Simplicity

{KISS} the Holiday Rat Race Goodbye

It’s only December 3rd and already I’m feeling it. You know…the calendar filling up as fast as my tummy is {what with all the treats flowing in}. I want to do it up, I really do. But not at the expense of my personal peace.

Remember that old adage KISS – keep it simple, stupid? The word stupid implies that, should we not heed this advice we are, in fact, dumb. Ya think?!

Every year I think of ways I’m going to keep it simple. Minimal decor…3 gifts per child…limited activities… But the truth is, with everyone in our sphere wanting to enjoy the holidays and having their own personal favorite events, it’s tough to simplify. And for someone who loves to give gifts {and get them, it’s my love language}, it’s hard to not go crazy in my favorite stores. But just like anything else in life, simplicity requires intention, discipline and planning.

It’s not too late to {KISS} the holiday rat race goodbye. Here are 4 ways you can choose to be intentional about sleeping in heavenly peace this Christmas season:

1. Do what means the most to you and yours. For me, it’s tough to plan two separate cookie baking days with each side of my family. But cookie baking means so much to all of us. So there’s no question. Something else can go. I’m not giving up my time to paint sugar cookies with my niece and sister-in-law nor will I forfeit the Italian cookie baking day we set aside yearly with my mom. What’s your heart’s most treasured tradition?

2. Budget your money AND your time. Sit down now with your spouse and children and decide what’s what. Get out the calendar and plan. Leave space for down time and spontaneous surprises {like jumping in the car with your PJs to drive around and look at Christmas lights} but plan out everything else. What do you need to leave room for this year?

3. Have a strategy for gift-giving. Don’t think because you turned the calendar page to December that it’s too late. Talk with your spouse about what you want your gift-giving to be about. We’ve chosen to do the gold, frankincense and myrrh 3 gift tradition. It’s worked well to establish early on with our kids that their wants should be limited and their gifts will be purposeful. It also helps their mama who would otherwise go crazy buying them things they don’t need. This limitation frees up money in the budget allowing us to give to programs such as Operation Christmas Child or Angel Tree. We absolutely love the tradition of involving our kids in purchasing gifts for others. What do you need to give this year?

4. Keep Jesus at the center of it all. Whether you do this through an Advent journey {I hope you all are joining us on ours} or through reading the Christmas story a few times throughout the month, keeping HIM front and center will bring balance. . .after all, he is the Prince of Peace. Where is Jesus in the midst of it all for you?

{KISS} KEEP IT SIMPLE SISTER!

Don’t be afraid to say NO this season. Saying “no” to that event or expense may very well be saying “yes” to a peaceful and Christ-centered Christmas.

Jessica Wolstenholm

Jessica Wolstenholm is co-founder of Grace for Moms. She is passionate about writing words of grace for moms and moms-to-be. Co-author of The Pregnancy Companion book, she also blogs about TTC, infertility & pregnancy at ThePregnancyCompanion.com

{Simply} Love Out Loud

By Adriel Booker 2 Comments

For the second week in a row I spoke at a youth camp.

What? Teenagers? For two straight weeks?

(I do littles, not teenagers.)

Hold me.

But these weren’t just any teenagers. They were teenagers wanting to know more about missions.

Okay then. I’m your girl. Sign me up.

There was one small problem – the tiny ragtag group of teenagers attending the second week were all baby Christians. Like just-months-old, new-to-faith, from-unchurched-homes, who-is-Moses, not-even-entirely-sure-they-were-Christians-yet sort of Christians.

(You know what this means right?? It means good-bye Christianese. Good-bye fancy-schmancy references to Greek and Hebrew meanings. Good-bye over-used churchy clichés. Good-bye leaning on my own understanding and experience and comfortable style of teaching.)

How refreshing it was to be in a group where they talked to God without putting “In Jesus’ name, amen” on the end of prayers. (Actually, they didn’t even put “amen” on the end of their prayers. They just sort-of stopped, hanging, midair. Umm…)

I totally loved it.

This quote kept running through my head all week as I continually asked the Lord to help me keep it simple.

Not simple because these kids aren’t smart—heck no—simple because that’s the Gospel.

And here it is – the Gospel: Love Out Loud. (Not easy, but simple.)

We spent an entire week talking about what it looks like to Love Out Loud.

And you know what’s so amazing? On Tuesday I watched as two of them thumbed through their first Bibles while teaching them how to use the little numbers identifying chapters and verses. And then on Friday they boarded a plane to Papua New Guinea to Love Out Loud alongside some of our missionaries.

You don’t need a qualification, degree, or a born-before date to be used by God. You just need an ability to receive and then give… Love.

