changes

This last week and a half, our life has been trying to get back into the school routine and making or witnessing changes.

We started recycling.




I made the decision to get curbside service, even though it costs $5 a month. When I figured where I was going to have to take all the things, my time and gas, I figured $5 wasn't so bad. It is amazing how much stuff you can recycle out of what we use. We actually only used 2 bags of trash in one week and my kids got to use their imagination more in creating stuff out of trash. This has been so exciting for them, they even find things when we are not at home that we have to bring home with us to recycle. I read my friend Misty's blog and she was talking about things coming around full circle. I totally agree with her. We have been finding doing things the "old" way is healthier for us and our planet, saves money and is not really that hard to incorporate into our lives. Switching to cloth pads, stop using paper towels, napkins, plates, cups, etc. was a wonderful change and wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. We are having a hard time going through the rest of our plastic baggies, which was the next thing going out of our house, because I stopped using them. So, I am going to just donate them to someone else and let go of that. Since I can check off recycling off our list of things to do (I am going to try to make more of an effort to buy things that can be recycled, also) I think the next thing on our list is going to switch to hankies. We have already used the last of our kleenex and now I just have to make them. I am with her in not giving up all conveniences (yet) but slowly taking steps to reduce our dependency on some of them is proving to make our lives more peaceful. We also started our journey to cut off our addiction to tv. The girls have managed to only have it on for 30 minutes this week. I have had a harder time when they are in bed not to watch shows on tv or our computer. I will have to work harder to be ok with the quiet at night.



Another big change in our lives is that my sister is pregnant! With her PCOS we didn't really think it was in her future, but once again God always has some different ideas. She is 34 weeks today and is due at the end of February with a little boy!! What a miracle we have been blessed with and the girls are super ready to do everything for him. Emily's next thing on her list is to learn how to sew so she can sew him some clothes and also to pay attention to her passion of design.



Here are some pictures of the girl's playing hairstylists at cousin Jenny's salon and of my "little snowballs" playing in some of our snow quickly before it melts...

and Emily, then Taylor and last Cassidy's snow angels...

To all of those that I love the most...

I am grateful that with a little patience my phone has been taking good pictures, so that I am not completely camara-less.

And I am thankful for this quote that came to me this week...

The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you.