-
Day 14 – Assorted Junk (Throw, Give, and Sell)
I never know what to think about garage sales. Melissa took several big tubs full of hot wheels cars, baby dolls, and books to a big indoor garage sale today. It’s a pretty good deal. Each seller has to make sure each item is clearly marked with a removable price tag and then you can just drop your stuff off, the organizers sell it and then give you about 75% of the profits. Nice and easy. But here’s what I don’t like about garage sales … well, here’s the basic thing I don’t like about garage sales (there are lots…
-
Day 13 – Toys (Sell)
Not enough energy or sense to write tonight. Melissa stayed home from small group with the Princess (age 3) since the little one is still coughing a bit and could yet be contagious. When I got home, we spent the next several hours getting toys together to put in the community sale tomorrow. It’s almost 1:00 AM and I’m wimping out. I feel guilty because Melissa is still going strong. The items have to be out the front door by 7:00 tomorrow morning! Apparently the Princess tonight was very cooperative about giving toys away. The older ones, not so much. …
-
Day 12 – My Bonnie (Give)
Melissa just called me a pack rat. Me! A pack rat! … just because she asked me what I had given away today and I showed her the little bow-tie wearing penguin in the picture to the left. She asked, “Where did THAT come from?” And my reply is what elicited the “pack rat” dig: “I’ve had it since college.” She doesn’t realize that this little stuffed animal has significance. It must have been my sophomore year in college. On weekends when I stayed on campus, I would attend the local United Methodist Church, and that year I was just…
-
Day 11 – Dive Sticks (Sell)
At the end of each pool season over the last few years that we’ve been in this house I’ve looked for some clearance-priced water toy to set back for the next summer. So a couple of months ago I picked up some fish-shaped dive sticks. They are still in the original package. I brought them in tonight from the garage because Melissa is trying to get some toys and books together to sell at a big community garage sale this weekend and I’m hoping we’ll have no need for dive sticks when next June rolls around since our pool will – God willing – belong to…
-
Day 10 – Christmas Kitties Poster (Throw)
Another embarassing relic from my garage. Remember the old “Scholastic Book Club” catalogs the teachers would send home with you from school so that you could pester your parents into buying some book or magazine (or poster) for you? Those catalogs are still around. As a kindergarten teacher, Melissa still places Scholastic orders a couple of times a year. (Turns out those sneaky Scholastic folks have been bribing the teachers into pushing their catalogs for years with assorted freebies for the teachers themselves! Scholastic entices the teacher, the teacher entices the student, the student begs the parent who eventually gives in…
-
Heart Heavy for Haiti
Maybe tomorrow I will write about what I threw away today, but right now it doesn’t seem worth talking about. I read a couple of articles tonight about the cholera outbreak in Haiti and it’s all quite scary and confusing. One article on Yahoo said that there had been violence today in Cap Haitien – where Melissa and I visited. It said the roads were blocked and the airport was closed down – that would be the same airport where I flew in and out of Haiti just a month ago. Apparently, rumors are spreading that the cholera strain that…
-
Day 9 – Giant Turtle (Give)
While sitting at dinner tonight, we had a clear view of our neighbors working to clean and winterize their pool. (Mine was done weeks ago … I’ve learned my lesson!) Melissa had mentioned that while I was in Haiti, these particular neighbors had expressed an interest in checking out our church sometime. Since we won’t be needing any inflatable pool toys in Haiti, this seemed like a good opportunity to give something away AND follow up on their earlier interest. I have to admit that we have lived here five years now and that is the first time I have set…
-
Day 8 – Blue Like Jazz (Give)
Tonight we had a great opportunity to gather at OMS headquarters at Beka’s invitation. All but one of our mission team to Haiti was able to make it. We had a great meal together and then toured the OMS facility before hearing from Beka about her journey with God. At the end of the evening, her parents led us all in prayer for her. I wished we didn’t have school tomorrow so that we could all just hang out together for several more hours. Responsibilities stink! I took the opportunity to ride with my new little brother, Todd, on the way to…
-
Day 7 – The Muffler (Throw)
OK. This is truly embarassing. I haven’t really set any rules for myself with this whole daily Throw, Give or Sell thing, but I do know I can’t just pick up a used kleenex that one of the rug rats left on the living room floor and call it my Throw for the day. BUT if some large, rusty hunk of metal has been on the ground beside the house for … oh, let’s say three months … THEN, I think it definitely qualifies as a genuine Throw. The muffler rotted off my car three months ago. It had been dangling for at least…
-
Day 6 – Another Book (Give)
Tonight I gave Mark Levin’s “Liberty and Tyranny” to Steve, our small group leader. Steve’s a political animal, so I know he’ll appreciate the book. That book was not hard to give away (and, Steve, I’m sure I’ll find something more meaningful to give to you and Keri at some point here! We’ve got a long way to go!) and not because I didn’t like it. It was easy to give away, it seems to me now, because that’s exactly what I should do with the majority of the books I read. Why buy a book, read it, and then…