Danny ChaiI love how fearless Joshua is. I’m proud that he can do the climbing wall. It gets him into trouble (he nearly fell yesterday when jumping at Jieun before she was ready), but I’m still proud.
The other day I was taking bags for Goodwill and noticed that there were a couple of Abby’s toys, a Disney Princesses cell phone and a doll she plays with that comes with a backpack. I was surprised to see them there, as they’re in good condition and Abby still likes them, so I asked Jieun if they were supposed to be there.
It turns out that Jieun is doing this Flylady exercise with Abby, periodically going through her stuff and giving away things that she doesn’t love so that she can bless others with them. The criteria isn’t whether she likes them, but whether she loves them. And Abby chose those items.
I teared up when I heard about this. It’s easy to give away stuff you don’t want or need anymore. But to give away stuff you still do like? To bless others? That’s amazing. Especially when you understand how obsessed Abby is with Disney Princesses. I’m still shocked.
It’s really hard in this culture to not want more and more stuff and be owned by the things you have. We try as a family to be counter-cultural about this, by intentionally not getting some of the things we want and can afford, and trying to want less in general. But there’s more to it than that. Just denying yourself of things is empty asceticism. The point is to have less so you can give more. And in giving away her Disney Princess cell phone and that doll, Abby is doing that. I couldn’t be more proud. I think it’s the most proud of her I’ve ever been.
It almost balances out the countless times we’ve been at Target and she’s run through the toy aisles, saying that she wants everything there.