It's Simple

Last week I went on a trip to Lancaster with Evan's Select Strings group. The experience included a ride in an Amish horse and buggy. The driver was a retired Amish farmer who enjoyed relating details of Amish life to the riders. As we bumped along the dirt roads between the Amish homes and farms and saw the barefoot children running and playing in the yards, my heart ached a bit.

Stan and I were both raised in solid Christian families where people were more important than possessions and eternity of greater value than any temporary material stuff. Yes, we both came from families who were not wealthy, so there were no means to have lots of things anyway. Admittedly, there were times in my teenager-hood when I was embarrassed by my lack of the latest fashions and name brand shoes; situations in which I felt 'backward' and out of style and therefore, highly conspicuous (not in a good way.)

With our backgrounds deeply steeped in the Pennsylvania Dutch way of life - parents and grandparents of each of us hailed from Lancaster County - we are no strangers to frugality and simplicity. And in spite of occasional uncomfortable circumstances as I was growing up: teasing due to wearing K-Mart brand sneakers, having attention drawn to the patched-up knees of my jeans, not being able to answer questions about the latest movie I saw or the last album I bought; I am now raising my children in that same vein - at least I hope that I am.

My kids (and their parents) wear hand-me-downs and thrift store clothing; it's clean and fits well, but it's not brand new and hardly ever brand name. We have two computers, two television sets, and one video game system. And I just found out that we are not the last family in America to not have a flat screen television - another family in church thought they were the last. None of my kids have cell phones or personal gaming systems; we have two Leapsters, one of which has been around for eight years (I think we got our money's worth out of that one!) One child has an iPod. Stan and I have cell phones with texting capabilities, but that's all, no Smart Phone or iPhone or whatever comes after that.

This list of what-we-don't-have is not to put us above any family that has more - or less, for that matter. But I find that in rubbing shoulders with other families who are similar to ours, demographically speaking, that from time to time those old feelings of uncomfortability creep up.

When 'all the other kids in middle school' have cell phones, should my kid get one? Wouldn't it make it easier if he could just call when he needs a ride? How in the world did my parents ever remember to pick me up from wherever I was without one?

Our family listens to music or books on CDs on long car rides. Don't we need a DVD player to keep them entertained? Why shouldn't they have those personal gaming systems like 'all their friends.' Just this weekend we were all in the car together for about five hours, and yes, at points it got noisy and close. But without any electronics we enjoyed playing the alphabet game and 'Contact' - a word guessing game.

When I am chaparoning a field trip and the other moms get out their smart phones and iPads, I tend to shove my clunky old-style plain-jane cell phone to the bottom of my purse. If I am feeling that out of place and different, what might my kids be feeling since peer pressure at their age is so strong.

Thankfully my amazing kids help to remind me of what is necessary in life: On Sunday, Samara wanted to take money for the offering at church and didn't have any change in the 'church' section of her bank and so said very matter-of-factly, "Oh well, I'll just take some money from the 'spend' section since God is more important than toys anyway."

It's simple.