To Candy Crush... or Not?

My momma gave me a Kindle Fire for Christmas and I love it. In the process of downloading music, books and apps, my kiddos asked if they could download Candy Crush. I almost said no. I should have said no. But I didn't. Its free. What harm could it do? I have heard from many friends and even on Good Morning America that women are addicted to this game. And I have realized from my addiction to Facebook, that I can lean in that direction, being addicted to a computer thing. But I thought, I won't play it. Its just for the kids. That lasted about two days.

We just moved here three weeks ago, my hubby has been out of town for the last two weeks, and we have been snowed in the last two days. You mix my loneliness with my boredom with my addictive tendencies and its the perfect storm. I'll just play once. Yeah right. Literally after playing twice, I was hooked and I have played every chance I've had the last four days. The pretty colors of the candies, the exhilaration you feel when you get a good combo and things start popping all over the screen, and the pride you feel when you finally get past a level that was stumping you just keep you playing! I committed that I wasn't going to pay any money or ask for any help for Facebook. So, the fact that when you lose your lives you have to take a break worked in my favor. I got some things done around the house waiting for my life to be resurrected. My kids were mad at me. "Mom, you are using all the lives so we can't play!" Tough, its momma's game now. I was looking online for cheats to figure out how to get past a level. Yes, its all ridiculous. And I broke my commitment last night at 11 when I realized I had to pay 99 cents to get to the next round of levels. Its only a buck. That's worth it.

But tonight, it all ended. My middle sweet one brought me his spelling list to call out words for him and I did it, while playing Candy Crush. I have no idea really if he was spelling them correctly or not. That was a wake up call. And then I went to church, yes, I go to church on Wednesday nights and love it. The sermon tonight was about the first church being committed to purity, power and passion for Jesus and how we need to be striving for that. We need to be aware of our sins and striving for purity so we can be the vessel that God wants us to be. And as I was listening, I realized I was also thinking about Candy Crush. And I got punched in the gut. Now, I'm not saying that Candy Crush is a sin because on its own its not. But for me, putting it above so many other things in my life that I need to be focused on, and wasting so much time that I need to be spending with my kids, on my work, on my home and with God, well, it had quickly become a sin for me.

So on the way home, I informed my children that Candy Crush was going to have to be deleted off the Kindle. I explained why, and only the little one argued with me. I think the older two knew exactly what I was talking about and probably agreed with me. The little one just complained because he never got to play it. The oldest responded with "Exactly!" I just explained that for right now, momma doesn't have the self control to not play it. Maybe one day I'll try again. The middle one complained that we had made it so far and would lose our progress. Well, there was no we, it was all me son. And I'm willing to let it go. After they were in bed, I played one more time, but when I used my last life, it was pretty literal because I then deleted the game from my Kindle. I'm going through withdrawals. Maybe that's why I'm blogging.

UPDATE, 2/3
I fell off the wagon. It turns out that you have to delete it 2 or 3 times before it actually goes away. So I started back again. But I am using it to reward myself when jobs are done. And since hubby is back I'm not as lonely, so therefore not dying to play it. We'll see if I can control myself.

UPDATE 2, 2/26
I did ok for a few weeks and then I realized I was addicted again. I was searching frantically around the house for the kindle, frustrated when I had other things I had to do first before playing, upset when I ran out of lives and had to wait for new ones, and irritated when it took me days to get passed a level. It had to stop. So I deleted it for good. I had a few days of serious withdrawals, so bored in my few minutes of free time. I actually had a moment of weakness and downloaded it again but when I realized I had to start over, it made me mad so I deleted it again. Now that I'm a week away from it, I'm doing ok. I read a whole book in the last two days, and I'm not thinking about it anymore. I have learned my lesson! I think.

Updates...

Oh my goodness. All that has happened since my last post! Its slightly overwhelming. We had Christmas in Houston and then packed up. The boys went to my moms and then the packers came on the 27th, spent all day and didn't finish. We closed that day on the house, and were just so thankful that the selling process went so smoothly. The moving truck came the 28th and only by the grace of God, a "miracle" in their words, did everything fit on the truck. They came with the truck already half full of someone else's stuff and underestimated ours, so consequently, we were all praying for some crazy packing skills. The truck pulled away and we headed to dinner with some friends, which helped me not be emotional. The two of us slept on the floor in our bedroom, flashbacks of doing the same thing when we moved from Plano. We had sweet memories of that time together, but we realized this time, 7 years later, our bodies are older and the floor not quite as comfortable. Ouch. We cleaned the next day and headed out for Mississippi. I wish I had taken a picture of my van, packed with all those left over things that didn't go in the moving truck. We looked like we were living out of the car, lots of cleaning products.

We spent the week getting utilities turned on in our new house and then New Year's at my moms. And then we closed on our new house on the 4th! The moving truck showed up on the 5th and it was such a relief to see all of your earthly possessions that you haven't seen in a week show up. We registered the kids for school Monday and then took them in 12 degree weather to start their first day. And the serious unpacking began. I have decided, that just like childbirth, God helps you forget the bad parts of moving because you would never do it again. I don't remember being this overwhelmed the other times we have moved. I would empty box after box, and at the end of the day feel like I had done nothing. Very depressing. But day after day, progress was made. I would say we are 90% there now, thanks to both sets of parents and six high school kids who came over to help. The joys of being back in youth ministry!

The boys are adjusting ok. They say they aren't making friends, but I'm sure they are in some sense. The two younger boys are actually behind a little bit, but catching up quickly. And Cooper is way ahead of the curve, and doesn't know what to do with his free time in the evenings without WAVE homework. He's making a lot of rubber band bracelets. They are all three playing basketball, and while I'm not sure that's helping in the friend area, at least they are getting out and being active.
Cooper is LOVING the middle school activities at church, and Cade would rather be there too. He's not liking having to go to the children's area by himself, but he'll get there. None of us are used to getting up so early yet. Its not fun!

Jason is loving his job, but has been so busy. He was at the Passion conference this weekend and he's on a mission trip right now, so I'm looking forward to when he gets back and we can get in a true routine. I started working in childcare this morning at church, just one morning a week. I'm telling myself they are paying me to make friends. It will give me something to do for awhile, a reason to get out of the house. I'm having a hard time meeting people for sure and anything will be helpful.  But we are loving our church, worship is incredible, the current sermon series is convicting and powerful, and we love hearing so many stories about God moving in people's lives. We know that is why we are here. And even though adjusting is really hard, we know that God is holding on to us while we get back to a routine, a new routine.

Jason has his first blog on the Pinelake website if you want to read more about student ministry. http://pinelake.org/pinelake-reservoir-campus/exciting-new-day-in-student-ministry/  We are so thankful to be a part of what God is doing!