living consciously: Weed Out Wednesday

Weed out Wednesday was a regular post before ~~this blog~~ ~~petered out~~ I started planning our wedding. I realized this last week when I was reminded of a friend's yard sale. Her family is having a yard sale to raise money to bring home their orphan son. If you live in Richmond, you should check it out. And if you can't, maybe it will inspire you to donate to someone you know who is having a yard sale for the same reason. I can't think of a better reason to get rid of your stuff.

I love the idea of giving something away in order to offer someone a home. It's easy to fall into the thinking that Americans can provide more for orphans. And yes, in many cases, we have better health care, educational resources, healthy food options etc. But it's just as easy to fall into the thinking that an orphan needs my stuff-toys/books/new clothes/his own room etc- to make his life better. And that, we know, is some faulty thinking on our part. So, this yardsale reminds me that in this land of consumers, provision for another human being isn't found in the stuff. Because if it were, there would be no yardsale. Rather, there would be a clothes drive/toy drive to get Charlie home.

Charlie needs a family and his family will "sell the farm" to make sure he gets here safely and quickly.

So this Wednesday, in honor of Charlie, I can't think of a better reason for you to take 15 minutes and find 15 things for your "give away box" to give to the next orphan yard sale you hear about.

Here's a picture of our box that we keep to the right of the basement steps all year long. If we can't get this to Charlie's family by Saturday, I'll get it to the next family)