So Much STUFF

If you have children you are well aware at how much stuff you accumulate. I have no idea where some of it even comes from or how it all accumulates in the house under our noses. But then one day comes along and you look around and well you decide you have had enough and it has to go! We are at that point now and going to do a major purge while we are off with our extra days over the holidays.

Since Anya was born we have both purchased and sold at a local consignment sale and it has been a blessing. We have been able to get name brand clothes with tags at a very low price and have also been able to sell boat loads of STUFF that the kids have outgrown and no longer need enabling us to not have to dig into our pockets to buy the new season and new sizes of clothes.

Here are some pictures of our last trip to the consignment sale!

However - with our son we have been BLESSED beyond measure our friends have been so generous with giving us hand me downs. Avery's closet has been stocked since before he was born. He is 18 months and we are set all the way up to size 3T. So we decided to do something different with his stuff. Good friends of ours just had a new baby boy in August on my birthday :) and our cousins in California also had a new baby over the summer as well. So as Mr Man outgrows his stuff some goes into a box to ship across the country and the rest goes in a bag to be delivered to baby Tyson. We have been blessed and are enjoying being a blessing to our family and friends.

Looking forward to our upcoming purge and teaching ourselves and our children that less is more. Looking forward to blessing others with the things that we don't need. I'm sure we will be making many trips to the goodwill as well as giving to family and friends and hanging a few things up for the next consignment sale

So what do you do with all of the STUFF that overflows in your house?

Until Next Time -
Samantha

Does Not Eating a Chicken Sandwich Help Gay Rights?

So unless you have been hiding under a rock the past week or so you are well aware of the controversy arround Chick-Fil-A and Gay Marriage. I personally find the whole ordeal amusing - people really need to take a step back, look at the situation and then proceed instead of just reacting.....but just reacting truly is the American way I've come to believe.

I myself am a Christian, but I also believe that you love who you love and that a person is born gay they do not choose it. Who in the world would willingly choose to be part of one of the most discriminated against groups, I know that I wouldn't? I have both friends and family that are gay and fully support them. You may ask how I can be a Christian and support gays and my answer to that is quite simple. God is the judge not me - God commands us to love one another, so loving one another regardless of who they are is my job so that is what I do. It is up to God to judge our actions and let us past the gates into Heaven not for us to judge others while we are here on earth. Ok so now that you know a little bit about where I stand with both Christianity and Gays I will proceed with why I think this whole ordeal is nuts.

If you go to Chick-Fil-A on a regular basis you are well aware that they are closed on Sundays and there is even a sign in each store explaining it. Even if you skipped the sign you are probably well aware that Sunday is the day of rest and that is why they are closed. So knowing that plain and simple fact you are aware that the company was built and operates on Christian beliefs, so the announcement that the company is for the Biblical version of what marriage is shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, not to mention I've actually heard it mentioned before. So now people all across the country are in an  uproar, about something that they already knew if they actually think about it, and are boycotting Chick-Fil-A's and future store openings all around the country in support of Gay Rights.

So here are my thoughts and questions for you before you decide either to go or not to go to Chick-Fil-A in the future.

My Questions To You:

1. Do you know the belief systems behind all of the companies that you currently purchase products from and are you prepared to boycott them as well when you find out?
2. Do you truly think that not buying a chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A is really going to do anything to imporve the rights of Gay Americans?

My Thoughts

1. I must commend Chick-Fil-a for not being afraid of the reaction of the American People when they made the statement of their beliefs. They are a very successful company and a lot is at stake for them. Their move goes to show that they truly are a company that believes in God - they are a "Godly" company and not a "Worldly" company. If they were a "Worldly" company they would never have said anything in fear of what it would do to their bottom line but that isn't the case.
2. If you want to do something for gay rights get out and vote, talk to your local, state and federal government. Get involved don't just not buy a chicken sandwich. Not buying a chicken sandwich just gets you in on the latest big thing and on the cover of a newspaper or on the local news. It does NOTHING to help the rights of Gays. When you don't buy a chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A the only people you are hurting are the local franchise owner, the employees that work there and yourself because there is no other fast food chicken that tastes as good! So find your local government agencies and find out how you can get involved to make an actual change, not just a perceived change.

