PEACEFUL? SIMPLE?

So my life-theme over the last year and half has been peace and simplicity.  I try to make decisions based on both of these concepts.  Sometimes I succeed...

...other times I do not.

Take for instance the "beings" that inhabit our home:

First off, there's Scott and me.  We sort of started the whole thing...way back in 1993.  I like where the journey has taken us.

Then, of course there are these two.  The two we waited, prayed and longed for and who blessed our lives with their arrivals in December 1998 and October 2003.  They are the light of our lives.  Each unique in their own ways and both beautifully and wonderfully made by God.

Then in November 2005 we added "Player" (left), followed by "Max" (right) in June of 2007.  These two guys are beyond spoiled and loved by their humans.  Our favorite pets...but don't tell our other pets this...we don't want any hurt feelings.

In 2010 we added a parakeet named "Hiccup" and shortly there-after another parakeet named "Rainbow" (because parakeets are social birds and certainly must have friends of their own-kind to grow with).  I don't have a photo of these two because they just don't photograph well through their cage.  But just so you know..."Hiccup" is green and "Rainbow" is blue.

If that wasn't enough, this weekend we added two more to the Johnson household.  Two female Betta fish (again...too difficult to photograph)...one named "Bubbles" and the other named "Sparkle".  We were told that two female Bettas can share a bowl but got them home and feared that might not be true when "Bubbles" looked as though she was going to take the sparkle out of "Sparkle".  Apparently it was just a showing of who was going to be "queen of the bowl" and this morning we woke to both of them swimming happily together.

So what does this have to do with my life-theme of "peace" and "simplicity"?

Absolutely NOTHING...because adding these two more pets to our family defies any peace or simplicity that I strive for!

The humans are not my problem.  They clean up well after themselves...for the most part, anyway...and my heart is beyond bursting with love for all of them!

But the non-humans...(other than the dogs)...not so much bursting with love going on there.  By adding two more pets I have created two more...well, I'll just say it...poop-cleaning jobs...to my already fairly hefty list of tasks.  It's not really anything that falls into my categories of "peace" or "simplicity".

However, my life-theme is not only about me.  I KNOW...go figure!  Life is not all about ME?

Nope...it's not.

My life is about peace and simplicity for those humans pictured above that I love so very, very much.  Each of these pets adds joy and happiness to the lives of my family...mostly the kids because Scott could really do without the birds and the fish (and he's put the ka-bosh to adding a kitty and has held strong against Faith's pleading and tears that she NEEDS a kitty).

So yes...every pet added to our household is just basically another task added to my list...which does not bring me a whole lot of peace or simplicity...but it's worth it to see the smiles on my kid's faces and the joy in their hearts for the animals that God created especially for our pet-loving family.

And just so you know...Scott may have nixed the kitty that Faith wants...but I have hands-down nixed the snake that Parker has requested!

Here's wishing you a peaceFULLYsimple day...and all the joys that accompany it!
Jeanine