  So many people today will really have to do this."  They were game and we kept walking.  A minute later I said, "Ya know, most of the people who have to walk for water have to walk barefoot.  Let's take our shoes off so we can really try to feel what it would be like."  They loved this idea!  So we all took our shoes off and headed to our destination.

The first thing I thought is, "Man am I a wimp!"  Rocks poked into my feet and I had to walk slow and I'm sure I looked extremely silly.  We probably only walked about half a mile there and back.  Not far at all.  When we did reach our house I was so happy to to step onto the nice soft grass.  Let's also keep in perspective that neither me or my kids actually had to carry any water.

 This wasn't anything big or special, just an attempt to teach lessons in the midst of everyday life.  To keep in perspective that we live in a BIG world.

If you want to read a real story about an amazing woman walking for water visit this link:

www.charitywater.org/projects/fromthefield/uganda.php

How do you start the day?

Facebook has the incredible knack of giving me a feeling of failure sometimes.  I blame Facebook, but really it's in my own mind.  I see what people are up to and start to compare myself to them, leaving me feeling inferior and boring.

This is the problem with looking at Facebook first thing in the morning.  Does anyone else struggle with this?  It's a total addiction, second nature.  It's so easy to roll over, unlock my iPod, and click the FB icon.  Instantly I'm connected, but not really connected all at the same time.  And definitely not connected to my real life-giving source.

Now contrast this with waking up and opening up God's Word.  I am instantly connected with truth, with my lifeline.  The only lifeline that really matters.  I read Luke 15:21-24,

"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'  But the Father said to his servants, 'Quick!  Bring the best robe and put it on him.  Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Bring the fattened calf and kill it.  Let's have a feast and celebrate.  For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'  So they began to celebrate."

And not only does this truth meet me in my Bible.  I open my e-mail and my daily devotional from Proverbs 31 has the exact same Words and truth.  And it says, "When you come to Jesus, or when you allow him to walk through the doors of your heart, no pleading or striving is necessary, only faith that his salvation and grace are your gifts.... He is watching, willing, and waiting to receive you."

God is so Awesome and all-knowing.  He knew that Luke 15 was going to be my reading today, and that the very same verse would be waiting in my e-mail.  He knew that I needed that today to combat those feelings of frustration and the mental battle going on inside of me.  

So how do you start the day?  Looking at others or looking at truth? 

Fun day.  Planted mint, jumped on the trampoline with the kids (not sure this is a good idea after having 3 kids, considering I need to get off every 5 minutes to go pee), talked with neighbors, made s'mores.  I feel a bit guilty for having such a fun and simple day, knowing that there are so many who are hurting.  So many going without.  Do you think there is a balance to be found in enjoying what you have, while at the same time remembering and actively helping those who have great need?  Perhaps it's found through gratefulness and generosity.

I'm finding that I'm enjoying my kids so much more now that I am making a very intentional effort to teach them to contribute and take responsibility.  This summer they are taking turns making and serving lunch.  It's fun to see them take pride and ownership of it.  I'm hoping for some positive changes over summer break.  So far so good.

I cannot say that this week of the "Stess/Prayer" challenge was filled with long periods of in depth intentional prayer and kicking up my feet for times of rest.  I can say that I had ample opportunity to call on the Lord for His guidance and His peace.  And when I called, He answered.  

I had the opportunity to drive a wonderful friend to doctor's appointment.  After we got back to her house we were blessed with an incredible and unexpected time of prayer.  It was real and candid and I could feel the Holy Spirit in that place. AWESOME!

On Tuesday afternoon I found myself driving my husband to the ER due to shortness of breath.  While there he had an abnormal EKG.  We had an opportunity to stress out or call on the Lord's peace.  God provided amazing peace and we were blessed to go home that night, with Matt being completely healthy.  

The week did not turn out like I thought it would.  I found myself in quite a few situations where I had to choose between worry or trust.  Where I could choose frustration because things weren't going my way, or choose to believe that God truly does have all my days ordained.

I've got a lot of work to do.  This challenge is going to take longer than a week... longer than a month.  Probably my whole life.

It's mine... MINE! MINE! MINE!

It's been a few days since I've posted about the "stress/prayer" challenge.  There's a reason for that.  I've been failing miserably.  My alarm goes off to get up early... I hit snooze.  When I finally do get up I try to read and pray, but I am easily distracted.  My alarms go off during the day to tell me it's time to stop and pray, but it always seems to happen when I'm right in the middle of something. (Imagine that).   