So will my family and I continue to go to Chick-Fil-A? You better believe we will, my kids love it, they have great food and great service. But on that same note I will also continue to show up at elections to vote for the rights of Gay Americans - because as I said before it is NOT my job to judge others nor is it my job to take away the rights of other humans.

Until Next Time -

Samantha



The Celebrity Obsession - I don't get it

You can tell by getting in line at any grocery store or retail giant by the racks filled with magazines that people have a ridiculous obsession with celebrities. Actually ridiculous isn't even the right word, it is more like an unhealthy obsession with celebrities.

I would be lying if I sat here and said I've never watched a reality TV show or made a comment on a celebrity couple but that is where it ends for me. I don't sit here dreaming of what some random celebrity that I don't know is doing, who they are dating, if they will get married, have a baby, adopt a baby or anything else like that. I have enough to worry about and think about here in the real world with real people that I actually know.

It baffles my mind how there are entire shows and even channels dedicated to giving us updates on their lives. Why do we care and who are we to judge their lives and what they do based on the few things the media would like to tell us?

This weeks latest celebrity drama revolves around Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson and how she cheated on him - it has amazed me how many articles I've seen on it online, how many tv/gossip shows have been talking about it and how many magazine covers I'm sure they will be on next week. Not to mention the number of people that have posted some crazy You Tube videos of how disappointed they are that she cheated on him. So here are just a few of the random thoughts that have gone through my mind based on this weeks "news". People (unfortunately) cheat all of the time so why is this news, do we know what goes on behind the closed doors of these two, nope we don't as we shouldn't, things may not be all "gumdrops and lollipops" as my husband would say when they aren't in the public eye. And of course most importantly does Kristen cheating on Rob have any effect whatsover on me and my life or the lives of even anyone that I actually know here in the real world.....NOPE not one bit!

Wouldn't it be awesome if our newsstands were instead filled with local news of good doings, or magazines of ways you can get involved with the actual world you live in to help people. There is so much more to life than what the "hot celebrity couple" is doing at this very moment. So the next time you think about picking up the latest gossip magazine, flipping on a crazy show dedicated to updating you on what the world of celebrities is doing ask yourself this question - is there something that is actually meaningful that I could be doing right now?

If you can't think of something try one of these - they are sure to be more fulfilling and more meaningful to your life - and are things that are far more worthy of being obsessed over.

1. Do something with your spouse
2. Do something with your children
3. Read the Bible
4. Get together with your real friends and see if there is something you can do for them
5. Get involved with your community and love on people
6. Go outside and do something instead of hiding indoors

Until Next Time -

Samantha

Does the Phone Work?

So I've been wondering what happened to the days of communication. When we were young we had "phone time" every night and my sister and I thought it was one of the greatest things going. I remember talking on the phone with my friends about anything and everything even to the point that we would play Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune while on the phone with each other. Crazy I know but those were the days. The phone in our house would actually ring a few times a day, back then it wasn't a tele-marketer it was actually someone calling you because they wanted to talk to you be it your family or friends.

Today many people don't have house phones in their homes and have replaced them with cellphones, smartphones, blackberries and tablets, and the rare occassion that the house phone rings it isn't a family member or a friend it is a credit card company, a tele-marketer, a political ad or some other nonsense that you just don't want to deal with. Holidays and birthdays come and go and even then it is very rare that the phone rings.

The phone calls with the voices of our loved ones have been replaced with mass text messages that say "Merry Christmas", "Happy Thanksgiving", "Happy Birthday" and every other generic message you can think of. Occassionally you will come across the person that actually wants to have a "conversation" with you and will text back and forth with you for 20 minutes or so. I often wonder if my family or friends called would I even remember their voices anymore?

I thought that when hubby and I moved South to NC from NJ that we would hear from our family on a semi-regular basis on holidays and even days in between but I'm sad to say that hasn't been the case. Outside of my dad and step-mom and hubby calling his mom we don't really hear from many Northerners. I've called random people a few times but get tired of being the one that always picks up the phone to say hello so even those phone calls are now few and far between.

It is so sad that the art of conversation has become a dying art. Do people even know how to actually talk to each other anymore? Or have our converstaions become acronyms that fit into text messages?

Until next time

-Samantha