Of Gypsies and Cowboys

While some who are reading this are familiar with the past few months in my life, several may be wondering what's going on and why this season is so challenging and special and what finally nudged us into seeking a life less loaded. While I'd love to take a few hours and sit down and really share it with you, I'm realistic enough to recognize that my baby will likely only sleep another 20 minutes and my schedule (and personal strength!) can't really handle a pile of coffee-dates and phone calls right now :)

So here we go, a timeline of sorts:

> I have always held a deep love for and wonder of the created order (the earth, creatures, growing things, dirt, air, etc). I LOVE being outside and soaking in fresh air and sunshine. I initially started my academic journey within Agriculture and always assumed I'd end up with some kind of earth/animal science involvement. (Instead I ended with a BA in Education, a BA in Intercultural Studies, and a Masters in Education. Wierd. Hm.)
> I am going on 5 years of being married to a fascinating and frustrating man who challenges me to wed thought and action. I'll refer to him as J.
> I have a gorgeous 7 month old son. I'll refer to him as Jem.
> We hold a collection of degrees, a fantastic vehicle, and many material things. Our families are unique, our friends are true, our marriage is hilarious. We believe in One God, the Christ, and are in constant motion as we seek and think and revise just how this belief is to be expressed, lived, and embraced.
> For the past year or two, my husband and I have been chewing on the question of simplicity, including:
- What does it mean to live simply?
- As a 'faith based' family, how are we called to live (including purchasing, eating, time, space, earth care, possessions, etc)?
- Does ignorance (simply not holding the knowledge or information) excuse us from actions that may harm the earth, workers in other countries, children, or other living beings?

> One week before Christmas J was laid off without warning (actually, in complete contrast to a promise that his job was secure!). We suddenly found ourselves at home (I'm on mat leave) with no formal income, tons of student debt, and a whole lot of questions. Our earlier reflections were suddenly the key components of long conversations and late night reflections and we soon began to consider that this shift could be a potential doorway to opportunity and growth instead of a purely negative hit.

We began to chew on the following:
- Are we living the life we want to be living?
- Why is J giving his best hours: away from his family, exhausting his body, dulling his mind; all to make another man rich?
- Should J jump back into another trade-based company? In the midst of a recession where people are dumping workers by the thousands? Should i just ask him to suck it up and provide?
[The step into trade work was initially a short term (2-6 years) solution to our need for income. We needed to make headway into our student debt and have enough cashflow so I could stay home with Jem. ]
- Considering our current lifestyle, are our beliefs and actions in tandem? What are we teaching our son? "Be anything you want to be...after you've put in your time" "Reach for the stars! But don't expect to ever touch them" "Family comes first...after the 9-5 is done and the bills are paid and the boss is happy and the house is clean and..." We were convicted.
- We saw the lives our own fathers had chosen. They worked hard, SO hard. They gave their best hours and days and years and decades to men who used them and tossed them. They provided financially for their families but lost much in the process. J began to see the continuation of the cycle in his own life with his own son, and it hit hard.
- Could it be possible to work hard, share life, live well (meaning with health and safety and basic needs met), and really love our life while being consistent in belief and action?

Given that glimpse of background, we decided we needed to change our lives. To change the outward expression of living we had to consider what we actually believed. Discussions on materialism, ethical buying, organic food, and more consumed our morning coffee times and evening walks. We soon decided on the following steps:
> Begin a 'Buy Nothing' year. Well, for us it's more of a 'buy with conscience and limitations' year. I'll share the outline of that in a future post.
> Purge. Go through everything. Every closet, room, attic, shelf. Recycle, give, or trash those things that are cluttering our house and life. And do it deeply.
> Create our own company. Yup. Our talks and research had led into some fairly drastic lifestyle changes. It didn't take long to realize that many other were making some similar changes in their own homes (through conscience or trend) and that a business opportunity was opening up. Within weeks we set out to create an eco-based cleaning company.
> Pull up and set out. Our business would do best in a green-based area that wasn't yet saturated with other similar companies. J is originally from the West Coast so we began making plans to move.

And now....
Now we are in the deep of it. We are over our heads and learning to breathe. It's fantastic and terrifying.
We have created a company called GreenHomes Cleaning, with related service called the GreenValley Roaster. While it's still under construction, you can check out our website at greenhomescleaning.ca
We're moving to BC in one month.
We'll be living in a 24 ft' RV in my inlaws driveway.
Our house has undergone a deep and exhausting purging. We've discarded (mostly recycled or sold) countless bags of clothes, electronics, pictures, toys, and knick-knacks. If I had known just how much we were going to toss I would have kept an inventory! ;)
We no longer use any synthetic chemicals for cleaning.
We no longer use synthetic body care products.
We no longer purchase or play with plastic toys.
We eat much less meat. And I'm becoming very creative with beans ;)

We are entirely different people than we were only months ago.

This is a very long post so I'm going to stop now, just to keep things organized. I hope this has helped create a bit of a picture of where I'm coming from and why this blog is important to me this year. This blog exists as my place of record for all that's happening in this whole crazy shift. It's entirely public (something I've never done before) and I really hope that others will be challanged and encouraged as they reflect on their own changes and choices. I look forward to witnessing what happens cuz, quite frankly, I really don't have a clue what's coming. :)