I'm realizing the root of the problem.  I am selfish!  I should go to bed early so I can get up early.  But when the time comes I think, "But this is MY time.  I haven't had any ME time all day."  When the alarms go off to pray I think, "I can't stop what I'm doing now.  I'm right in the middle of it."  Because making dinner or sending an e-mail is so much more important than stopping to pray for people who don't have a Father or for mother's around the world who are desperate to provide for their children.  Gag me!  

My time does not really belong to me.  It is a gift that I get every day.  It's my job to look to God to know how to use it.  Lord help me!

"God forgive me for thinking too highly of myself

God forgive me for thinking too lowly of myself

God forgive me for thinking of myself so stinkin' much"

-Shane Claiborne

Day 2: Practicing prayer

I'm realizing that really being intentional about prayer is going to take practice... a lot of practice.  I'm so accustomed to the GO GO GO pace of life, that stopping and being quiet is hard.  It is a rare occasion that I am by myself, so I've had to designate a quiet place in my house to go and pray at my specific times.  Finding a quiet place in an 1,100 sq. ft. house is a bit of a challenge. But I've found this little corner in my room where I'm hidden behind my bed and it's working quite well.  I've decided to set a timer for 5 minutes for each prayer time.  If I don't then I just rush through a quick prayer for the poor, and that really defeats the purpose.

Sometimes I don't even know how or what to pray so I just sit and be quiet and think about what I'm suppose to be praying for, and the Lord brings things to mind.

I've also realized that I like getting up early, but I hate going to bed early.  This poses a problem.  This equation just doesn't work unless I want to be crazy cranky lady.  So I'm going to have to force myself to go to bed earlier tonight.

Day 1: 5:00 a.m. is really early

It's day 1 of the Summer of 7 stress/prayer challenge.  I'm officially just going to call it the "Prayer Challenge", because that's what I'm focusing on.

I was suppose to get up at 5:00 a.m. and guess what I found out... 5:00 a.m. is VERY early!  And I confess, I hit snooze and slept until 5:39.  It did feel good once I got up to sit and listen and read my Bible and enjoy quiet and sunshine and coffee and Jesus.

I decided that for this week I will pause at 7 specific times each day to pray for 7 specific things.

8:15 a.m. - Kids/Education

10:15 a.m. - Poor and oppressed

12:15 p.m. - The Fatherless

2:15 p.m. - Mothers around the world

4:15 p.m. - My marriage

6:15 p.m. - Church (my local church and the church as a whole)

8:15 p.m. - Outreach Team (A ministry I just joined)


P.S.  I was very glad this morning to put on different clothes and I was most excited to put on some big earrings.  Funny thing,  most of the clothes I'm wearing are clothes from the 7 challenge except my shirt.

So7: On to the next

Last day of the clothes challenge.  Feeling relieved and grateful for these past 2 weeks.  Life is simple when I'm not confronted with so many choices.  I realized that I had a lot of clothes that I rarely wore, even still it was hard getting rid of them.  I'm the type of person that thinks, "Wait!  I might wear that if I ever go camping."  Let's be real.  My family doesn't camp.

Tomorrow I'll start the "Stress Challenge", which will be more of a prayer challenge for me.  I'm not sure what it will fully look like yet.  The one thing I know for sure is that I will devote the first hour of my day to prayer.  That hour will start at 5:00 a.m. on weekdays and at 6:00 a.m. on weekends (Lord help me that is early)  But if I don't do it then it won't happen.

Summer of 7: A LONG way to go

This 2 week clothes challenge is almost finished.  Overall, it's been a pretty good experience.  In doing this experiment I'm trying to pass on some valuable lessons to my kids.

A few weeks ago a girlfriend gave me some boxes of hand-me-downs for my girls.  There were at least  20 pairs of jeans and so many shirts, dresses, coats, etc...  Way more than we needed.  My girls were ecstatic at the chance to pick out some "new" clothes.  But I made it clear that we would only be picking a few things, mostly things we had need of, and the rest we would pass on.  They were great about it.  They picked some things, more than I would have liked, and I snuck some of the extras out when they were asleep.

So we still had a lot of clothes to pass on.  I really want to start being more thoughtful about where I'm donating.  I contacted my kids' school to see if there were any families in need of girls clothing.  The counselor let me know that there was a family in need, with a girl size 4T and a girl size 8.  I looked through all the clothes and there were a few items in each size, but not a ton.

