{Messy Mondays} {On the Move}

Alright...

Well, we are in the midst of moving at the moment, and it has been both exhausting and chaotic; but It hasn't only been the logistics of getting our stuff from here to there. It's been much more than that --- It's been emotional.

...About a month ago, my husband and I made the difficult decision to do whatever it takes to make it possible for me to stay home with our daughter longer... You see, due to the fact that I had Brontë so early, my FMLA and state disability {maternity leave} actually ran out before she even hit her due date, and almost immediately my work contacted me to ask if I was ready, yet, to return to work.

My simple answer...no.

No, I was not ready to leave my daughter in the hands of a a stranger, or even a loved one, to care for at a time when she should still technically be in my womb!

Even now, we're not ready... she's going on 4 months old, but developmentally, she is only a mere 3 weeks old! She has so many health related concerns that are still up in the air, and has issues with choking when she eats... sometimes to the point of hypoxia, where she actually turns blue and my husband and I have to utilize the skills we learned in her baby CPR class to clear her airway.

Truthfully, I don't know when I will be ready to leave her to go back to work, but I know I will never compromise her care for a job, and that is exactly what I feel I would be doing if I went back right now...

So that is what lead us to the decision to move...

We prayed for a way for me to be able to stay home with Brontë, and we received a very humbling answer. In order to afford our decision for me to stay home with Brontë we are having to give up the freedom of our own space and comfy little apartment and move in with my parents. Humbling, but necessary --- at least for now. But no doubt about it, I am ecstatic that I get to be with my little girl, and above all else, thankful that God made a way, because i have no doubt that this is what is best for our baby girl.

Now here's the Messy Monday challenge...

It's time for some downsizing... simplifying. Did you see what I just did there? It's called perspective. "Downsizing" (at least for me) has a negative connotation --- a sense of loss --- where as "simplifying" brings with it a connotative essence of being purposefully minimalistic. Straight up, I just don't have room for everything anymore --- unless of course I want to be considered a candidate for that show HOARDERS --- In a messy makeover it's important to keep perspective in mind. YOU WILL FAIL IF YOU FOCUS ON LOSS, but this can be a positively successful endeavor if you promise yourself to focus on what you will undoubtedly GAIN.

For example.

My closet. Around the new year, I was inspired by reading a friend and fellow bloggers challenge in the 20 Pieces Project, which advocates the importance and benefits in choosing to take on a minimalistic, yet chic, mindset when it comes to clothing. Time is a huge gain, which is priceless as a new mom. If you are anything like me, the cliché "girl who walks into a full closet and says 'I have nothing to wear!'" isn't too far off. I have literally spent hours at a time looking through my hundreds of articles of clothing hating what I use to love, complaining about my clothes not fitting me right, which quickly turns to a self loathing it's me not fitting my clothes right. But imagine having, hypothetically, 20 interchangeable pieces that all fit right, all are comfortable, and all fit your own personal and unique style that can be dressed up or down to work for every occasion along your individual fashion scope of needs? Think of how much time could be saved... how much frustration could be saved... how much bodily self pity could be saved... and how much literal space could be saved by de-cluttering your closet to such an extreme? Personally I have gotten rid of about 10 trash bags of clothes this last month, but to be honest I could still get rid of a ton more... and will be doing so over the next week.

Now, for a broader scale example

Moving --- our move --- is an act of simplifying our lifestyle to gain what we hold most precious. However, If I focus on what we are loosing rather than on what we are gaining through not working and through moving, then I will be swallowed up in loss... financial loss... loss of freedom... loss of pride {yeah, I said it}, and inevitably that would lead to loosing sight of the vision God has given us for our family, and the calling which he has placed in our hearts for how to be the best parents to Brontë as we can be...and to us, that loss of vision, would ultimately be the most costly of losses.

So this week, whether it is de-cluttering your closet of things that don't fit, or if it is more dramatically de-cluttering your lifestyle of things that don't fit, do it with joy and absolute expectancy that what you have to gain is around the same corner where you dump your losses.