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Expectant Prayers ®

Jennifer Jo Weiss

It's That Time of Year Again

Twice a year, I end up going through all the kids clothes for the upcoming season.  Well, I worked several hours this weekend and most of yesterday and I am STILL not finished.   I have decided that our house is not big enough for us and all of our stuff, so we are going through other things as well.  It may be hard to imagine, but when you have 8 people, fish, birds, and a dog living in a roughly 1500 sq. foot house...well, you do the math.   "Calgon, take me away!"

I am a fairly organized person and I like to keep my house neat and tidy, but as I looked around each of the kid's rooms I couldn't wrap my mind around all the chaos of "stuff".   So, long story short...we are trying to downsize what we have and keep only those things that are essential.   That will include going through everything in our rooms, the attic, and eventually the basement and garage.    Even though I do this twice a year, it seems like the stuff has been accumulated faster than I was cleaning over the past 12 years.  It's time for a good purging.  

As I stood last night looking at the tower of saved clothes it was evident how blessed we are... but it also embarrassed me that we had so much.    Who needs all that?  Not us.   We are frequently given hand me downs from other folks, too  (see why the amount has exceeded my capabilities to keep things at a minimum even when I clean out things twice a year????)

So to keep this short I'll just tell you some facts:

Around 25 trash bags full of clothes came out from their storage spot.  2 boxes full of saved shoes.  2 small boxes of clothes I have saved for keepsake.   I sorted through all the bags and currently we are up to about 10 bags to donate to the Thrift Store.  I'm sure there will be more after finishing with the closets and dressers that haven't been touched yet. 

This is what I've done with the help of some of the older kids:

Celeste's dresser, Celeste's desk, Celeste's closet, Ezekiel's Dresser, Levi's Dresser, toys in the little boy's room, my dresser, my closet, the gazillion bags of clothes, the baby's dresser, the hall closet, the hope chest, and the end tables in the living room (that were filled with stuff).


This is what I still need to do:  Zeke and Levi's closet, Titus' closet, Titus' dresser, Titus' toys, Titus' desk, Moses' wardrobe, Pete's clothes (he can do those himself), the attic, the school stuff.  Eventually I will go through the kitchen stuff, the basement, my two desks, and the garage.  Whew. 

Boy, I feel better.  

Time to get to school and after that....back to work!

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