We have so much

I am going to come right out and say it. Our family has been blessed. Very blessed. We have way to much. And because of this our children expect more and more it seems. And I have to say that I am guilty of this as well. It's all brought more to my attention lately because of the fact that we have had a recent birthday and report cards. It seems like they just expect that if they do good at school they will automatically get rewarded for it. You know how it is, they think they need to be rewarded for every little thing they do instead of just doing it.

I'm reminded of how little we had while we lived overseas. We had four plates, four sets of forks,spoons,etc. We had just enough bath towels for everyone to have their own. Z. had about five or six toys and that was about it. We had one TV and it only had one station we could understand. If I wanted on the computer than I had to go to the library. And we only had the clothes that would fit in our suitcases we took over there. And you know what? With as little "things" we had, we were very happy.

Now it seems like I am constantly tripping over things that we really don't need. Our closets are stuffed with clothes that don't fit but still they sit in there instead of being donated. And so now I'm left to wonder why it is my children are like this. Could it be because I have gotten to where I like having stuff around also.

This is obviously an area that I need to work on and am planning on starting today. I'm going to try and thin out alot of the things that we really don't need in order to be happy. I can't say that I will get rid of all those dishes I have but I am planning on having a lot less than what it currently there. That may mean that "gasp" I may have empty spots in our pantry because we really don't need five different kinds of chips. I just think that everyone in our family could benefit from a little less.

So wish me luck as I try and retrain the way that our family thinks about what we need and what we "truly" need. I'm sure it's going to be a long and bumpy journey.