Live Simply, Simply Live, Give Simply, Simply Give....The Shirts Are Going Outttt

Oi! (Stole that from you, GiGi, is that okay?)....Ethan, Youth Pastor at our church just emailed me and asked how many shirts I wanted to order and I realize...I didn't follow up on this! I'm fixin to get these addresses to all who indicated they wanted to play along with The T-Shirt Post. I'll be emailing you today or tomorrow for those addresses. Then no reason I won't have time on Friday to get those going, and I cannot WAIT to see the blog posts!

I have, however, been giving the living simply phrase a great deal of thought. Is this living simply, or is it living....simply?

My inclination was living simply, learning to do without the 'things' I have grown accustomed to, so that's where I'll take this (some things, such as Tab, I didn't get to choose! WHERE IS TAB?????). Yet there are things I am willing to do without so that I put myself in a position to help my friends in the nursing home as well as the two kids we have sponsored through Compassion. I am turning more and more to the store brands, because while I scoff at saving $.50 on a bottle of "Meinz" ketchup, if I did that just ten times through my shopping trip, that'd be $5.00. Five bucks per week would be $20 plus a month. My little guy, Gervasio, could purchase something useful in Kenya for that. The trick will be to dedicate that savings to them, write it down after each trip and save it.

I've got other convictions. I don't need to go to lunch with friends each week, I've save tons there. I don't go often anymore. And when I do lunch, I don't need to be the hero and pay for everyone (I do that often, I think it's insecurity on my part--they shouldn't pay to be with me, I should!). I am beginning to look at my life, see how discipline has been as absent as a man at a bunco party.

Even more important, I need to tithe more and on a regular basis. Put that money in the basket FIRST, then everything else will follow....or not. Maybe I do without for a few weeks. That scares me, I am struggling with that. But over the years, I've come a long way in my thinking about money, about life emphasis. And I trust my church to know best where to put that money--there are people helped in ways I'll never hear about. But I know if I need them, they'll be there, and my friends who put money in that week won't know about it either. I guess that's my goal for the remainder of this year and the year coming up.

So...the confessions are out on the table, you see I have been and still am selfish with my worldly possessions. I'm going to send out the shirts along with a Sharpie....first to the North, going to Coffee Mom in Canada, and the Southern one starting with D in Texas.....and they'll keep the chain going (I'll put in the addresses of the next in line) and perhaps add some friends of their own to that list.

If you want to OWN one of these shirts, the proceeds go to charity...they cost $10 plus a few bucks shipping (I'll pick up the handling, lol). Ethan knows the little girl who designed it and prints them. Let me know, give me the size you want (XL is quite large) and I'll see that you get one ordered. I plan on making these shirts part of my Christmas shopping, it really is a nice little shirt, good quality, the black and white is simple, goes with any pair of jeans you'll find in any given consignment shop!