Act your wage

Before we were the kind of family to buy a brand new board game, we bought "Act your wage".  I was not impressed by "Monopoly" which teaches a very selfish, competitive view of money.  And I felt that "Life" was totally unrealistic.  "Act Your Wage" has life cards and debt cards and the goal is just to get out of debt.    And along the way real life events happen like -your kids need braces, -you get a second job delivering pizza...

Tonight I took the game to church and played it with the Young Women.  8 girls came so we modified the play a little.  I just used 2 markers and had 4 girls go at a time.  One team landed on every Save.  The other seemed to land on every Give.  They got to experience the real ups and downs of financial dealings and being able to put their money toward regular things like food, utilities, rent, etc...  I'm thrilled with how the game went.  The girls got to bring up their knowledge of some things, but showed how many things they only have a vague idea of.  I hope I get to talk to them some more about finances!

doing some good

When things are going badly, talking about it or freaking out, don't help.  I forget this often.  I like to borrow trouble, worrying about things that are not my business.  I like to be upset about things that don't actually impact my life except for the way that I'm letting myself be unhappy about them. 

The weather has been so gorgeous lately.  And our outdoor areas are so lovely to be in.  We set up hammocks recently.  I laid out on the back porch and did a personal progress activity.  It was so peaceful.  These are the sort of restful activities that fill my reservoirs of peace to get through stressful times.

Sometimes life is actually difficult and even perilous.  Screaming about a tragedy doesn't make anyone safer or undo any injury.  Prayer helps.  Knowing you did everything you could to prevent it helps.  Being at peace with yourself is important.

silence

I've been a devils advocate in the story of our Premortal choice.  It just didn't make sense to me that satan would have the ability to make us all be good.  I thought it made more sense that his plan was to make it so there was no law, (and therefore no God), so everyone was able to return to the heaven with no entrance requirements. 

On Sunday P was showing M a video of John Cage's 4:33.  In this rendition the artist sits at the piano, closes the cover on the keys and starts the timer.  I thought that's perhaps what satan had in mind.  We would literally not be able to make any bad choices.  And yes, then we wouldn't need a savior, because we'd never be allowed to sin.  But what a waste of God's creation.

With the lid open, the keys exposed, there is opportunity for terrible sounds.  Fudged attempts.  Raucous, bawdy music, yeah.  But there is also opportunity for the magnificence of melody.  The beauty of youthful attempts that gradually become more and more pleasing to the ear. 

M is so good a the piano.  I just can't believe how good she is and what a joy it is to me.  I still get on her case when she doesn't use the right fingering and stumbles all over a passage.  I still get on her when she plows right through a section with wrong chords in the left hand.  Ugh!  But I also tell her how please I am with her progress and how much I love the music she is making.

loving life

The weather has been just cold enough to make you really appreciate the warmth of the sun.  We've been spending so much time on the back porch.

We have a tarp out there that the kids were using as a fort.

Then P mounted some hooks so it would become a shady spot in the summer.  Hypothetically we'll take it down at some point.  It hasn't gotten old yet.  I laid the baby out there for a nap yesterday.  Today the girls were laying out blankets.  lP and I did several pages on a blanket out there today.  It is so nice!

B is very motivated about doing his daily work.  I love having kids that are eager to learn and grow.  I love having them at home where they are learning so much from each other.  And I love giving them this time where they can tattle to me all they want and know they each can be heard, unless they use an annoying tone of voice.  Then it's "too bad." 

Do what you can do

Today we were late getting to church because of a series of unfortunate events.  G wouldn't wake up.  Then the car wouldn't start.  So I called P to come home and jump the car, he was at church already because of meetings.  While we waited I got out the jump cables and popped the hood.  I'd left my keys in the ignition because, hey, the car wasn't starting, also, they would be there when P arrived.  Then when I put the cable onto one of the battery terminals I heard the beeping that happens when the keys are left in the ignition and the door is open.  Oh, so not a dead battery after all, just a loose cable assembly.  So I got a wrench and tightened the bolt.

P is always telling the kids "Don't let what you can't do stop you from doing what you can do."  I couldn't jump the battery but  I could get things ready.  And sometimes it is the preparations that solve your problem anyway.

There is a story of 2 farmers during a drought.  Both were praying for rain.  1 went out and started to plow the ground.  The other asked him what he was doing.  "I'm preparing for rain".

self knowledge provide by Super Mario Bros.

P and I have some nintendo controllers and an adapter to let us play a SNES simulator on the computer.  We had gotten one earlier but it broke rather quickly.  So we just got things up and running again.  Last night we had a little "date" with the kids all around as we played.  Since it was a date, none of the kids got a turn.  It was fun to play the old game with the old controllers.  We remember random things like where to find a coin box or a mushroom.  P remembered the warp tunnels, and took them to higher levels.  He also kept track of points and timing the end to get fireworks.  I just tried to survive each level.  I don't want to skip to higher levels, it just gets harder there!

Today M and G played the game during their computer time.  It was really fun to watch their excitement.  It's just like we were as kids, having the thrill of avoiding enemies and falling into pits. 

We also watch MacGuyver which they really love.  I showed them "Singing in the Rain" last week.  They laughed so much at the dance scenes.  They loved the drama with Lina Lamonte.  I'm glad we have some happy things to share with them.  There is so much good media to share with the children.  I'm glad we don't have cable or broadcast TV.  There is plenty to watch and create a shared cultural experience with your children. 

Someone told me that they felt very oppressed by their parents because they weren't able to watch SpongeBob and that literally every conversation involves reference to that show.  And they feel left out.  Sheesh.  I'm pretty sure none of my conversations have a reference to SpongeBob and if they do, I'd rather not know.  Oh well.

giving them the money

The children have job to help with the house and manage their things.  They earn about $1 a week.  Apparently I forgot to pay them since halloween.  So they all have a lot of money now.  The best thing is when they find some cool item they are interested in, and beg me to get it, I say "Hey, you're the ones with all the money!"  For some strange reason they are not so keen on spending their money on these things.  Our plan to raise a gaggle of misers is working excellently.

And yet they are so generous.  LP bought an 8 pack of pez.  She let 2 of her siblings fill their dispensers with a new pack of candy when she was getting her pack today.  So kind!