Peace, Joy and Simplicity

As I was pondering what to write this week with so many  ideas in my head and last week tragic event, I decided to  jump right onto the web site and let my  heart spill over with whatever will come up. This may be risky but emotionally this feels good to just letting things flow once in awhile. I believe we all need to learn to be more vulnerable as this is when we show who we really are, without any masks. Once I look at the end result it sounded like my wish for this holiday season: I don’t need any material gift. I want to focus on Peace, Joy and Simplicity.

So here's a random set of thoughts to feed your soul or maybe more mine, who knows? ;-)

- Even though it seems like everybody talked about the Connecticut event this week and it sadden me deeply when I heard about it, I do not want to dwell too much on the negativity. I rather use my energy to send heartfelt thoughts for all involved in the tragedy and see how I can bring more peace around me as I believe it starts at home and in our own community. My children attend a school with a no/low media culture and I am so grateful for that. Out of 32 children in my fourth grade daughter class, only one mentioned the tragedy to the teacher and I have not heard one word about it at school. Don’t get me wrong here: It is not that we do not care about what happened, quite the contrary: we care enough not to get the children scared or worried. At my children’s school assembly, where most grades perform in a holiday celebration, the principal was really diplomatic and just asked us all that in a time of such joy to stay silent for a minute and to remember about peace. We could feel that the energy in the room was intense.

- Last month, I learned that the child I sponsored for the last twelve years with World Vision, Guerlin, is no longer in the program. I knew this would come as he is a young man now, at age 23. He started school late and it was not easy for him so he is not done with high school. I was wondering what happened because I knew he was immensely grateful for what the sponsorship as brought into his life and for his family. So in my last letter to him, I asked what his reason for quitting was.  I received a letter a few days ago and found out that at a certain age, children are asked to leave their spot for younger children. I was in shock, angry and sad at the same time.

- Today, I was returning a call for from the same organization as I also had a request to see the house we help them to build with our extra donations. I also took the opportunity to told the person on the phone that I did not like their "rules". Supposedly, the family, World Vision and Guerlin were all involved in the decision. What I was not expecting though, was to be in tears while on the phone. I had not grieved my loss. How the truth or my understanding of the truth came to me made this worse. We were never told that the sponsorship was ending at a certain age. I felt it was so unfair to end our relationship like this without our mutual consent. I always had the hope I would go see him one day. Now I need to make PEACE in my heart.

- I started to work more lately and family life is busier because of that. I sure appreciate being in the workplace but I could not wait for the holiday weeks to come so we can spend more time as a family. At this time of year with rainfall that seems to never stop, we like to spend some time crafting around the holiday theme, make our gift and play board game by the fire.  Last weekend, my son decided to dress up as Santa. Children as such a joy to be around as they bring out the best in each of us. It seems like as adult we oftentimes celebrate less and I can surely say that I am more serious than I used to be. So this year I worked hard on having more fun and so far  I enjoyed it so much that I also wish for JOY to all as this bring good vibrations to ourselves and others and when were joyful, we attract more of what we want.

- I read more blog posts in the last six month than I did my entire life. I wanted to experience receiving them and see what others had to say about things that matters to me. It is a great work tool to understand how, among other things, my blogger peers use social media. What I was not prepared for however, was to be hooked on some of these posts I received in my email box. I read a lot more about minimalism and it changed my perspective on stuff once again. We made small adjustments in our family life and more than ever, I am looking for a clutter free house, a sanctuary, a respite from our busy day.  I like to be surrounded by order and beauty and cleanliness as I can concentrate of what matter at the moment. Working from home makes this need more relevant to me because it is easy to get distracted as a mompreneur when you see the ‘’other job’’ waiting for you. I said to my husband and children that all I really wanted from them was a gift of their time to help me work on decluttering and reorganizing the house. I need some new space to be dedicated for work and already had a pile of homesteader tasks left undone: seeds pods and nuts waiting to be hulled, tons of nuts a chest full of clothes  needing some repair,  and permaculture design to think about and fruit tree selection to create our orchard. All in all, I need  SIMPLICITY.  What  is your non-material  holiday gift list? Share your idea with us!