the hostess with the "leastest"?

So,I have a question.
In this country where many of us reside,we seem to have this thing. This thing that our culture grooms,ads and magazines reinforce and of course "The Liar" loves to bring to our attention.

About how more is better,bigger is better etc. etc.More stuff=happiness.

I deeply believe our culture could be so much happier if we'd quit buying into The Lie. Literally buying into it. But maybe that revelation is for the Spirit to reveal alone. I'm not perfect,far from it. But on a very daily level Lee and I have learned so much about simplicity. Living in Central America on a teeny budget, living in shared spaces, living in housing that was not ideal, having large bills to pay have been wonderful tools in shaping the new lifestyle that's emerging for our family.
Less is often More.
Less toys available on a regular basis,making us all frustrated with trying to tidy,thus More Time.
Less furniture means having More available Space thus meaning we don't need as large of a home.

Less books of poor quality=More Shelving for quality pieces.

The list goes on.

What if?
What if instead of competing for "the mostest" our country or we as individuals would compete for the "leastest"?
How would life look for many of us then?

I don't think I've had a chance to cover all the questions saying something like this might generate nor do I have time to cover them this morning but wanted to throw this thought out before I forget.

(this post inspired by ongoing "home editing" around here.)

~pilgrimama

earthquake!

So.. yesterday the largest earthquake in over a century hit Virginia,at least so was reported in one article I read this morning.

I felt its effects quite strongly as I sat at my oversized desk working on our computer. I tried to figure out what was going on, calling to the children,trying to find out whether they were doing some activity that was shaking the house, whether our downstairs neighbors were up to something,what could be up?

After a bit I gave up trying to determine the cause of the mysterious shaking.
But then, unusually for me, I had the Yahoo news page open as I had been doing some research for a project of Alex's and traveled through that particular page.
And what do you know?  The headline "Breaking News" was there!  About the earthquake that had hit VA!

I was pretty excited, as I'd experienced earthquake tremors in Central America but I think I'd thought of that and just passed it off as "no way,this is Virginia" in my head.

Anywhooo, the excitement of the day! And thankfully not many serious injuries or anything.

Well, should go and keep rolling for the day! Yet another dentist appointment on the agenda,this time for Alex. Too many of those this year.....

Happy Wednesday!

~pilgrimama

a super birthday day!

So yesterday was my 29th birthday! And it was pretty awesome!

Highlights:We had overnight guests,an aspiring physicist and a farmer/missionary,two brothers.We had young guys happily hanging out till close to noon(since we hosted worship and a pancake breakfast.)The tribe played lots and learned some sweet stuff!


Lunch with a good friend.

Lots of surprises and sweet details.

A picnic with some of the friends I cherish most in the world.

Girltime.

Tripledates and sweet cherry wine all the way from Michigan.

Let's just say I head into my thirtieth year fortified with lots of Love!

with gratitude,
~pilgrimama