I really wanted to be helpful to this family, so it was time to put my money where my mouth is.  I don't want to just give my hand-me-downs, which were really hand-me-downs to me in the first place.  I want these girls to feel special.  I headed to Target to pick out a few outfits for them.

As I was shopping I found 2 dresses.  One was cute, but the other was SUPER cute!  I went back and forth between the two because the super cute dress was $2 more.  TWO DOLLARS!!!!  I could probably find $2 in my couch cushions or under the seats of my car.  How could I even hesitate?  This is where I'm at people.  I still have a LONG way to go.

I finally ended up buying the super cute dress.  But it took a whisper from the Spirit saying, "If you were buying for you're own daughter wouldn't you spend the extra two dollars?"

"Love your neighbor as yourself" -Matthew 22:39

Lord help me!

Day 12... I think

I think it's Day 12 of the Summer of 7 clothes challenge, but I could be wrong.  I'm losing track.

Last week in one of my posts I said I was being moved to action.  One of my best friends asked me, "What kind of action?  What are you doing?"  I love this friend!  She is not afraid to ask me the hard questions.  She will not let me get away with just talking about action.  She will make sure that I do what I say I'm going to do.

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." -Romans 12:2

This verse really speaks to the action that is happening right now.  I am working hard to be transformed by the renewing of my mind.  I am turning away from the pattern of this world.  You might be thinking, "That's lame!  She's totally avoiding real action!"  But here's the deal, I want this 7 experiment to change me... and I want to stay that way.  I don't want it to be some thing I did during the Summer of 2012, and then I went on with life as usual.  I want to be changed.  I want to be transformed.

"We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." -Aristotle

I don't want to just do a few acts of kindness and charity so I can feel good about myself.  I want to create new habits so I can be more useful to God and hopefully do good for other people... for the rest of my life.  

In his book "The Hole in Our Gospel" Richard Stearns writes, 

"The most common view held by Americans is that poverty is the absence of things.  If only the poor had things like nutritious food, medicines, better houses, clean water wells, adequate clothing, agricultural tools, and seeds, they would no longer be poor.  This is why we throw a dollar in the panhandler's cup, give our old clothes to Goodwill, and take short-term missions trips to other countries to dig irrigation channels, teach English, or build schools.  But this kind of charity, while it has it's place, can backfire on naive 'Good Samaritans' who discover that those who receive their gifts are soon back asking for more of them.  They saw an easy way to have their needs met and became dependent on the givers for their livelihoods.  While providing things like these in urgent situations is sometimes necessary, it neither addresses the underlying stubbornness of poverty, nor is it sustainable; it just creates a dependency.  Frankly, giving things to the poor does much more to make the giver feel good than it does to fundamentally address and improve the condition of those in need."

This is why my plan of action is to transform my mind and my habits.  Because they way he described the American giver describes me... and it makes me cringe.

 

Day 11: Cleaning out

I went through my closet today as promised.  The undertaking was not as big as I thought it would be.  Probably because I've been purging things ever since I read "7" some months ago.  So today I came up with 23 things to get rid of.

I know... it doesn't look like much.  It really isn't.  But when I counted all of my clothing including: nice shirts, t-shirts, pajamas, workout clothes, sweats, sweaters, shoes, boots, coats, scarves, dresses, jeans, tank tops, shorts, and swimsuits, I have about 85 items.  I still have a few coats I could give away, but I just couldn't do it today.  I'm a work in progress.

But I am making progress.  Last month I gave away 5 of my 6 purses.  Which means I'm a 1 purse lady now.  Boy does that make life easier.  Not having to dig through purses because I've put my wallet in one of the 6!  I've weaned my scarves from 6 down to just 2.  I went from 4 sweaters to 2.  

Slowly but surely I'm letting go.  My "stuff" will no longer own me... I will own my "stuff".

A Time for Everything

Listening to hymns this morning and remembering Pastor Buntain.  A life well lived indeed!  As I read various articles about his life yesterday one thing really struck me.  He didn't become the pastor of Life Center in Tacoma until he was 40 years old.  The church burned to the ground 10 years after he became pastor, and he rebuilt the church that I have always called home.  He was 50 then.  For some reason I've always thought when I'm 50 my life will begin winding down.  This doesn't even make sense as I think about it now.  I see the example of all of my parents.  They are FAR from winding down!  But for some reason it's just how I saw things.

