Lent Day 11: Kids' Dresser

Seriously any flat surface is a magnet for clutter to accumulate. Especially when it's in the kids' room. I think the thing that has been a lesson for me is not only simplifying but it's about maintaining. Every day I have a choice to put something on top of this dresser that can be put away later... Or I can take an extra second to walk it to the right place and put whatever it is away. Maintaining anything is harder and less fun than the initial cleaning and decrapifying. This isn't just forty days during lent but a continual daily choice if keeping things clean, organized and simplified. 

Lent Day 10: Keys/Mail Drawer

We have a dresser in our living room that is supposed to help us organize. It does most of the time but from time to time things just get shoved in to hide from the rest of the world. The top drawer holds our keys, mail and other important stuff we don't want to lose. It has become disastrous. So here is the before and afters. Much easier to find our keys now. 

Lent Day 9: Bathroom Drawers

During this process we had a reflection time at my office. We talked about letting God in all the areas of our lives and having him work through the messy stuff and redeem us. The question was asked if we let God into ALL of our rooms in our lives? Or just a few clean ones? As I'm cleaning out big areas that are more public spaces like my desk that's smack dab in the middle of the living room or the nitty gritty bathroom drawers that not very many people get to see into... I reflect on that very question of am I letting God into the nitty gritty or just the nice and pretty? I pray that you're finding that God loves us with an unconditional love that we can't comprehend. But he loves us right in the middle of our mess and not just when we appear to be put together. Here's some if my hidden mess that had to not only be decrapified but had to be wiped down and sanitized. Jesus wipes away all of our sins and makes us back to be what he intended us to be like. 

Lent Day 8: Desk

Oh my desk! I semi work from home and feel like it collects crap on it all week long and then on Friday I just move the junk around to make room for me to work and then the cycle starts over again. Piles of Kaden's papers that come home from school, church and his drawings. He has a memory of an elephant and asks for random drawings and I need to know where they are at all times. Random mail gets on my desk and not to mention other people's mail gets collected there too. The worst is there's that laundry basket of random office stuff (envelopes, labels, you name it) under my desk. It was all in the office until our housemates came back from china and it was a mad dash to clean out the office for them to stay all summer. Yes, the stuff hasn't really moved out of the basket since last July. There was also thank you cards from the kids birthdays, new address we have moved cards and maybe even 2012 Christmas cards in there. If you didn't receive one of those cards there's an envelope with your name on it, personal note written and never addressed or mailed. And since I was decrapifying it went into the recycle. Sorry. We love you, appreciate the gifts you have given our kids, hoped you had a good holiday season and we have a new address. Lol. 

I'm sure tucked away in a closet downstairs we have our wedding Thank You cards. That was 10 years ago folks. Guess what I'm not so good at? Hahah!!!  It's refreshing to have a clean organized work space. There's a few things I still need to do to this space but its a good start. Hope you are able to find one space to simplify and organize today. 

Lent Day 7: Bedside Tables

I think there's a magnetic pull for crap to accumulate on any clear flat surface. Hahah! Our bedside tables have drawers too so that gets filled with stuff. 

Throughout this simplifying process it's been trying to pray through why I'm holding on to garbage... Lots of drawings from the kids, broken toys, ripped clothing. As I look deep into my heart I know much of it stems from being an immigrant family. My parents came here to America with the shirts on their backs and my mom was 8 months pregnant when we arrived in her new home in Seattle. I don't remember lacking much as a kid and I certainly don't remember being "poor". My parents were loved on by the church and by an amazing sponsor family. They worked really hard and were able to now own a house, cars, too many tvs for just two people. Lol. I am very proud of my parents and the work and tears they put into giving their kids a better life. 

So with coming from this background I feel like I need to hold onto everything. Have memories/keepsakes for my kids to take with them. But realizing that I can't keep every single drawing they make. Every single article of clothing or toy. There's a few things like their lovies and first soccer jersey. But they won't care about that letter "A" they traced a hundred times in school. I do have to take out the recycling and garbage after each of these cleans cause the kids will pillage and take out the stuff I'm throwing away or recycling. 

Having clean cleared off bedside tables are amazing for my soul. It's the first and last thing I see when I am in bed. Hope you have a great Wednesday! It's been a full week of lent already! 

Lent Day 6: Stuffed Animals

I think stuffed animals multiply themselves when we aren't looking. They were scattered all over the kid's room. We will donate a bag of stuffed animals and some went to take a bath in the laundry room but the rest got  reorganized and found them a home in a treasure chest. Addysen just sat there and I'm sure she was talking to them like the Disney character Doc McStuffins. Also cleaned and brought a basket of toys back to the basement. It feels good to throw away broken toys and give away stuffed animals to someone who will love them. Simplifying and reorganizing almost gives the kids the idea that they have new toys to play with. 

Lent Day 5: Kid's Bookshelf

My parents were immigrants and we didn't have a lot of books in our house. Even if we did have books they wouldn't be able to read to me anyways. With that said I knew when I had kids books would be a big part of our lives. One of my favorite bosses was an avid reader. He always told me if any one of his kids asked for a book he would never said no. I think he keeps Amazon in business. He was constantly giving us books to read and actually instilled a new love for books in me.  Last week was a book fair at Kaden's school and we added a book a day. I couldn't say no. :) So, the bookshelf was getting a little cluttered and disorganized. I started with hanging up some pictures. We had a few buckets with randomness in them: seashells, game pieces, stickers...etc. Let's not talk about the dust that's under everything. After a good clean and organizing everything is easily accessible. Kaden got home from school and was excited about his clean bookshelf. I even got a "good job mom"! Lol. I love the conversations that happen around story time. We debrief the day and get to pray together. We use the characters in the book to talk about who we want to be like or who has a bad heart. I pray that I will continue to enjoy reading and instill that to my kids. I pray that I will have faith like a child who is still in awe of the world around them. That they have love and joy that's so contagious. May you experience the joy of a child throughout this season of lent.