Gifting and regifting...

I know there are other venues for this, but...

As I have frequently alluded, I am in the midst of serious decluttering of our home and its 12 years, six moves, and eight children's worth of STUFF.  I, the queen of organization and preparedness (snort, gag, cough... I'm okay now), am bit by bit working my way through all those sweet little children's clothes, and while there are pangs of sentimentality during this process, my goal is the following:  to have only one box of clothes stored for each child, containing only what that child will wear in the next year.   Sounds a lot better than my current towers of rubbermaid bins, clearly marked with NB, 0-3, 3-6, 6-9, and so on, up through size 12, in pink for the girls' clothes and blue for the boys'.

Today I have begun with my girl baby clothes.  (Ack, why start there, those are the HARDEST to give up!)  Reason being, I have two sisters both expecting girls in the next 2-4 months, and I would be a greedy big sister if I didn't pass them along, seeing how my 10mo little girl has finally outgrown her 3-6 month clothes.  She's a little bug, for sure, which makes it all the harder to see those cute little newborn outfits go, since she's only my second baby to actually be able to WEAR that size for more than a week.

Am I getting to the point, yet?  sigh.  I am up to the 18 month size girls clothes this afternoon, and am trying to decide if my bugaboo will be able to wear them within the next year.  Somehow I doubt it, since her 2 1/2 year old-- and just as petite-- sister only just grew out of them, for reasons of height, not girth.  

I can't bring myself to toss these in a black bag with the rest of the stuff I never care if I see again.  So here I ask, is there some sweet little fairy out there who would wear an 18mo size either this summer or winter who would benefit from a box of these clothes?  I'd prefer to pass them to another mom taking a leap of faith who can truly appreciate the gifting of pass-around clothing, and maybe in a year I'll see them again, if they aren't worn out first. ;)

Takers?  

Oh, and ps, I'll be continuing this treatment for baby boy clothes too.  My baby boy is 4 1/2, so there's going to be a lot there.  It's about time someone else used what otherwise would continue to sit, very organized-like, in my neatly labeled Rubbermaid boxes.  Somehow it just doesn't seem right anymore.  I mean, do I believe the Lord will provide, or don't I??

The Elephant in the Room

I don't know how many are even keeping up with this blog, as my posts have been so few and far between, but I think I am finally ready to address something that has been a long time in coming. I'm hoping to see a good discussion of this, and if it's to be better accomplished somewhere else with more readership, so be it.

The question was asked some time ago how a pastor and his family appropriately balance their time. After pondering this whole topic for several months, and meanwhile having gone through a transition in the last year or more that begs the same question, I am ready to see this through. In fact, I NEED IT. We here in our own family are at an impasse of sorts, However, while it is certainly pertinent to pastors' families, I believe the principles here apply to any family, regardless of the husband/father's vocation. So here we go!

We all know that, after putting the Lord first of course, the primary duty of a husband is to be the care and nurture of his wife and family. Part of that is making a living wage. So how do we determine how much time and energy is appropriate, or even neccessary, for a husband to spend on making the money that supports the family? And how do we determine what is above and beyond that?

I'll leave it at that, and see where it goes. Thoughts??