G always pulls his socks up.  I've previously thought that was sort of funny.   But I just was looking at this picture of me at age 8 (second from left) and behold, there are my socks pulled up tight as can be.
I love pictures.

Stupid!

Details of a youth temple trip showed that the group planned to take the kids to lunch, asking each kid to bring between $5 an $10. The leaders proudly told of how they were going to make sure to identify families that might have a hard time with that and offer to pay for their meal. I piped up in defense of poor kids saying that I was that kid, and I would have rather gone hungry than let an adult know there was a problem.

The adults involved didn't seem to grasp the idea that they would humiliate the kids. I didn't even bring up how irresponsible it was to take kids out for fast food at all. Oh man. I feel sorry for the leaders when my kids are in youth programs. I suggested that they could take the kids to a Little Cesar's so the kids could get and even share, cheap "Hot and Ready" pizzas. Their "frugal" plan is to take the kids to Chick-Fila. There are so many aspects of this that bother me. The price of 2 chick-fila meal a week could fund 4 years of tuition at BYU. Add a part time job to pay rent and food and you can graduate debt free!

Year Balance
1 $742.91
2 $1,534.51
3 $2,379.12
4 $3,280.29
5 $4,241.82
6 $5,267.75
7 $6,362.38
8 $7,530.32
9 $8,776.48
10 $10,106.10
11 $11,524.77
12 $13,038.44
Final Savings Balance: $13,038.44

So many people are in massive debt, but still eating out all the time, and chatting on their phones as they drive their fancy cars. Heaven forbid we ever do something like pack a lunch. Also, do you really want the "poor kids" getting comfortable with the idea that they can just ask the adults to buy their food? Just weeks before these same adults were complaining of a girl that came to mutual activities asking everyone for food, and if she could have it all, and if she could take it home... I wonder where she learned that? Probably from well meaning people who taught her from an early age, to ask for food! And sure kids shouldn't go hungry. But you can't teach a kid to have no pride, and then wonder at their shocking lack of manners.

As a mom on a budget, whenever G goes on a field trip, that comes out of our grocery budget. If we were on food stamps, that cash would come out of our gas, rent, utilities budget. My kids wear thrift store clothes, or hand me downs. Dressing in fancy clothes is not worth going in debt for. Eating out is not worth going into debt for. Ballet lessons are not worth a mom going to work for. Our ward is very blue collar. Most families seem to have nice cars, iphones, and 2 income (blue collar) jobs. To me that is really, really sad. I won't even get started on the idea of food storage, because, you know, nobody can afford that.

We make choices every day that have long term consequences.  When people eat out they are in fact choosing chick-fila over financial stability.

small town

This town is really small. It keeps surprising me. I like it though. Today I was at the library and had forgotten any means of identification that would allow me to check out a book. But I figured I'd ask about the books I had on hold. They let me have them, and even let me update my phone number that they'd used as a means of confirming my identity. It's nice living in a town that is small enough that you see the same people around town. You see the same librarians from week to week.

People we could know

Today the girls and I stopped at the park on the way home. When we got there there was a family with 2 deaf adults and 2 hearing kids. I signed to them a bit, thinking how there was a time when I would have chatted a lot more with them. Now a days, having ASL in common, isn't so rare, and they were involved in their conversation. A short time later a family came with a 5 year old 3 year old, 1 year old and very pregnant mom. Not just a family with 3 young kids, a family with a modestly dressed mom on a hot Florida morning. A little while later she was meeting up with another modestly dressed mom with 2 young kids. So I figured they were Mormon. This isn't Utah where you can assume everyone is Mormon. But it is Florida and most women wear short shirts or sleeveless shirts around here. I didn't approach the suspected Mormons, not feeling a need to push myself onto their meet up. But I did give my soap to one who was taking her kids to the bathroom. There are never soap and towels at this playground.

Pear-ents

lP is at an awesome stage.  She plays well with others.  Doesn't give quite so many scowls.   She also prays and it is so beautiful.  In the middle of her prayers, she'll pause and look up, hands waiting for inspiration.  Sometimes we urge her to the end, whispering "through the name...".  Then one day she answered our prompt with "Wait!  I need to bless the childrens".  And she went on to ask a blessing on each of us by name.

Tonight as we drove in the car, talking about maybe singing as a family for sacrament meeting, the kids started to sing and sign their favorites.  lP started to sing and sign "I am a child of God".  It was so sweet, and then it was so funny.  Instead of "Parents kind and dear", we learned that lP has been sent "Pears" kind and dear.

Your gifts are special

It's interesting growing up in the church.  And by growing up, I don't mean the larval stage through Primary and Youth Programs.  I mean this active serving and learning phase we're in now.  This time when we're choosing to be there.  Paying a significant portion of our income and time because we know it's true. 

I just watched this nice video from the Tattooed Mormon.  She's a young woman who converted to the church when she was 20, and then felt the pull to Utah.  Living in Utah is sort of a strange crucible that some new members feel called to do.  Maybe it's the Lord's loving way of bringing a bit of the world to the Saints of Utah.  Maybe it keeps the blood stock strong. 

I enjoyed my time in Utah, but mostly because I had family and school to keep me from being bothered by a lot of the social things that are so contradictory to the gospel. 

A message I appreciated from the video is that we each have something to give.  There are people who need us, as we are.

Money Games

The kids want to play Life.   We actually made it through a game the other day.  Because of the money and small parts, we had to play it over 2 sessions while lP was asleep.  But we did it and it brought up a lot of good questions.  Like pay disparities.  And taxes.  And insurance.  And mandatory marriage at square 24....  Also there is the phenomenon of having babies and collecting presents for them when the smallest denomination of money is $1000!  Wow.

But since we're not the "Go on a cruise, pay $20,000" kind of family, I'm going to buy the kids "Act Your Wage".  The lessons of a game like Life, or Monopoly, etc... are good for kids to be familiar with.  But the priorities are not healthy.