We got back from holidays in Colorado and I got a little more than I bargained for as far as the garden is concerned. It looks good now, but when I first got back, dill had overtaken everything! There were no little rows, it was just a mass of green, two feet tall at least. So, I guess it doesn’t work so well to leave a garden unattended for three weeks.  After a couple hours with my Mom, Tom and I weeding, it is looking fabulous if I do say so myself!

We picked some baby carrots today for a little snack. I am attempting to thin out the mass of carrots, and pretty much everything that I planted. I planted everything really close together. My radishes didn’t turn out too well b/c they needed more room to grow, I guess. Live and learn. It was so fun today to sit outside and eat some carrots that we planted and God grew in our very own little garden! Super cool!

We are more then half way through our year long experiencement of not shopping and I am very proud of how far we have come in the past year. Even though there have been times when we have been very tempted to buy new (a dress Malora found in a Nepali import store) we have held off. We have not cheated too much and I feel like the desire to consume is growing fainter with each month. That desire is still there though. It has just changed.

Even though we are not shopping any more there is still a growing desire within us to keep up with the people around us. It seems like everyone we know owns their own home, has more then one car, and has a bunch of kids. We are renting the basement suite we live in, our car has a rusty bum and sputters out on us, and we only have one amazing son. There is a constant pressure for us to keep up with the people around us. We often put this pressure on ourselves, but many times it is put on us by well meaning people - with well meaning questions:

“When are you guys going to move into a bigger house?”

“You guys should really have more kids”

“I can’t believe you only have one car…wow. How do you do it?”

I think everyone feels the pressure to keep up with the Jones Family (whoever that is), and once you start it is a non stop spiral of wanting more and more. We want the freedom to be unencumbered by debt or possessions. We are living that reality now and if we can continue that for the rest of our lives that would be amazing. To live a life that is not about consuming and paying off debt and instead is about living with the freedom to respond to the needs around you.

I think that true wealth has to do with having the freedom to be generous to the needs of the people around you. A debt free life is one step in that direction. So, we made the decision to stop worrying and thinking about all of the maybes. Maybe we will get a house, maybe we should get a new car, maybe we should have a bunch more kids, and instead to allow life to happen and enjoy it in the process. Focusing on enjoying life in the present is essential to living a truly rewarding life.

We are on a much needed vacation in Colorado. Visiting family, lighting off firecrackers for the 4th of July with my brother, and relaxing. I even got to go tubing on a lake and flew 4 feet in the air when I hit a wave the sent me flying. It has been really relaxing and I am so glad that we came.

However, the desire to shop is so much worse when you are on vacation. You are going to new places and the common thing to do is commemorate these experiences by buying something to remember your pleasant time there. A cheezy shirt with a place name on it, a little plaster molding, a teeny little spoon the a crest at the end, or any other touristy thing. I once bought a beaver in a can because I couldn’t find anything else (the beaver was a stuffed animal).

It makes me wonder how much money we waste on trinkets that we eventually give to thrift stores because we have no use for them. Instead of shopping for souvenirs on vacation maybe we should learn to enjoy relaxation without consuming useless junk. It is hard not to shop when you are away from home and all the rules, but we wont fall for Rocky Mountain snow globe.

bonus: We saw an earthship in Ft. Collins, Colorado. We are going to try to visit it somehow.