Category: Family Matters

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40 Bags in 40 Days

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season for Christians all over the world. Some years I approach Lent with a gusto, and plan and plot to make the season count. Other years, I’m sort of annoyed at the whole idea, reluctantly eat tuna on Friday, and go about my merry way.

In December 2010, I made a point to make Advent count. Last night, I was thinking about doing the same for Lent.

This morning as I was scrolling through my Facebook page, I came across a post on 4th Frog that gave me the Lenten inspiration I didn’t know I was looking for. No, I’m not giving up my couch like Amy is. I am, instead, focusing on the idea of 40 Bags in 40 Days.

The idea is simple — each day, focus on filling a bag (or box, or whatever) on things you no longer need. This could be a bag to pass onto a friend (kids’ clothes, hello), a box of items for Goodwill (do I need three slotted spoons? really? three?), or a bag for the trash (holey socks, old rags, even pillows die sometimes). On the surface, it appears to be a de-cluttering project in the name of Jesus.

I am hopeful that it will be so much more.

Think about how being weighed down by stuff feels. Right now, there’s a closet I’m avoiding because it’s unmanageable. It’s unmanageable because I haven’t gone through the toys the Fox has out grown. I’m holding onto toys he’s long forgotten about and has no use for. By facing them, I will a)create space in the closet for toys he does use and b) pass on the toys to children who will appreciate them (for 3.2 seconds, but hey, then it’s up to their mom to pass them on).  I will also eliminate the mental kick I give myself every time the kids go toward that closet,  and the cursing (sometimes mental, sometimes out loud) when I attempt to find something in there. And anytime there’s less cursing, well, I like to think I’m a little closer to God.

I’m hoping it will also be a chance to talk to the children about what I’ve been doing all along with their clothes (and to a lesser extent, their books and toys) — passing them on when they are done to someone who can use them. Every season I pass bags on to cousins and friends and my favorite family-friendly charity. (In addition to providing adoption services, the agency supports women who choose to parent, as well as families in the area who are struggling to provide for their children.) MaM is certainly old enough to become a part of this process, especially if we start with items she no longer likes.

My thought is that I will have no problem filling the first ten to twenty bags. After the half-way point though, I think the decisions are going to become a lot harder and a lot more personal. But that’s what Lent is all about, so I’m moving forward with the plan.

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Pieces of the Puzzle

I’m getting used to things being up in the air. To having our house on the market (it’s been a year, basically), and therefore not having answers to a lot of other things, like, “what school system will MaM be enrolled in in the Fall?” It’s taken some time, but I’ve become pretty OK with it.

It feels good to be moving forward, even if the whole “when will the house sell” is the great unknown. I know when it won’t be selling — it won’t be selling today. I went for a long (1/2 marathon) training walk, and noticed there was a text from BgK.

“Did you know there was a showing today?”
Crap. No. No, no I didn’t.

Then I looked at my voicemail. The listing service called 45 minutes before said showing and had left a message. The agent and the people walked right in, throwing BgK and the kids for loop. They didn’t stay. Oops.

Moving forward and fitting the puzzle pieces together:

We’re pursuing the public school district in which we live right now, and the way the district is set up actually works in our favor should we sell our house after the school year starts. Our local district has split into the East side and the West side, and there’s school choice within each side. So if she starts school, and then we move within our side of the district, she can stay where she’s started.

I also think we’ve found the right preschool (!!!) for the Fox (usually, I call him Junior here, but on FB we call him the Fox and it’s really cute). We’ll know in a few weeks if he’s been accepted, and if he has been, then we’ll officially have more a of plan than we have had for months.

This is the first summer in awhile (2007, to be exact), that we’ve had to have summer daycare for the kids, and we’re making headway on that too. The Fox can stay at his current daycare until preschool starts. MaM can attend a local daycamp between kindergarten graduation and first grade (!!) starting.

Now if we can just unload this house……..

He looks ready for preschool, doesn't he?
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Mom Bloggers Storm the Statehouse

Or assemble peacefully in Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman’s office. Whatever.

Last month I got an invitation to attend a mom bloggers roundtable with Indiana’s Lieutenant Governor. After working out the logistics of being at the statehouse at 3pm on a Wednesday, I responded with an enthusiastic yes! (Thanks Mom, for your visit and babysitting services).

I carpooled with Julie and Heather, and met up with fellow bloggers in the long security line on the statehouse steps. We proceeded to the Lt. Governor’s office, and took the last seats available. There were about twenty five of us assembled, and it struck me how many people I didn’t know in the room.

Women from all over the state had made arrangements to come to this meeting. Women from north of Fort Wayne, women from East-Central Indiana closer to Ohio than Indianapolis, and women from south of Terre Haute all spent their day in car to attend this meeting. If you weren’t sure if Indiana had amazing talent in it’s female bloggers before this assembly, this assembly is proof that it does.

As Amy mentioned in her post, I wasn’t exactly sure of the purpose of this meeting. When I asked on Facebook (the best place for crowd-sourcing questions, I’m finding) what was on my friends’ minds. the answers which resonated were education and health care, foster care and caring for women and children. Unfortunately, the Lt. Governor, while she oversees five agencies, doesn’t have a whole to do with these topics. She is, however, president of the Indiana State Senate, and gets to be the tie breaker if necessary. Anyway.

Our conversation ended up meandering from technological infrastructure in rural areas (there were many farm families represented in the crowd), to food quality and agricultural stewardship, to the quality of school lunches.

I think we could have talked with Lt. Governor Skillman for hours on these topics, and so many more, but alas, by the time introductions were over, we only had about 40 minutes. I’m pretty sure had our discussion gone on, we probably could have solved the problems presented, along with a few more, because an incredibly educated, vocal, passionate and connected group was assembled. If a political lobby ever caught the ear of the Indiana Mom’s Blog Collective, I’m pretty sure we could make something happen.

The session closed with a heartfelt question from Jennifer, who poised a question I think many women (and men) of our generation feel like asking. This isn’t an exact quote, but her question was basically what advice did the Lt. Governor have in regards to the bipartisan state of politics today, how can it be made better, and how, as citizens do we not get disenchanted with the whole process.

It was the perfect question to end our too-short session.

In short, the Lt. Governor told us that while the big issues get coverage and tend to divide down party lines, there are hundreds of things (in Indiana State Government, at least) that get voted on in agreement from both parties everyday. That in Indiana, the divide is more rural vs. urban (an interesting concept I hadn’t thought much about, but makes total sense) than it is R vs. D. She remind us that in our citizen legislature, our elected officials have to live and work under the laws that they make. That they do represent us, and that we have a voice. That we need to tell them what’s on our minds. She also (either at this point, or earlier in the conversation) brought up the point that while education is funded by federal and state funds, much of what’s decided is decided at the local school board level. Her points resonated with me – for as much political garbage there is to wade through, our government is still readily accessible to us. And it’s our duty to take part in it.

After the meeting, we posed for a quick picture which is currently refusing to upload here.  Then I went on a tour of the statehouse that was really enjoyable. Then I went out for a most awesome dinner with Heather and Julie, and Jen (whom I met for the first time in person after countless Twitter conversations and Words with Friends games) and Sherry, whom I had just met for the very first time that day.

All in all it was a great day for many different reasons. And seriously — local politicians? Pitch the mom bloggers your platform. Tell us what you’re doing and why. We’d love to hear you, and I think you’d love to hear us.

More posts on this day can be found by the above bloggers, as well as  at Six Just Like the Number,  Redefining Perfect, Eternal Lizdom Smiling Green Mom and many more (and they all have photos, unlike me). If you’ve posted, let me know and I’ll add a link!