Three weeks ago on Sunday, our house was broken into and burglarized. The thieves got many of our fairly expensive possessions including our televisions and all of my jewelry that I was not wearing. The first thing that Kevin said to me when I told him about the burglary was the verse from Matthew that says our treasures are in Heaven. Although it was upsetting to lose my stuff, I was able to take comfort in God’s word and that’s what He wants us to do!

Before we didn’t have any televisions, Kevin and I had already been discussing cancelling our programs and just watch our DVDs the same way we did when we first got married. We hadn’t made the final commitment partly because new seasons of our shows we like to watch were coming back on. But we wanted to save more money for when the baby got here. We have also been seriously rethinking some of our habits we have in regards to how it would affect the baby. I want our child to play outside as much as possible, I want him to be a maker and a dreamer and a learner. I doubt I’m any different from other parents and expecting parents by thinking these things but I believe that going without a television will be a good step for us. :)
I feel like quitting television the way we did was a little easier on me. I have been actively trying to watch less tv but when you live by yourself half the time, it’s nice to have something to add noise to the solitude. But you know what else does that? Music! Which we also enjoy. It was a little hard the first couple of nights without a television so I ended up watching a few movies on my laptop, but that didn’t last very long. Watching tv is a habit. It is habit to get up in the morning and turn it on even if you aren’t paying attention to it. It is habit to sit down on the couch when it gets dark outside and turn the tv on. But it is a mindless activity and not a good habit in my opinion.
Living without a tv takes practice. I hadn’t thought about it until last Saturday night, Kendall was over and although there was no tv on, I was reading a book and the boys were looking at stuff on their phones. He pointed that even without the distraction of the tv, we were still distracted from each other. I kept thinking on this and at first I wondered if it was bad that we were still so distracted but then I realized that living this way will take practice. I don’t know that we will always be without televisions, but for this time of our lives I really like the idea and possibilities!
Since I have had more time on my hands, I have gotten a lot of things done. I have more time to focus on reading the Bible more and spending time with God. I completely fell in love with using water colors and have painted a few pieces. I completed two rag quilts, and even made it to the library and checked out a few books. I know I had a bad habit of mindlessly watching tv while playing on my phone and I am seriously looking forward to life without that distraction.