Hospitality

I have to say, when it comes to quality time, our little family has lots of it. I am going to owe it to the race and lots of moves in the helping of this wonderful thing. The race and moving have really helped us simplify our life. Simplify, as in stripping away all our activities,church stuff, and just material possessions. It has been the best thing that has ever happened to us. It is like God wiped our plate clean and helped us to find balance and slowly added things in. We embrace responsibility but we pick and choose where we want to invest that responsibility and where we want our time spent. We really have chosen to be responsible for the things we decide to own and for our relationships. But because relationships are the most important and our quality time as a family we decide to get rid of stuff in order for our time not to go towards taking care of "things". It is really nice to have the house clean by 7:15pm every night, leaving the evening very wide open. What we decide to keep, we try to take care of. We have decided to get rid of distractions. Getting rid of facebook and t.v. have drastically changed our lives and our marriage relationship. We no longer talk about facebook status and scroll up and down the live feed page while trying to have a conversation with each other. My husband told me the other day he doesnt even miss tv; except for a game here and there. With those distractions available it was easy to only kind of pay attention to each other, even matthew. But I want Matthew to receive our focused attention and for him to learn that electronics are not the primary way to connect with the outside world and people. All this to say, I have been reading in the bible a lot about hospitality. And because we are disconnected, mostly, via internet, it is time to get a bit old fashioned and meet our neighbors, have people over more, and do creative things with the time we would spend on our electronics. I want to fill my free time, that does not hinder our family quality time, with important things.

I got to hang out with one of our neighbors yesterday and it was such a precious time. But because God commands hospitality, I really want to continue to make my life more efficient and simple, so that I am ready to take anyone in when the opportunity comes. One of my downfalls is meals. I can meal plan, but prep is sooo tough when matthew realizes there is food up there. And it is hard to chop carrots while holding a baby. And I cannot tell you how many times I have a friend over and dinner is just not there for them. I cannot think on the spot and whip something together with a 10 month old. I just cannot figure it out. So, in order to save time and make for a cleaner kitchen I am trying something new today. I am going to prep 14 meals today. YAY! I hope this opens up an hour each evening to spend with Matthew and maybe even to get the laundry folded on the floor with matthew before Mike gets home, or have time to workout or go for an extra stroller ride. Wish me luck. this is a huge step for me. But I am pretty excited. I think it will be nice to have all my fruits and vegetables chopped and ready to go for 2 weeks in advance. Plus, Id really like to master this before our family grows so that I don't have to sacrifice even more floor time with my kiddos.

Not a bad start, and the fridge looks sooo much more better with tupperware.

Have a great weekend everyone.
oh yeah. and mikes brother and wife our home for a bit from the navy.
SOOOO GOOOOD!!!