Simplifying life.

It's been a while since I've written on here. I've been getting adjusted to working more while having a baby. :)

Lily is now 7 months old.

Joshua and I have recently realized how much we have and how much of it we don't need. We have set out to rid our lives of stuff. Useless meaningless stuff. Stuff that other people could benefit from. There were a few pieces that I wanted to sell, but the majority of it we have decided to donate to people who need it.

It's been a slow process of cleaning out closets and underneath beds, but I've accumulated a lot of stuff and have started to donate some of it. This process has stretched me in so many ways.

I have an emotional attachment to everything I own and I'm slowly realizing that the memories will still remain even if the stuff doesn't...that's why I have a camera, right? There's also this greedy part in my heart that wants to sell it for money so I can go buy MORE stuff. Which defeats the whole process and purpose. So I'm giving it away.

And it feels amazing. It's not to toot my own horn and say "LOOK everyone at what I did...I'm so generous!" It's to say "Look what God can do with what we have that we don't need."

Eventually the sting will fade and I will get used to not having so much stuff around. I wish we lived in a world where our stuff doesn't matter. That it doesn't matter whether our house has granite countertops or wood floors, whether we drive a foreign car or an SUV or whether we take lavish vacations to Europe or the Caribbean.

I want to raise Lillian to live as if her stuff doesn't matter, but her heart does. I want her to live for God's kingdom not work toward earthly possessions. I don't want her to compare what she has with others or one day feel inadequate for not having something someone else does.

So we must simplify our lives now and learn to live with less so that she will also live the same way.

I know a lot of parents who put popularity, looks and possessions first as qualities they want their kids to have.

I want Lily to be above all else...compassionate. Then faithful. Dependable. Trustworthy. Driven. Educated.

Eyes!

Blue or green or gray? It's hard to tell. I'm pretty sure my eyes were dark brown by her age, so I'm thinking she will have blue or green or gray eyes. Either way, they are pretty. :)

Teatime with Lillian

I hope to have many more tea parties with Miss Lily and her dolls. For now, I get to pretend and dream about future parties together. It's hard to imagine what she will look like when she's old enough to ask for a tea party. I have a feeling she will be a little diva.

Right now her eyes are blue when we are in the car or inside, but green when she's outside. If you hold her near a window, they are blue with green flecks. I wonder what color they will turn out?

 She's a mama's girl. I'm okay with that. :)

The picture below very much captures her personality. She wants to be a big girl and she wants to do it herself. She's impatient and stubborn like her father. ;-P

But she looks like me.

Joshua bought me a new camera. I had no idea that he ordered it until he blew the surprise. He's doesn't get that surprises are meant to be kept secret until they arrive. Either way, I was excited. It's like the feeling you get when you buy new paint or a fresh canvas, except the world is my canvas and I get to capture it in a new way with a new tool.

My two favorite quotes from artists:

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for. Georgia O'Keeffe

Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.
Dorothea Lange