Coming Clean: Part 2

Two weeks ago, I had this bright idea on how to get Carrie's room all cleaned up. I told her that she should carry everything out of her room--minus the big furniture. I had her bring desk drawers and dresser drawers out. I had her empty her closet and bring out all of her clothes. Before I had her do all of this, I ran it by my husband, Paul. I told him that I was going to have her bring out all of her stuff and pile it on the train table--you can see the train table in the background of this first picture.


Well, as you can see by this second picture, it went a little beyond the train table. When Paul got home that evening, he said, "The train table, huh?"

I now had the overwhelming task of going through every single thing that Carrie had brought out of her room. And not only that, but as things were coming out of her room, it became very evident that we were going to have to paint the walls. Carrie was pretty excited about this. She was tired of her lavender walls and was ready for something different. (She opted for a beautiful shade of blue called "Garden Pond.")

Thankfully, Paul could see how overwhelmed I was. He came home each evening that week and helped Carrie to part with many of the things that she was holding onto. He was very common sense with her and helped her to see what she really wanted and what she really didn't want anymore--which is something that I have a tough time with, because I am way overly sentimental. As I saw stuffed animals being bagged for a future garage sale, the scene from "Toy Story 2" was going through my head. You know, where Jessie the cowgirl is remembering how her girl grew up and eventually replaced her with other interests--and then how she ended up in a pile to be given away. And the music! The music from that scene was there in my head too! I really needed Paul to be the one to help Carrie with this task.


I really want to teach my kids not to hold on too tightly to "things." Jesus said, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15). I need to remember this too.

It was during this cleaning time that I got the idea for the name of my blog. Too much stuff has made my life complicated. I know that when Carrie's room was in the shape it was in before it was cleaned out, she dreaded for me to open the door and look in. She knew that I would yell and cry. We even stopped saying our prayers together in her room just so I wouldn't have a fit before bedtime. Now, not only is Carrie extremely pleased with her room , but I am able to go in and spend time with Carrie in her room.

That was two weeks ago. Last week, we tackled William and Joshua's room. And now I sit here on a Sunday evening with everyone's stuff back in their bedrooms, and I have my living room back again. Tomorrow I can get back to paying attention to the rest of the house. I seem to have this nesting instinct setting in!