One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach.

One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few."

~Anne Morrow Lindbergh~

I laughed out loud when I read this weeks "In 'Other' Words..." thought. You see, my dear husband and I have been in a "clean sweep" mode for a couple of years.

Oh we would love to have the TLC Clean Sweep Crew arrive in our teeny tiny little town, drive down our street and stop in front of our home. Fortyeight hours later they will lead us, eyes closed into My Creative Mind (aka, my sewingroom) and then into hubby's shop (aka the basement). We will slowly open our eyes and stand in silence, dazed and amazed by the transformations. That is in a dream world...and a nightmare world as well.

You've seen the show...those people are ruthless...they force you to make on the spot decisions about the treasures which have grown more near and dear to your heart, items that you find yourself gasping over when they are placed in the "toss pile" or worst yet marked with a $1. tag to be sold at a garage sale....eewwwww! I can think of nothing worst than having my neighbors rummaging through my stuff. double eeeeewwwwwww!

You've seen the show...they kick you out of your house...they tear down walls where once there were walls, they put up walls where once there were none, then they paint them with colors that are so bright they would keep you up at night.

Not our style. We like making our own decisions about when our treasures become junk and where and how to dispose of it all.

As we have gone from the "married with kids ~ count the shoes on the porch to know how many kids are inside" time of our lives and moved into the "empty nesters ~ for your own peace of mind, please knock before entering our home" and are now in the "retired and loving life too much to wanna spend time dealing with stuff" mode we have discovered how much stuff we can joyfully do without.

We are slowly moving from one room of our home to the next creating a new look. A "less is more" kinda life.

When our oldest son married and I was no longer the only female in the family we decided to re-do the boys' bedroom into a real GUEST room, complete with pink and purple and flowers and lace. A bed with a bright quilt, freshly painted and stenciled nightstands and fun lamps, add a dresser and a chair...nice, simple, uncluttered. (an aside, for those who have slept in that room within the last 4 years - - I know it doesn't look like that now, but it did before all of my momma's sewing room ended up in that room!, someday it will look that way again...someday!)

This past spring we remodeled our kitchen...and took 2 loads of "no longer needed but still usuable" items to the local thrift shop, and plenty made it's way to the trash. We have 5 grandkids...why did we have more than one favorite cup for each of them? Tupperware, I sold the stuff for years...need I say more???

When we remodeled the kitchen we took the wall out between the kitchen and our bedroom...yep...you got it, we had to then re-do our bedroom...which was so fun, we now have a nice romantic bedroom. Again we sorted through everything. Personally it was rather freeing to toss all those pants that I know I will never fit into again, and if by some chance I ever get to that size again...well, I will deserve NEW stuff then!!! We were able to remove a 7 drawer dresser from our bedroom by donating and tossing clothing.

We are finding that the less we have in our home, the more we have gained.

We have gained time ~ it takes much less time to clean house. Dusting is the one chore we both hate, well...with less furniture in our home dusting is a snap (it's hubby's job, please don't tell him I said it was a snap). We can spend our "gained" time together doing things we enjoy...this summer we have spent an incredible amount of time in our yard...and loving every moment.

We have gained freedom from guilt. My father-in-law passed away over 20 years ago. Mother-in-law sold their home shortly there after. Truck load after truck load of tools, shop equipment, lapidary equipment and supplies ended up in our basement. It was very hard for my husband to realize he did not need all of what was there, that he did not have an interest in some of it, some of it was unusable alot of it outdated. As hubby has been able to let go of most of these items he has been freed emotionally. He has also gained alot of space for the things he does enjoy having and working with.

As with my husband, I am working through my mother's sewingroom boxes that are stacked in the guestroom. I am thankful that I can find the things that will be life treasures or things that I know will be used and can give away the rest, WITHOUT guilt. Freeing.

One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach.
One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few."

By clean sweepinig our home from time to time we can see, enjoy and focus on our "shells" better when we don't have to spread ourselves thin caring for so many shells that we loose track of the shells that are beautiful and important.

In Other Words

"When life whacks you so hard your head flies off,

sew it back on and keep going."

~ Mary Pierce ~

This quote reminds me to shout out loud my life verse...

Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near

I've been dealt some hard whacks that could very easily knocked my head off. During the early years of my married life my mother helped me get over a hard whack...a very ill child.

When our youngest son was born, days turned into weeks as we waited for his medical team to tell us he would be ok, that his health would improve, that he would be come a happy little redheaded boy who ran and jumped with his older brother and then turn into a young man who would ask for the car keys, would grow into a handsome young man. We spent many nights praying over this little bitty baby with tubes strung all over his body keeping him alive. We cried buckets over this little man. We had already lost one baby and the pain was still too fresh.

My mother has always been my strength and she was during the darkest of nights, sharing with me the heartache she experienced with her own 2nd born son who has been ill his entire life as well. During the worst of the worst times with Ryan momma would tell me, "You have 2 choices in life, you can either go through life laughing or crying...the choice is yours." So...applying God's Word and my momma's advice I choose to find the good in things even when the going gets tough.

I was totally offended by a friend of mine who once told me that I do a wonderful job of "faking it until I make it." I don't fake my joy in the Lord, I don't fake my cheerfulness, even when life gets rough...even when the going gets tough, my joy is real because it comes from my Lord.

Take your pick: an ill child, a broken friendship, distant relationships, ailing parents, death...life is full of whacks up along side all of our heads - no one promised us that we would be "whack free"...but we gotta get out that needle and thread and stitch as fast as we can to sew ourselves up and keep going.

My needle and thread of choice:

My Heavenly Father, His Son, His Spirit and His Word.

BTW: our son is now 24, and yes....he did grow into a handsome young man...

My husband collects rocks....

no kidding, he really does....I think he inherited rock gathering from his dad...you see, it is like this....Ed grew up in a teeny-er tiny-er coastal town than we currently live in...Yachats...(pronouced....Ya...HOTS), as a family they spent alot of time on the beach...and my father-in-law couldn't walk past an agate or pretty rock without picking it up, taking it home and putting it in one of his many rock polishers.

We too live near the Southern Oregon beach and without fail my husband has a plastic bag in his pocket even if he THINKS he might be near an agate bed! My kids roll their eyes, but it matters not to hubby.

Now the grandkids...they all think this is so cool...being encouraged to stuff their pockets full of rocks, or being allowed to carry Gpa's bucket (at least until it gets heavy!) on those more serious rock picking trips where heads are slanted downwards and all eyes are on the look out.

When my father-in-law died hubby lugged home all the polisher equipment and set up his own little rock polishing area. Day after day, night after night our house was rockin' ....24/7 for days and days. The end result were beautiful agates and shiny rocks that multiplied in our basement, 5 gallon bucketful after 5 gallon bucketful...of rocks.

This past weekend he drilled a hole through his bowling ball (that has been in the basement keeping the rocks company for years!) and I put together this gurgling fountain. You can't really see the water coming out of the top, but it does...and then flows down the ball and onto the agates, drips into the planter where the fountain pump is. We really like how it turned out. I love the sound of water.

The Koi pond and now the BB fountain offer soothing sounds in our backyard. More rocks and agates are being used around the Koi pond..pics will be posted, but it is no ways near done...