playing with wine corks on a kitchen floor

Welcome, Baby Shively! Amy Shively, one of our friends and "followers" welcomed baby Harrison into the world a few weeks ago. What a joy! These little ones never cease to amaze us, do they? No matter how many are born, each one is just absolutely precious and unique. We have alot to learn from them, I think.

Case in point - this past Sunday, Acacia Sharda was playing so contently on my kitchen floor

that she didn't even notice her mom leave the room (which usually brings her to full-on sobs). And, what was the very popular toy of choice for Acacia? It cost us no money, it wasn't created for children to play with from "age 2-4," and for some people, it could be considered garbage. The toy-of-choice was a wire basket of wine corks. Nothing special. It's just the place I put my corks when I open a new bottle of wine because I can't stand to throw them away. Some of them are pretty. Rest assured - they were clean, dry and I was watching her so she didn't choke on them.

I watched as she took them out of the basket, put them in, rolled them around, handed to me. It went on and on. SO simple! I joked with Jori that I don't know why people spend so much money on children's toys. And, yet. Is it really that funny? It might be more accurate than silly. And, not just for kids, but for us adults as well.

Think about the last thing you purchased. Did you need it? Was there something else that you already had that could serve the same purpose for you? Could you have borrowed it from a friend or neighbor? Here's the question that's propably most pertinent - do you have other things in your home that you should use instead? Or do you even need to buy something to fill your time - what could you do instead? Finally - if you're like me and have alot of wine

corks - what could I do to play and create with them? Here's an on-line diy wine cork necklace I think I'll try:

Lent is nearly over. The journey continues on for another week & a half. What can you do on this last leg of the journey to simplify your days and recognize God in them?

Peace!

DIANA