We put the kids to bed tonight, and I went snooping around the kitchen for a snack. Are Tyler and I the only naughty parents the put their kids to be and go snooping for a snack?? The best thing I could come up with was a spoonful of peanut butter. Things are changing a bit around here for us Goodens.
About six months ago, when we moved into our new home, we decided to do all that we can to live as close as possible to the way we will live in Uganda. We figured that teaching thankfulness and contentment in all things would be better off done here first. Brokenness is never pretty, but I wouldn't trade these lessons for the world.
When we sold our house furnished, just about everything we owned went with it. This includes all of the beds. So, for a while now, we've been sleeping on the floor. We wanted the children to learn to fall asleep in the same room all together since we will be doing this in Uganda, so the four oldest share a room. When we moved, we also widdled the toy collection down to only the "favorites." The backyard fencned-in freedom was sacrificed. We live in a very nice townhome, but I don't allow my children to play outside unsupervised. This means we're either all outside or all in the house. I thought this would be the greatest burden with five children, but it has caused our relationships to be much stronger. Also, I PLAY with my kiddos much more outside now instead of just watching them or reading in the sun. It's proven to be an enormous blessing.
Our food selection has changed tremendously. Instead of cereal, cookies, chips, meat or cheese, we have oats, flour, rice, beans, and eggs. We've also been working on portion control. It's easy to logically say, "If I'm not hungry, I shouldn't keep eating." But, when you put a bag of Doritos in front of an 8 year old who has been eating rice and beans all week, portion control gets interesting. We're all learning... 
I was talking with Summer the other day, and she mentioned that her children are on a potty schedule - as much as physically possible. The bathrooms are a bit of a walk from our hut, and it is not okay for children to walk there alone. We may begin the potty schedule at home next week. This puts a whole new spin on potty training. I would LOVE for Lilah to be potty trained by the time we leave. Double diapers are no fun, but double cloth diapers are really a bummer. HA! Get it? BUMmer? I don't ever tell jokes... that was a freebie. (Sorry, it's real late.) We will be using cloth diapers since disposables are just too expensive.
Thankfully, we've been living differently than the "normal" American culture for years now. I will continue homeschooling in Uganda. We don't have a TV. My children don't have video games or electronic devices. We don't even have a computer! (Which makes blogging a little tricky, I must say...)
I have been wearing glasses lately to get used to not wearing contacts. Two of my wisdom teeth have been bugging me, so I asked my dentist to take them all out. I don't want to deal with it in Uganda. My teeth-ripping-out-day is Friday. Please pray! As for shots, we are all up to date on the ones we are able to get from our doctors.
We have applied for passports... 2 hours on a Saturday morning in a tiny bustling post office with the 7 of us... amazingly, it was a great time! We are waiting for them to come back in the mail.I don't tell you all of these things for pity, or to make you feel guilty for living an American lifestyle, or to make you think we are super-spiritual-self-afflicting-weirdos. Just opening my front door to the rest of the world to show you all what God is doing with us, how He is changing us, from the inside out, for His purposes.
Think about who you were a year ago. Is God changing you for His glory? He won't until you surrender to a life aimed at glorifying Him, accepting His perfect gift of forgiveness on the cross, and His will for your life. God doesn't just take a heart full fo sin and doll it up with good deeds to make you look nicer. People do that. God is in the business of transforming lives. He takes that heart of sin, and at the first sign of surrender and repentance, throws it as far as the east is from the west to give you a new redeemed heart. We are not all called to sell all that we have and follow Him. But, Jesus said we all MUST be born again. He aslo said that we MUST have faith, or it is impossible to please God. He said we MUST deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow Him. When we deny ourselves, we get out of His way. He can work through us when we have given up on our own ambitions and plans.
Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
Revelation 5:14
You inspire me. Jesus in YOU is amazing!!! Love, Linda
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteWe are so blessed to see this amazing work that He alone could do! Thank you for sharing and although we would like to be selfish and keep you with us because we will miss you all like crazy, we know we have all eternity for that. We are praying and can't wait to see what the Lord will do.
ReplyDeleteLove,
The porrettas