7: Media Month: Day 20

If you have ever considered turning off the boob-tube for an extended period of time, I would highly recommend doing it! I always thought that "those people" were insane. You know, the ones who live with no TV or limit their poor children to an hour per day or less...the horror of it all!
Having the TV off (for the most part) for the past 20 days has been amazing for our family. Dave and I are now trying to figure out how we will keep the positives that we have gained after media month ends. Some of the perks...

• The one child who no one ever wants to play with, always has someone to play with her now because they aren't plugged into a device. 
• All 6 kids are almost always engaged in some imaginative game with complex story lines, and they are all playing TOGETHER....HAPPILY!
• Friday, Chloe spent her money to buy face paint, used some media time to research face painting methods, and then painted everyone's faces. 
• Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, the kids set up imaginary face painting stations and actually had others waiting in line for imaginary face paint. 
• The kids are fighting over washing the dishes each night. (I will say, I have no idea how we got this result out of no computers of TV, but I'll take it!)
• It has proven to me that the world will not, in fact, come to an end if I am not constantly checking facebook. Now, if I stayed off for an extended period of time... ;-)

7: Month 4: Media

Month one was food, and it was HARD!
Month two was clothing, and that was easy, just boring.
Month three was stuff. Giving away stuff came easily to us, and with our homeless ministry, we gave away more than 7 items per day.

Month four, our goal is to "unplug". Technically, we can engage in one hour per day of internet usage or tv watching. But, in an effort to get rid of Halloween candy and see if we can eliminate electronic media altogether, we have offered the kids the choice of six pieces of candy rather than an hour of media. Our TV hasn't gone on until tonight.

Day One:
Mom and Dad are on the floor completely engaged in a game of UNO with all six kids. Awesome. Nothing else matters in this moment other than this game and this time. The question is raised by one of the kids, "Can we just sell our TV and get money for it?" I think they are enjoying this full attention of both parents and simple fun. Why on earth do we not make this choice more often? Why does it require us to challenge ourselves in order to choose better? God only knows. I pray that this month has lasting effects.

Day Four:
I have a head splitting sinus infection and Chloe really wants to watch The Amazing Race. So we had one hour of TV watching. The fast movement of the camera and the bright light of the TV made my eyes hurt so badly. It was the first time the TV had been on in four days though. My daycare kids aren't even watching it. Those moments of TV watching peace that I thought I relied so heavily on, aren't even missed. Who'd have thought that kids could so easily find other ways to entertain themselves. Duh!

Day Five:
I sat at the computer and was paying the bills. One of my daycare boys came up and said, "Uh-oh! Remember? We aren't using the computers this month." I tried to explain that I had to pay the bills, so this was different. I am pretty sure he walked away thinking that I was cheating.
Day Six:
The favorite game is Connect Four, by far. It would be followed closely by Candy Land and Trouble. The Game of Life has been out quite a bit, but only for Halie to throw all of the money up in the air and the other kids to race to catch the most. Hey, I guess it's creative at least.
The kids are interacting so much more with each other. In the beginning, this meant that they were arguing more because there was no screen to escape to in a effort to block out the annoying one, but even the arguing has stopped. They actually seem to like each other. :)
I have been reading a lot more, but with the headache from the sinus infection and the throbbing that ensues every time I move my eyeballs, even that has been difficult. This has led to boredom. Seriously, in the "oh-so-busy" life that I claim to have, I am bored.

7...The Journey

I am quite certain that I could write a timeline of my life based on the book that I was reading during each phase. I am terribly, wonderfully affected by what I read. Knowing this, and fully aware of my extreme personality, my great friend, Becca Bruner, handed me the book "7" by Jen Hatmaker. 7 is "an experimental mutiny against excess". The seven areas that Jen chose to challenge herself on were food, clothing, possessions, media, waste, spending and stress.

Dave read the book first and immediately wanted to jump on the bandwagon. I was hesitant to even pick up the book knowing the conviction I was sure to feel after reading it. But, before I would let Dave lead us on a crazy journey, (I have control issues as well.) I needed to read it. If anyone was going to take this family to Crazy Town, it was going to be me dagnabbit!

So, I read it. I loved it. I wanted to meet Jen Hatmaker, go to her church, live next to her, be her best friend...

