Good Friday

As Lent comes to a close this weekend and I reflect on the unfathomable sacrifice our Lord made for us,  I am also called to reflect back upon our Lenten Sacrifices....

The kids did pretty well with the Lent Jar.  Most days they each took a piece of paper without prompting. Even Kate did this:) I tried to keep it on the kitchen table as a constant reminder.  There were some days when it was moved to a counter and then it was forgotten.  So, I learned that the visual reminder was key.  I will definitely do this again.  I need to come up with some more ideas though for things to put in it.

Well, the exercise thing for me was up and down.  Some weeks I did great.  Some weeks (when Kate had several days off from school) I did not do well.  I did manage to try Pilates, Yoga, Zumba, some cardio equipment and free weights. I also walked for an hour on some days. One of my goals was to try a variety of things so that maybe I would love one of them.  They were all just okay.  But I need to continue with the exercise.  I did find out about 2 weeks ago that I have osteopenia so exercise is important.  I am very small boned and fair skinned (and I don't eat much dairy).  So, I need to be careful about the risks of osteoporosis.  I am having a full fledged fitness training/evaluation thing at my gym.  It was scheduled for during Lent but had to be rescheduled. I wish I had been more disciplined about this sacrifice.

Another one of my Lenten sacrifices was to attempt 40 bags in 40 days.  I did accomplish this one.  In fact, I probably got closer to 60-70 bags! The goal is to purge 40 bags of stuff in your house.  The thinking is that material goods and "stuff" in general gets in the way of our closeness to God.  Stuff takes out time and attention and money.  I purged all of the kids rooms, my closet (did that right before Lent actually), our bar area, my huge armoire in my office, magazine/catalog baskets around the house, about 3/4 of the laundry room (there are tons of cabinets in our laundry room), the pantry, the bar and some of the garage.  Most of the stuff went to charity.  However, I donated a bunch of books to Kate's school.  I gave about 8 bags of the peanuts' clothes to friends with young children.  And remember that photo of our garage from last year?  Well, we loaded up Dave's SUV and took LOTS of that stuff to Goodwill.  We still have to finish the garage and several other areas in our house.

Ahh...going to the goodwill:)

A blurry shot of tons of magazines and catalogs as I sort them on my office floor.



Ahh... all sorted, purged or filed. {One thing I do save is all my House Beautiful, Traditional Home, Southern Accents and Veranda magazines.   I literally have 15 years of TH.  I also save others like Cottage Living and Elle Decor but not every single issue.}.  They are all organized and have helped me tremendously when we have built, remodeled and re-decorated over the years.

I am a pretty organized and clean person and I am not a pack rat (despite that garage photo--the garage is not my domain) and we easily found stuff to repurpose, recycle and move along.  I never even got to the kid's playroom or my craft closet or kid's computer room.  I highly encourage this project.  It is freeing to lighten your load.  And I plan to continue even though Lent is coming to a close.

Today, on Good Friday, we focus on the death and passion of our Lord.  From 12-3 we read the story of the passion in the Bible, pray and remain quiet.  I am trying to have my children realize how BIG our God is and how GREAT His love is for us.  It is pretty easy to have the boys quietly reflect from 12-3 but Kate might be a challenge;)

And here is one little shot of Kate (in last year's Easter dress).  Last Sunday was the egg hunt at our church.  I was in Mass during the hunt so I did not get any action shots but Will helped her hunt:)

In case, I am not back on here...

Have a blessed Easter!