Welcome!

Disclaimer: The blog itself is a work in progress. Just wanted something "bloggy" looking to start out with and I have to reintroduce myself to graphics and templates and such in order to make this more streamlined and visually appealing. To me at least :)

Anyway...Hi!
If you are joining me through Facebook, then you probably know me. If you don't know me, I'm very easy to get to know. I am a Christian wife and mother of three. I am a stay at home mom with a house in the sticks and I wouldn't want it any other way. This blog isn't going to be my personal diary or a journal of the thrilling stories of my housewife life, it is going to be my family's journey through the book 7 by Jen Hatmaker. I am not a professional at blogging or writing by any means, in fact I don't even think I'm any good at either. I don't know that anyone except my close friends and family will care to follow along. I want this to be a journal of "7" only. I have a personal blog that I may or may not share later, we shall see. (I don't keep the stinkin' thing updated enough anyway lol.)

I just want to be able to look back at the end of all this and see how far we have come and what changes we may have made/still need to make. If I don't write it all down I will forget. And I already know I don't want that to happen.

So first off, let me introduce you to 7.
This is the Amazon description of the book. I encourage you to watch the related media video towards the bottom of the page.

As for the "Jess" description of the book....it's amazing. That's all that needs to be said.
No but really though...read it.

You'll get a better description of it as I go through it, but at its basics, it's about a family (the Hatmakers) and more specifically a woman (Jen Hatmaker) and her life that is boggled down with stress and excess to the max. Too much stuff, not enough God, and the debilitation and overwhelmed feelings that go along with it. I am weak, I struggle with over indulgence, and I NEED more Jesus in the way that I need to breathe, in the way that I need a nap in the afternoon, in the way that my house needs to be scrubbed from top to bottom....it's a serious need.  So her description of cutting back on the excess and gaining more of the Jesus appealed to me in a big way. I mean really though this (from the Amazon description): "So, what’s the payoff from living a deeply reduced life? It’s the discovery of a greatly increased God—a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends social experiment to become a radically better existence" resonated through me so loudly that I heard ringing for days afterward. I want that with all of my heart.

It's a 7 month long process, all centered around the number 7. Each month you identify a different area of excess and cut back on it in 7 different ways. We didn't have to (and won't) follow her exact rules in the book, but we did identify with the same areas of excess that she did and we want to approach them in basically the same way. They are as follows:

Money- spend money only in 7 places
Media- eliminate use of 7 media types
Food- only eat 7 whole foods
Waste- adopt 7 green habits
Possessions-give away 7 possessions a day
Clothes-only wear 7 articles of clothing
Stress-partake of 7 daily sacred pauses

So each month is devoted to one area of excess. When I do my introductory post of each month I will explain them more in detail. The order I have them listed is the order we are going to be following them. We start in less than 3 weeks! And I am so excited, even though I know this is going to be insanely hard. We need a radical change around here and I hope this will be the jump start we need.

And I should add, this is mainly for me and Richie, I am not going to serve my kids only 7 foods and force them to give away 7 toys a day lol. They will participate in media month and they basically already wear the same couple outfits in rotation (they have their favorites, what can I say.) So although this is a family project, the main participators will be my husband and I.

For the next few weeks I may or may not jot down some pre-7 thoughts down here, but the meat of this whole experiment will start on Jan 1st. Or probably December 31st, so I can make my intro to Jan post :)

Hopefully you'll stick around for the ride! If you will, say a prayer for us! We will need all the encouragement we can get! (bye bye potato chips, I loved you well....)