Part of this is due to the fact that I was an elementary school teacher. During student teaching, I started collecting ANYthing I could use in my classroom. It was pretty much a requirement for getting a certificate: "gathers junk and turns it into a teachable moment? check." The (wonderful) teacher with whom I student taught moved up to a higher grade the year I was hired, so she gave me a lot of her primary resources. Lite brites, cookie cutters for play-do, dry erase boards, and any number of other teaching treasures were all mine, all free. It was teacher heaven!
Another reason I think I'm like this is because I am a stay at home mom. The church actually takes very good care of us, but owning your first home and having kids can be expensive! We weren't like a lot of our (smart) friends who waited and worked for a while before starting a family. No, instead we went from both being students to me being a teacher while my hubby finished seminary to parenthood. Even then, my cheapskate side showed through- I paid $15 to buy a high chair, crib, and changing table from a teaching friend of mine- and that was about all they were worth. Fortunately for Big Sister, my parents saw the absurdity of the labor and materials it would have taken to make those suitable for our little princess and went straight to Babies R Us. Most of my secondhand home purchases actually do work out. A majority of the furniture in our house came from someone else- I have sanded and painted tables, recovered chairs, made creative uses of slip covers, and more. If you don't want it anymore, call me (my husband will be so happy with me for saying that and volunteering to take more junk). Yes, it is an effort to save money, but it is more. Old stuff has character. It has its own story, real or imagined. And actually, I enjoy the project- seeing the potential in something someone else discarded as hopeless. Kind of reminds me of the gospel. Here is one of my favorite projects, my dining room set. In the background you can see some bamboo blinds we picked up from a freecycle post, and under the table is the puppy we "picked up" as a stray!
Honestly, though, I think I am the way that I am because God knows what He is doing. For one, He knows I'll never be uber-wealthy with a masters in education and a minister husband. Even the other career options I've considered (and there are many) are not the kind of professions you choose if you want to be rich: social work, counseling, law... trust me, if I were a lawyer I'd be the poor kind. Not only this, but God has given me a great passion for social justice issues, especially relating to poverty. Because of this, I have a very hard time being upset that I don't have an iphone when a child dies every 5 seconds due to hunger-related causes. I actually feel guilty for having the resources that I do and not sharing more. Hubby and I both decided in the beginning of our relationship that we wanted to be the kind of couple, now family, that helps others and gives freely when there is a need and that trusts God to provide. Lately, in my deepening understanding of living out the love of Christ, that has also translated into making wiser decisions about what to do with my money. I do believe money talks, and I don't want mine to say I support materialism or exploiting people in sweatshops or destroying God's creation or creatures. Of course, I am still a suburban mom, not a member of The Simple Way, so my money unfortunately still says a lot of those things. I'm just trying to keep turning down the volume. (Speaking of The Simple Way, Shane Claiborne will be at Lee this week. Any of you locals want to go with me?!)
So where did this random confession and ensuing guilt trip come from? We've spent the weekend with my wonderful parents, who came down to help us around the house. Besides patching, sanding & priming the former wallpaper-nightmare that is our hall bath, we fixed up some yard toys for Big Sister. The sandbox and playhouse have been around for a little while now, but they were well-loved by their previous owners. The swingset was one of my recent freecycle.org aquisitions. All of them are now cute & very usable, with the cost of some paint & elbow grease. Plus, we kept them from ending up in the dump. I know someday she will look around and notice that some of her "new" toys are actually older than she is (and don't go feeling sorry for her either, she gets PLENTY of new stuff from those same wonderful parents of mine, along with many other people who spoil her to pieces). I'm hoping that this realization will only help to further shape her into a passionate, caring person who refuses to fit any mold and leaves everything, and everyone, better than when she found it. That is my prayer for both of my girls.
So there you have it. Trash to treasure, the theme of my home. And hopefully a little picture of grace. Time to wrap this up. I've got to eat dinner, and then I have to sit down and go through three bags of clothes & shoes my mom brought me from my very fashionable cousin. I hope some fit- I've been worrying about what I'll wear this fall until I work off more of my pregnancy weight. I should know better than to worry. God dresses the lilies of the fields. He keeps giving & giving. I am so blessed.
1 comment:
Great blog. You and my wife are kindred spirits. You guys should be able to hang out more often... perhaps a move to Arkansas can be arranged?
- S.
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