Materialism!

It's a big, ugly word isn't it? It's one I've been considering a lot of late.

The other day Caleb broke his glasses so it was a quick trip off to the glasses shop to ask them nicely if they could fix them for us, which they did. While there I was poking around the shop looking at different frames and came across a cabinet full of Chanel sunglasses. I thought they were reasonably nice and had a peek at the price. To my horror I saw that one pair cost $1,100! That's US dollars to boot!!!! I immediately began to wonder about the people who would actually buy them. There must be someone who has a lot of dough to spare. Certainly not me that's for sure.

Nige and I have been talking a lot about our expectations for when we return to NZ and set up house. It would be so easy to fall into the trap of buying new things, making a perfect home, and slipping into a NZ routine but we don't want that. The last time we were back in NZ there seemed to be an obsession about houses (buying and remodeling), furniture, gardens and having everything perfect. Most of our friends have their own home, if not two or three and we don't even own one! Our dream is to own our own home but we have nothing to do that with and the area in which we will be living is one of the most expensive ones in NZ. But we know that "the Lord works all things together for good for those who love him" and that's certainly us. We will just trust in Him. He has ALWAYS provided what we needed, when we needed it before and we know that this time will be no different. It's just tough, sometimes, to keep Him in mind and not be overwhelmed by all that we need when we set up house. I'll keep working on it.

Until then I will enjoy my two new pairs of sunglasses that I bought yesterday. They cost me just $4!