Aged to Perfection

 Dustin has often commented that I have too many shoes and clothes, but really I don't.  Its just a collection of items that I have accumulated over the past decade +.  I seriously do wear things until they fall apart or get lost.  In an attempt to "prove"this to him, I took inventory of some of the items in my closet.  Some of the highlights...

My very favorite shoes...April 2001-November 2010:  Cause of death:  campfire

I don't have a picture of them new, but I bought them when I was pregnant with Judah, and I have worn them year-round in several countries and many states--over the river and through the woods.  Finally, this fall I was visiting a friend in Oklahoma, sitting around campfire, and smelled a really funny smell.  We thought someone was burning tires nearby.  Eventually when my feet started smoking, I realized that it was not tires, but rather my sandals that were melting.  I suppose I could have kept wearing them, but rather I used it as an excuse to let my mom buy me a shiny new pair for my birthday.   It was a good ten year run for the dear old Birkenstocks, and I expect these new ones to last even longer because I will remember not to put my feet too close to a fire. 

 

My very favorite tshirt...January 1996-current

This tshirt was given to me by my first youth pastor, and its what got me thinking about this blog this morning.  I still wear it all the time, and this morning I thought, "wow...this shirt is getting THIN!".  As the picture indicates, the shirt has faded considerably and its wearer grown larger over the past 15 years!

My favorite backpack...sometime 1994-current

I bought this backpack in 10th grade because I wanted a new backpack for our consolidation with Sistersville.  Like my shoes, its been around the world and carried everything from school supplies to poopy diapers. Sometimes I WISH it'd wear out so I could buy a new one, and at the same time I'm trying to convince Cana to buy one just like it so we won't have to buy her another backpack while she's under this roof!  Sadly, she doesn't like the thought of not getting to buy a new one for high school here in a few years.

 

So, yes...while my closet IS full, I am confident that neither do buy extra "stuff",  nor am I a hoarder.  I simply know what I like, what will last, and I keep things for a long, long time.    

Morning Fog

The windows in my house are fogged because of the heat and humidity outside compared to the cool inside temps.  That is a true sign of the times we are living in...late July in West Virginia!  Occasionally I like to pretend I am in a remote jungle somewhere.  I leave the windows open and fans off, lay in bed and sweat, and refuse to kill bugs.  I make rice for supper and wash my hair in the rain.  However, right now with THIS jungle weather, I am a wuss with the air conditioning on.

A couple months, a couple trips, and a couple (or rather, a few) birthdays have passed since my last blog about Eden's birthday!  Dustin traveled to Peru with the youth group from church, and while he was gone I entertained my "bff" for two weeks and then took the kids to visit with my brother and his family in Illinois.  Nadia celebrated her 3rd birthday in Illinois for the second year in a row.  We all (including Dustin) arrived back home on the 3rd of July, and Simone had her 5th birthday on the 7th.  Six days later we had a wonderful dinner of turkey vegetable soup in honor of the end of Dustin's 34th year.  A week later we took the kids for a short weekend vacation to Cincinnati to visit the Creation Museum and Cincinnati zoo.  And now we are back home (again) to relax for the next few weeks of summer before school begins.

My pastor has referred to a quote a couple times lately that says something to the effect of "true mental health is a commitment to reality..."  I've been thinking about the truth in that statement, and reality for me, among many things, is that I am blessed.