This really gave me a change of perspective.  I've been under the mindset of "I need to hurry up and raise my kids so I can start working on my calling... whatever that is.  If I don't start soon it's going to be too late!"  The truth is, I'm in the middle of God's calling right now!  I'm just missing it because I'm comparing myself to other people or I think it should look different.

"There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens"-Ecclesiastes 3:1

I don't have to be in a hurry.  As long as I keep my eyes on Jesus and follow where He leads I won't be late and I won't miss out on any part of my life.  I can enjoy this season of raising my kids without feeling like I'm missing the mark.  This may seem silly but it is such a huge RELIEF to me.

Another reminder I love: "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" -Psalm 139:16

I'm the problem

I noticed something funny today... I'm the problem.  With the laundry that is.  I usually have mountains of laundry.  I mean the dirty clothes is usually overflowing.  But I looked at my baskets today and this is what I saw:

Wait!  I want you to see an aerial view

This just isn't the norm in my house.  These 3 bins are usually full to the brim to the point of overflowing onto the floor.  And I promise I didn't hide the dirty clothes anywhere.  I haven't been doing laundry any more than I normally do, which only means one thing... I have the biggest problem with clothes in my house.  This whole Summer of 7 challenge is opening my eyes.

You know what this means?  Tomorrow I'll be posting pictures of all the clothes I'm giving away.  Clearly this needs to be a more permanent lifestyle change.  And I guess I can't pass the blame to my family anymore

Day 9: The sleepover

Noting too exciting happening with my clothes today.

But my son is going to a sleepover at his buddies tonight.  It seems we overlooked a very important clothing choice in his 7... PAJAMAS!!!  He usually sleeps in his undies at home and sleepovers are a very, very rare occasion.  He does have jammies, but he is a legal beagle.  I asked, "Are you sure you don't just want bring some jambes?"  His response: "Yes I'm sure!  I'm sticking to my 7."

So, he'll just sleep in his sweats.  I'm proud of him!

Passion?

Tonight at our small group this question came up: "What is your passion?"  I have to be honest, I sort of hate this question.  Only because I never feel like I have a good answer.  When other people answer this question I usually think "yes!  I can totally see that. That is totally you!"  But for some reason when I look at myself I feel like a deer in the headlights.

I looked up the word "Passion" on dictionary.com  Here's the definition it gives:

Passion: any powerful or emotional feeling; strong amorous feeling or desire

I must say I was very disappointed by this definition.  I mean, sometimes I have a strong desire for chocolate, but it's not my passion.  (At least I don't think it is)  The synonyms they gave were a much better fit: fervor, zeal, ardor.

Even still, I don't have an answer.  I loved what one of my girlfriends said.  "It's changing all the time."  Now that I can relate to.

What is your passion?

Day 8: Blah!

OK, now I'm starting to get bored of these clothes.  Actually, I was feeling really excited this morning, because I had found a new combination of clothes. (Which is hard to do when you only have 7 items of clothing)  It was all good until we got into the car after our Friday doughnut run.  Viv yells out, "Hey Mom!  You got something on your arm."  I look and this is what I see:

A lovely blob of chocolate right on the sleeve of my white shirt.  Very cute!  "Oh well" I say to myself.  I'll take it off and just wear the blue shirt I was wearing over it.  So I take off the blue shirt and what do I find?

Chocolate.... on the back of my blue shirt.  How does that even happen?!  The ironic part is that as we were leaving the store, Lola was commenting on how clean I stayed while eating my doughnut.  Not so much I guess.  

No biggie, I'll just wear my black shirt... that's in the washer.  Or my hoodie... that's also dirty.  So for now I'm wearing a tank top, which is one of my 7 approved underclothes.  This wouldn't be so bad if I lived in Hawaii or Florida or Arizona.  But I live in Washington... the cold part.  The part that is still 50 degrees in June.  

This makes me glad that I've extended my challenge to 2 weeks.  Today I am forced to be uncomfortable, and really it's not that uncomfortable.  I'm just kind of a wimp.  I mean, I was able to come inside my warm house and put my clothes into a washing machine.  

But when I walk down the driveway to get my mail and the cold breeze hits me, I get a reminder of the many people who have little or no clothing.  I think about the people who slept outside last night.  I think about the kids who might be embarrassed to be wearing the same clothes to school today that they wore yesterday.  And when I have the tangible reminder of these things my heart hurts for them and I am moved to action.