I was NOT going to post anything about it on facebook though. This was going to be my quiet little journey that I could quit at any time because Dave and I (and a few close friends who already know my quirks) would be the only ones who knew about it. AND, I was NOT going to do the food month!!

I have issues with food. I could live on white bread, crackers, peanut butter and Oreos. I hate spices and flavors of almost all kinds. I don't eat vegetables willingly, and I just ate the first strawberry of my life a few months ago. Some of you may have even been privy to my little experiments with "Green Monsters", Vegetarianism, and the ban on high fructose corn syrup. Some have lasted longer than others, and I am proud to say that a gross pink picture on facebook did permanently stop my family from eating at McDonald's about 6 months ago.

Then, Dave decided he was going to do the food month full force. He picked his seven items and even had a great talk with the kids about it. It was such a great talk that without any encouraging, 4 of the kids wanted to try "getting rid of stuff so that we can know God better". As my sister-in-law, Lisa McMorris, pointed out on facebook, I am a little bit competitive...especially with Dave. THEN, Dave posted on facebook about the journey. I was so inspired and convinced that we could do this as a family that I posted about it on facebook...on day #1. BIG MISTAKE! :)

Food month basically went like this:

Day #1: Yum, I love chicken and rice! Apples are so juicy, I could do this forever! (And when I don't want an apple, I will just have a banana. Easy Peasy! Yum eggs! Good thing strawberries and I are learning to be friends. Spinach and I are destined to get along whether we want to or not...and I AM going to use Ranch dressing even though it's not following the letter of the 7 law. This is going to be awesome!

Day #2 breakfast: Yay! Day 2!

Day#2 lunch: Seriously, the daycare kids are eating cinnamon waffles, and I could easily just pop one in my mouth. I LOVE cinnamon waffles. Every cabinet I open has wonderful, delicious, sweet carbs in it, and I want them all. So proud though, I talked myself down and ate my "7 lunch".

Day #2 dinner: Maybe I'll just skip dinner. I am tired of this food.

Day #3 morning: Woke up. Complained to Dave about how hard this is (for about 2 hours). He loves when I do this! Decided just to skip breakfast.

Day #3 lunch: Made the daycare kids quesadillas...I don't even really LOVE quesadillas, but they looked so buttery and yummy. Dave left the house to pick up my brother Cameron. I stood there contemplating eating a quesadilla and NOT TELLING HIM! Seriously, on this journey to open up my life to more of God and recognize where we let "stuff" get in the way of relationship with him, I was going to LIE to survive month one!! That was when I began to know this was not going to end well. I grabbed a quesadilla, announced to Chloe and Carter that "I am OUT!", and took a wonderful, delicious bite of non-7 food.

Day #3 dinner: Ate too much and felt sick. :(

Instantly I regretted having told anyone that I was trying this! Some of my dear, dear friends and family also know that I don't like to fail. Not that anyone really likes to fail, but I spend a great deal of my life purposefully avoiding situations where there is any possibility for me to fail. I quit volleyball in high school because I wasn't the best. I quit track for the same reason. I quit band because I wasn't naturally talented at playing the clarinet...after three weeks...never mind that I didn't practice. After that string of quitting, I just decided on some level that I would never again begin anything that I couldn't finish successfully. (Dave bought a Jeep in May...it's stick shift...I will NEVER let him teach me...I will NEVER drive the Jeep.)

Oh...maybe this is my lesson...maybe for me it wasn't about food at all. Maybe for me it was a good lesson in trying. That God! He always seems to remind us of the things that He needs us to learn rather than just letting us decided which lessons we are willing to learn.

I was also overwhelmed with love and support on facebook. I was reminded of the power of leading this crazy life, in our crazy ways, following Jesus (who many thought was a little crazy), in front of others. Whatever seeds may have been planted, I will let God tend to them.

Although I am remaining on a steady diet of "whatevertheheckiwant" for the rest of this month, I continue to reflect on my 3 days and pray that God will continue to lead me on this journey...where ever it takes me, and us as a family.

Dave is still going strong with brown rice, chicken, apples, spinach, eggs, almonds, and blueberries even though he has had a disaster with black beans, decided kale was disgusting and almonds aren't really "doing it for him". His menu may need to be tweaked a little, but I am so proud of his perseverance. This is the same guy that gave up his first true love, Pepsi, for an entire year. He has amazing strength!

Next month: Clothing

For an entire month we will wear only 7 items of clothing.