(Oh, glory.)

And so today I’m waking up with this question: How can I Love Out Loud today? Love my littles? Love my husband? Love the guests in my home? Love my neighbor? Love my friends? Love my Jesus? Love my enemy?

How do I Love Out Loud today?

Those teenagers are teaching me to keep it simple.

How can you Love Out Loud in your role as mom today?

Adriel Booker

Adriel Booker is a writer, speaker, and difference-maker living Down Under with her love (and two littles) where they serve in full-time ministry and full-time parenting together. She writes at The Mommyhood Memos, where she's passionate about encouraging and empowering women.

Are You Really Going to Wear That? The No Brainer Wardrobe {Giveaway}

By Jenni 18 Comments

I’ve found that simplicity and fashion are just as much about what’s not in your closet as they are about what is in it.

A couple of years ago we were putting our house on the market, and two of my very dear friends came over and helped me go through every single item in my closet. It was both freeing and humbling. There’s nothing like seeing your friend’s horrified expression to make you realize you’ve held on to an item of clothing for far too long. Out went the teal ski suit–along with several other items. There was one dress in particular that I planned to hang on to forever. I had bought it for my grandmother’s funeral seven or eight years earlier. It was a black double-breasted suit dress thing that seemed classic and was just hanging there waiting for the next relative’s funeral. My friend took one look at it and said, “This looks like something the director of an orphanage would wear. ” I’ll admit that it was a fairly agonizing decision, but it eventually went into the garage sale pile. So now, if a family members dies, I’m going to have to go shopping, but at least I won’t look like I got somebody to cover for me at the orphanage.

I let go of a lot of things I’d been hanging onto that day, and there’s not one thing that I regret setting free. Some items of clothing were still cute, but I had just stopped wearing them. Those I was able to pass on to one of the friends who selflessly helped me to clean out my closet. We just happened to be the exact same size – that of a pre-pubescent 12-year-old girl – and there’s not that many of us. A few months later, after I had moved away, she sent me a picture of herself in one of the sweaters I had given her with the caption, “I feel like I’m getting a hug from you today!” What an amazing thing that something I no longer needed could be a blessing to someone else.

When we moved from Oklahoma to Colorado, God gave me another sweet friend right across the street who is also the same size as me. Just to make sure I hadn’t forgotten the lesson, God reminded me of it again. I did Beth Moore’s study of James that spring, and when discussing James 5, Beth says this,

“Several sources suggest that the sin of hoarding is more than just having. It’s having without using. The wickedness accelerates in the waste. In part, hoarding means withholding what we don’t even use from others who’d treasure it.”

Ouch. That stung a little when I read it.

She goes on to suggest that unless our lives are truly lean when it comes to possessions, that we should consider giving something away every time we get something new. She also clarifies that this isn’t about legalism or self-loathing, it’s really only about living God’s royal law: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Passing on clothing, magazines, and random decorating accessories to my sweet friend and neighbor has brought me so much joy. She loves to get them, and now I love to give them. She’s so thankful that it makes me want to run back to my closet and see what else I can give away. I still have a long way to go, but I can see that my years of hoarding up possessions are coming to an end.

Fashion, or looking and feeling great in your clothes, is so much easier and simpler when you open your closet, and you only see the things you really love and feel good wearing.

It also helps that there’s enough room to actually see what’s in there. I’ve found that I also feel much better about buying something new when I’ve given away what I didn’t really need.

So grab an honest friend, and grace your closet and your life with simplicity. I promise you won’t regret it.

Friends, what ways have you found to simplify what’s in your closet?

{Jess} Our giveaway today is from one of the most adorable girls I’ve ever met. Hayley (aka The Tiny Twig) is passionate about helping women simplify their lives. Her awesome ebook The No Brainer Wardrobe is our prize for today! You do not want to miss your chance to get this no-nonsense plan for creating a no brainer wardrobe! Hayley is as sweet as she is beautiful so she’s also offering a coupon code for anyone interested in purchasing the ebook now. Use code get50 at checkout here. Don’t forget you can still enter all of our 12 Days of Giveaways until midnight on Friday, May 25th at which time we’ll choose a grand prize winner (from all days entries) for the $100 Spa Finder gift card. Take a moment to register with Rafflecopter and you’ll be set up to enter all of our giveaways.

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*Photo courtesy of Creative Commons (gfpeck)

Jenni

Jenni McCadams is an Air Force wife and mother of three boys, ages 11, 7, and 5. She lives in beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado where Jenni is also a portrait photographer. Jenni strives to live out the mission statement of her local church, "to compassionately sail through a turbulent culture toward a deeper amazement of God's grace."