Happenings from the Bush homestead

This is a busy busy week for us.  Vacation Bible school week at our church.  I'm working in the nursery.  We only have a few children though.  Two of which, are my own.  So it's fairly quiet in there.  I miss my computer time.  But with VBS all morning, then the 1/2 hour drive home, gardening and feeding/caring for the children and husband, plus house chores.  Yikes!  I'm exhausted.  Everyone is in bed, so I should head there myself.  Next week!  I will be back at this more :)

In our 1/2 hour drives to church and home again, I've been thinking more about how to pair down and simplify.  I was talking to a missionary family at our church.  They are getting ready to head overseas in September and just got their crate packed for shipping when ready.  So I started thinking about what exactly we could not live without if we went to the mission field.  We are not, but it's a base I'd like to go from.  What do they take with them?  What can they and do they live without?  We will keep our electric appliances and certainly my new washer/dryer set.  But other things.  Toys, clothing, books, whatever else.  So I am going to talk some more with our missionary friends who are getting ready to head to the field this year and early '07.  Perahps they will have some ideas.  If missionaries can live without it, why can't we? 

Growing up, my mother had this shelf of bells.  She loves bells.  And they are/were all so pretty and shiny and sounded beautiful.  She still has them, and lots more now.  But, it was my chore to dust these shelves and the bells every week.  ACK!  I hated that job!  I had to climb up the chair, get everything off the shelves, dust top to bottom, dust each bell and try not to drop them, then arrange them back the way they were.  I tell ya, I hate dusting to this day.  I hate clutter too in part because of that.  The bells mind you, weren't clutter.  They all have sentimental value that is obvious when she talks about them or shows them to someone.  But I remember having to dust those things and shelves.  I'm not as clean and tidy as my mother is.  So I can handle some dust.  Doesn't bother me much, except my allergies.  So it's good that I don't have a bunch of little things like that to dust.  I used to, at the old house.  I threw it out when we moved over here.