It’s been fun documenting some of my cleaning process here. Today I made another trip to goodwill. I bagged up the books I’d taken out of the schoolroom, as well as the kitchen things I got rid of after cleaning out the cupboards to the right side of the sink. There was an entire garbage bag that I filled, including the contents of almost ten plus years worth of accumulated cords.

We threw out the microwave that we have had for fifteen years. It was a gift from a former congregation member who told me in the note she wrote that every young mother ought to have a working microwave. I was thankful and touched by her generosity and thoughtfulness and the microwave has served us well. Right now I have no plans to buy a new one. I told my husband we can see how it goes. We still have a stovetop popcorn popper that was also a gift.

My mother-in-law and I went shopping for an iPhone today. For graduation she told us she would help get Ethan a phone. She was also going to cover the first year of his payment plan. It is things like this that have tremendously helped us out financially along the way. Two of our working cars were gifts from my in-laws. In total we have received four vehicles from them as gifts.