Summer of 7: Day 7

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life.  And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the flowers of the field grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like on of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of it's own." - Matthew 6:25-34

There's not really much to say today.  The above says it all.  I had a friend send me part of this passage today.  It is one of my very favorite pieces of scripture.  We have one thing to do, "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness."  

On the band wagon

I just talked my son into doing the next week of "7 clothes" with me.  It really wasn't that hard and it comes as no surprise that he would be excited about doing something like this.  He is big on not wasting things, especially when it comes to laundry.  And have you seen his shoes??

This picture was taken probably a month ago.  They're even worse now, and he still wears them to school.  I'm not sure whether to be proud or appalled. Anyways, it will be fun to have him doing the challenge with me.  His 7 are:

1. Black puffy jacket

2. Red Mario shirt

3. Black astronaut shirt

4. Gray sweats

5. Jeans

6. Karate pants

7. Karate shirt

I told him he didn't have to include his karate clothes since he only wears them twice a week to karate, or he could have them count as 1 item.  But he insisted on including them.  He's such a legal beagle in that way.

Summer of 7: Day 6 of clothes

Nothing too eventful happening with the clothes today.  Things I'm learning so far:

1. Wearing an apron is a good thing!  I've found myself wearing an apron every time  I cook and/or do the dishes.  I've been very aware food splatter lately, and without the option of changing my clothes frequently I decided an apron would be a nice option.  It makes me feel very 1950's-ish.  Except for the fact that my apron is an old green Starbucks apron and my lipstick is not perfect (and for that matter, nonexistent).

2.  I really have to look ahead on the calendar and carefully decide my outfit.  If I have somewhere to go where I need to look a little nicer I have to make sure I save those clothes for that day or make sure they're clean.

3. I still really don't miss my other clothes.  I'm trying to figure out where I can donate them and know they will go to people who really need them.  Any suggestions??

4.  I do miss my big earrings.

  

I'm cheating

I have a confession to make... I'm cheating on my 7 articles of clothing.  And it's with this necklace.

It may not look special, but it so is!  This necklace was made by African women, out of beads made from old magazines.  A good friend gave to me some years back.  I thought it was cool.  But it wasn't until last week that I realized how amazing it really was.

Last week I finished the book "Kisses from Katie" by Beth Clark and Katie J. Davis.  If you haven't read it, READ IT!!!  In the book she tells the story of some women in Uganda who live in an incredibly poor village.  Many of these women are single mothers.  Desperate to provide for their families, some of them would sneak out after their kids were asleep and prostitute themselves.  One story is told of a woman who would brew alcohol to sell in order to make money.  But if it didn't sell, "she took the mash from which it is made home to her family and they would swallow it until they fell asleep.  She was making her children drunk so they were unable to feel the pains of hunger."

Can you even imagine how painful this must be for these mothers!  So they teach the women how to make these necklaces.  They provide a way out.  A way for these mothers to provide for there families with dignity.  

So yes, technically I'm cheating.  But I live in a place where I often complain about too much laundry, nothing to eat (even though my refrigerator is full and my cupboards are stocked), and feeling overwhelmed by the demands of life.  But really, the demands on my life pale in comparison to the weight these Ugandan women are facing.  

But every time I wash my hands and see myself in the mirror and see the necklace around my neck, I think of these women.  I think about how many women are hurting and needing and living in the most desperate situations.  And I think about how I need to stop thinking about me and start getting my eyes more on Jesus, so I will be more surrendered to Him, and be ready for Him to use me however he wants.

Summer of 7: Day 5

It's raining and a little cold today.  It makes me miss my red rain boots and coats.  My hoodie has a spaghetti stain on it from last night's dinner... did I mention it's cream?  It could be worse.

I've decided to stretch this clothes challenge out to 2 weeks.  One of my best friends, who has done the month long clothes challenge and who did the month long food challenge with me (while she was nursing!), sent me a text last night.  It said, "So I didn't think that seven could really make an impact in just a week?!  But... it's working for you?"  


My answer to that... Yes, I'm seeing an impact.  But I also know that I could see a bigger impact if I do it for a longer stretch.  Especially since I've already done the food and media experiments for a month, I know how great the impact can be.  I did not do the month long challenges perfectly.  But there is something about getting to that uncomfortable place.  The place where your sick of it and desperate to be done with it.  That's where I've seen victory and leaned into the Holy Spirit like never before.

