Hospitality, Friendship, Encouragement

Sunday, September 4, 2011


There is a hint of change on the leaves of some of the maple trees.  As I look out my front window or as I drive down the road, I see the subtle change begin.  It's my favorite time of year, but I can hardly believe it is Autumn in a mere 19 days.  

I have begun the huge task of organizing and decluttering all our storage spaces downstairs.  It is going to be a lot of work, but already I am happy to see things clearing out.  For some reason the older I get the less 'stuff ' I want, or need.

I have items for Goodwill, homeschool books to give away, lots of memorabilia to let go....
I will not be letting go of the clutch of  letters, cards and notes that my husband and I have written to each other over the years - it was sweet to read back over some of them and be reminded of our 'young love' years.  I am thankful for Tim and for the years God has given us together.  I love that man more now than I did then, for now I truly know what it is like to walk together through hard times, to hurt each other and to forgive.  God is good.

 I have no idea how long this project will take but I am hopeful with diligence I can get it finished this next week or two at the most.  I am still home educating three of our children, after all. I am excited to pare down the stuff.  And with the change in season it is a reminder that Winter will be on the heels of Autumn.  More time will be spent indoors and less stuff means less clutter, and less clutter means more room and less stress....it's all good!

I am not going to work on that today however.  Today is a day of fellowship with our beloved church family.  Last week another Mom and I broke out into mushy tears during worship listening to the joyful voices of the children singing.  It was a song they knew well, and love to sing and I cried with delight knowing how the Lord must feel hearing us worshiping Him!  Bonnie too - she said she felt a little silly until she glanced back and saw me crying too!  Happy, joyful tears!  Another blessing of having a Family Integrated Church!

5 comments:

Vee said...

Decluttering. It's on my list. I think it's further down on my list than it is at your house, though. Soon enough. Perhaps the next time something falls on my head when I open the closet door, I'll be convinced.

An integrated church service just sounds like such a neat concept. I assume that your pastor doesn't preach two-hour sermons. ☺

My Cottage Charm said...

Hello my dear! :) I'm glad you liked my mirror tutorial..it really was an easy thing to do to make such a huge difference!
I have been cleaning out and organizing too...I just want to get rid of stuff lately...I need the room to breath! :)
Don't feel bad about getting teary eyed over hearing children sing praises to the Lord..I do it too! My hubby is the music minister at our church and I get mushy just about every week...sometimes more than once on Sunday! lol
Have a great weekend!
Hugs
Missy :)

Brenda@CoffeeTeaBooks said...

I'm doing a lot of decluttering and moving things around. Of course, my inspiration was redoing Christopher's room but it inspired me to make changes in a couple other rooms, too.

I was at a garage sale yesterday where they had gorgeous glass serving pieces very cheap but I told the lady I had made the decision not to buy anything that I have to wonder where to put it!

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

Vee - no two hour sermons, but an hour and a half of church!

Missy - It was so precious!

Brenda - That was amazing self control! I am going to be back at it tomorrow, holiday and all. Tim is working.

no spring chicken said...

Beautiful. I think we SHOULD be moved to tears at the goodness of our children's voices lifted in praise.

I love the encouraging words about marriage... so necessary in this age of throwing it away so quickly, you never even know what it means to get to the 'real good'.

I envy your dedication to the task of organizing. It's still on my to do list. Not looking good right now. I just kind of peck away at it little by little...

Blessings, Debbie

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