So Grateful

This weekend, we went to NYC to help our dear friends move out of the city and into the Garden State.

It was so nice to spend a day with such lovely people (really and truly lovely)...and then we came home with these:

Yes, really.

We were so close to buying a new couch when we moved this summer and ultimately decided that as much as we needed a couch (to replace an old and quickly getting older futon), we needed a hobby farm in Wisconsin more. So we didn't get one and life went on. We couldn't be happier about that choice now and we are so grateful for the generosity of our friends.

It has also inspired participation in a new movement in this household- Dottie Angel's Challenge of the Utmost Kind. This means that for the next year, we won't buy anything for our wardrobes or home that isn't handmade or secondhand.

It will keep us from spending too much money on things like couches when plenty of good ones already exist. It will help us save money and reach our bigger goals faster. It will help us to be patient and trust in the world that what we need will come to us eventually, even if we don't get it right when we want it. And it'll probably also demonstrate that we don't really need everything we think we do (or that we can still be perfectly happy and functional without it).

We're starting on October 1st so we can start at the beginning of a month...and so Casy can go get some new underwear.

Love, T.