ideas on green and stewardship...

i have been very challenged lately about a variety of things.  one being stewardship.  we (our family) are learning in a very hard way what it means to be good stewards of our money.  i felt like we learned this lesson a LONG time ago...but apparently we needed to revisit this.  along the lines of stewardship, i have also been challenged to examine our budget and find ways to cut here and there.  gas was one of them.  how do you cut gas when it's like $5 a gallon??!?!?  then it made me think about how i want to live sustainably, but not in excess.  i'm tired of really living in excess (and it is also what has caused us to have to revisit the way we live/spend/etc..).  i don't want emily and william to always think they can have anything they want, when they want it and i also want them to look at our home and environment in a different way.  

this has led me to a summer of researching what it means to live sustainably-or live green.  i know...it's quite the fashion right now to 'live green'...BUT...i have been very much challenged to my core about how i spend, how i look at things now (does it effect the earth?  is it bio-degradable?  can this be recycled?) to even what i put on our body and how that is treating my skin and our kids skin?  how is what i put on my body effecting the earth as well?  oh man...this can really get into so many areas of my life!  i have been quite overwhelmed.  BUT, this is how i've taken each day as a new day to consider, learn, and change one thing a day or week for our family to 'live green' and in an effort to also teach our children this beautiful world that the lord created us to live in/on needs our hands to care for it.  we need to be good stewards of just not our pocket book, but in all areas of life as well.  good stewards of our body, friendships, relationships, our possessions and consider the impact all our choices will have on us.  

so...here are some ideas that i will be posting in this little new category, "green living" .  let's be good stewards together!  let's all share our ideas...let's do it together so it won't be so overwhelming!