30 Days of Nothing: Update

Just after the first of the month, we began a little project here in the Widhalm house to help us understand a few things about how it might feel to be among the world's poorest people.  We've talked a lot about the fact that even though we are not rich by American standards, we are very rich compared to the world as a whole.

Honestly, it has been very hard to curtail our diet as much as I had planned or hoped.  We visited my mom's house for about 3 days the first week, where we ate just like we always do at Nana's house.  We've had company over for dinner, made a second trip back to Nana's and had an early Christmas celebration this weekend.  So, in the area of food I have completely failed.  This was not a good month for a huge change in our diet.  I should've taken more time to plan before we dove in.  Maybe next time.

We have accomplished a couple of the smaller projects I wanted to do.  The first one was a laundry experiment.  My boys routinely help with sorting dirty laundry and helping with the folding and putting away of clean clothes.  However, after a short lesson and some research about what doing laundry looks like in the poorest of countries, we gave hand washing a try.

I ran some water in the bathtub and gave them each one pair of pants and one shirt to wash with a bar of soap.  For the first little bit, they had fun and thought it was cool.  That attitude didn't last too long, though. It was about 5 minutes or so before they started complaining of hurting hands and boredom.  They kept scrubbing, though, until I thought they sort of had the idea.  Then came the rinsing....which didn't bring nearly as much relief as they had hoped.  It was quite a chore to get everything rinsed and rung out.  Along the way, we talked about how many, many children do laundry all day instead of going to school so that they might earn enough money to help their family survive.  Jackson did really ponder that for a while and seemed genuinely thankful that he didn't have to live that way.

Project number 2 was carrying water.  We filled a 5 gallon bucket with water and explained how there are millions and millions of people who don't have a water source nearby and therefore are forced to carry water long distances for drinking, cooking and cleaning.  Of course, with the bucket full neither of the boys could carry it.  We emptied it out until Jackson could lift it and it was only about 1/3 full.  We walked around our block having the boys take turns carrying.  Jackson did fairly well but Carter really struggled.  Half way around the block, Jackson was struggling, too, and our pace wasn't much faster than a snail's.  We emptied out more water and by the time we finally made it back to the house, we had maybe 15-20% of a bucket.  When I told Jackson he was going to have to make that trip another 8-10 times just so we could have water for the day, he nearly started to cry.  Of course, we didn't make him but it was a good lesson, I think.

I took pictures that I hope to post soon.  I'm having a little technical difficulty with my photo editing software.

I would like to get in another project or two before the month is over, but I'm honestly not sure it will happen.  A few things have come up that we are having to deal with that are a little higher on the priority scale.  If not this month, we'll pick it up again later.

30 Days of Nothing

As part of what we are doing in honor of National Adoption Month, the Widhalm family is going to observe 21 Days of Nothing.  It started out to be 30, but considering that November is Thanksgiving and my children are still very young, we are going to start out with just three weeks instead of four.  I considered that maybe we should wait for a month that isn't as busy, but I dont' think those exist.  There is always something going on.  Leading up to Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday will be a good thing and I wanted to do it before the beginning of the year so that we might have some renewed focus.   So, we are going to go ahead and do the best we can this month.

Here's what our plan is.....

In order to have a greater understanding (sort of..as best we can) of what types of things the very poorest people of the world and orphans in Africa might have to deal with, we are going to live as simply as possible from now up to Thanksgiving Day.  This actually means we will have only 24 Days of Nothing.

Our meal plan will be very basic and repetitive.  Very little meat, if any, will be included.  Potatoes will be a staple and we will use mostly eggs for protein.  We will not be driving thru or eating out at restaurants, with the exception of one meal that is an early Christmas celebration for extended family and is already planned and can't be moved.  If there are any dessert type items, they will be homemade with what I already have on hand.  No purchases like chocolate chips at the grocery store are allowed. Extra material things will have to wait or not be purchased at all.  No books, toys, candy, new clothes, awards or surprises for any of us.   We will choose two or three different outfits to wear for the duration of our experiment.  All medical/dental appointments will be rescheduled if possible.    Generally speaking, we are going to do without providing our "wants" and just take care of our "needs".

Once or twice each week, hopefully on Saturdays while Doug is home, we will do one or two special projects.  We will....

1. Spend at least one day using no electricity.
2. Wash at least one load of clothing by hand in the bathtub.
3. Carry water from a neighbor's house down the street to use for one day.
4. Sleep at least one night on the floor in our clothes with no pillows or blankets.
5. One day we will eat only one meal.

I know that these adjustments we are making are still not even close to being reality for what the poorest people in our world have to live with.  Hopefully, though, it will give us a renewed sense of blessing and appreciation for the great abundance we've been given and a stronger passion to serve the poor both locally and around the world.

I will blog about our experiences at least weekly, but I am going to restrict my computer usage as well.  I am going to be posting or having guest posts to tell the individual stories of children waiting to be adopted or sponsored, as well as adoptive and foster families as often as possible throughout the month.  

Throughout the month, we will be doing our family worship and Bible study around how we can serve the poor, the widow and the orphan.  We'll also be in prayer for those groups of people as well.  If we can pray for you, please leave a comment and let us know.  We'd be honored to serve you and your family by lifting your needs in prayer!  

National Adoption Awareness Month

Why Love Orphans? from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

November is National Adoption Awareness Month and next Sunday has been deemed Orphan Sunday.   I've been contemplating for a while now, just what exactly we could do in honor of this.  I think I've come up with a few things.  First, I want to share a list of resources I have become of aware of through our own research that might help you if you are contemplating adoption or if you are just in the beginning stages.  Second, I want to share some great opportunities that are available to you as a way for you to reach out to orphaned children all over the world even if you are not interested in adopting.    I am also going to share my journey through '30 Days of Nothing'.

The first couple of items are pretty easy.....just providing a list of links and some explanations for your perusal.  The third, 30 Days of Nothing, is a challenge we are taking on so that we might possibly have even a little smidge of understanding (although it really isn't possible, I know) about how 95% of the world lives....many of whom are orphans.  I think we will learn more about God and about ourselves through what will most definately be a huge challenge for us.  Please keep us in your prayers.  I'm sure we'll need them.

https://www.adoptioncouncil.org - National Council for Adoption

http://www.nationaladoptionawarenessmonth.com - National Adoption Month website