Summer of 7: Day 4 of clothes

Really loving only having 7 items of clothing to choose from.  It makes life so simple.  Last night I was folding laundry and was thinking how much easier it would be if my family all only had 7 items of clothing all the time!  Not sure that would really work out in the long run, but it really got me thinking.

I went to hang up some of my clothes and guess what?  I have 5 of the exact same shirt!  5!  Wouldn't it be creepy if it was 7?  But anyways, who really needs 5 of the same shirt.  They are all different colors, but still.

I know it's only been a few days, but I'm not even missing my other clothes.  Not even a little bit.  It got me to thinking, what if I only had 7 of each clothing item?  7 pairs of pants (including sweats and/or work out pants) 7 shirts, 7 pairs of socks etc....  Interesting....

Summer of 7: Day 3 of clothes

Day 3 has been pretty good. Took the kids swimming at the Y and wore my swimsuit.  I weighed my options: Cheat a little and have an enjoyable day with the kids or be a legal eagle and go stir crazy in the house and break my promise to Viv.  I voted to cheat.  Everyone is happier because of it.

On a good note, the tight jeans from yesterday are much more comfortable today.

One interesting part of the day was doing the Muscle Toning class at the Y wearing my Converse.  I mean, it could have been worse.  But boy was I ever thankful that I usually have the option of wearing some nice running shoes.  The Converse weren't terrible.  But they were very flat and my toes were all squished.  Plus, this is my vain side coming out, I looked a little ridiculous.

In the end the shoe thing is meaningless.  There are children in parts of the world that walk many miles every day with bare feet just to get clean water or food or to get to school.

Lord help me to stop thinking about myself so much!

Summer of 7: Day 2 of clothes

Second day of 7 articles of clothing has been pretty easy.  I expected as much.  I have ran in to a few minor bumps.

1. I wanted to go for a run today, but I didn't choose running shoes as one of my footwear options.  So I went for a bike ride instead.  Totally fun!

2. One of the pairs of jeans I picked are my "too tight when they are first out of the dryer or carrying a few extra pounds" jeans.  Therefore I had to do a jumping dance to get them on at which time I felt something fall off the back.  It was a little button or something.  However, upon further inspection I found a small hole in the butt of the jeans.  Praying the hole does not get any bigger, and that the jeans stretch out after a few wears.

All this is very minor in the grand scheme of life.

7 clothing items + 2 pairs of shoes

Here's a picture of my 7 clothing items for this week of "The Summer of 7".  I picked 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of stretch pants, 3 shirts, and 1 hoodie.  Also not shown here are a black and a white tank top that I'll wear under my shirts.  I wear a tank top under my shirt every day so I'm viewing them as undergarments.  Plus, my shirts are a bit thin and I'm not about wearing see-through shirts. 

 I really thought, "This won't be too difficult.  I don't have that many clothes anyways".  But last night, after I already chose my 7, I was folding laundry.  And I almost started hyperventilating.  I folded my most comfy pajama pants and realized that I didn't really have anything to wear to bed.  See, I usually I wear like sweats and a sweatshirt or a long sleeve t-shirt to bed.  I'm all about being warm.  So my options are my stretch pants and a tank top. Because I don't want to wear my hoodie to bed in case I need it for the day time.  I mean I guess I could but.... it might feel grody and beddish.  I guess that's really the point of all this.

Also, I woke up this morning and saw that it was raining, and it's expected to rain for the next few days... and I didn't choose a coat.  I mean, you would think after reading "7" I would have chosen an actual coat.  And I quote, 

"Day 2: Make a coat one of your seven things."- Jen Hatmaker

But it's June here.  She did her clothes in February.  I thought I'd be o.k.  I was wrong.  Oh well.  It's good for me.  

I know Jen didn't do belts, but I'm definitely doing a belt.  Because in the words of Sir Mix-A-Lot, "little in the middle but she's got much back!"  If I don't use a belt I'll look like a carpenter every time I bend over.  It's just a plain brown belt though.  Nothing cute.

And I'm doing one pair of tiny stud earrings.  This is a big deal for me because ever since I chopped my hair off a few months back, larger dangly earrings have become a part of my everyday attire.

O.k. that's all for now.

Summer of 7 linky blogs

I'm not sure if I'm doing these linky things right. Oh well... Here it goes anyways