New Years Eve Eve Party

This is the name that my daughter gave to the get-together she's having with her friends this evening.  The party consists of dancing to songs, eating, putting on make-up, and doing facials.  I knew all of the friends that were coming except for one.  After meeting her, I see that she is nice enough, just like Morgan's other friends.

While we were wating for Morgan's guests to arrive she says to me, "Mom, can we put on more lights?  It makes the place look inviting."  I told her that we could, just for tonight.  It is taking every ounce of restraint that I have to keep my fingers off of the switches.  It is ingrained into me.  As a matter of fact it is ingrained into my children.  Over the holiday break we went to spend time with one of my husband's fellow teachers and his family.  While the adults were sitting at the kitchen table, we would periodically see lights go out in different sections of the house.  Following the "outting" of the light, we'd hear one of their kids scream, "Stop turning off the light!" to one of our kids.  It was hilarious.

Anyhow, the girls are having fun, my daughter's happy, the lights are on, and this is one of the best New Years Eve Eves I've had in a long time.

Let It Rise!

Today was one of those rare but wonderful mornings when the kids got up pretty early for school.  This resulted in us having breakfast early and having extra time until the bus would arrive.  Me, being as frugal as I am with my money, am even more frugal with my time.  So I decided to prepare some pizza dough--one for tonight's dinner and one to freeze for another meal.

As any good baker knows, the magical ingredient in dough is yeast.  In order for the yeast to become "active", it needs to be exposed to just the right temperature--105-110 degrees, according to my favorite cookbook. 

I got my water ready and tested it--just about right from what I could determine.  I got everything else ready in the mixer to pass the time while the yeast did its thing. 

Everything was prepared.  I had the flour, salt, and oil in the mixing bowl.  Everything had taken close to 7 minutes by my estimate.  But there sat the yeast at the bottom of the water.  Lifeless.  I looked at the top of the water and there were no signs of any action going on--no bubbles, no movement.  I looked through the glass and everything was murky, it was no help watching through that vantage point.  I was disappointed.  Here I had wasted a packet of yeast by not getting the water temperature right.  Then a thought came, 'Maybe if I microwave it just a little, it will be warm enough to make the yeast active without killing it.'  This plan didn't sit too well in my mind.  Then another thought, 'God works like this.  He wants me to have faith that He is going to do what He says that He will do, even if I don't see Him working with my own eyes.  I need to prepare for two batches of dough even though it looks to me like there may only be one.'

So I left the counter where the lifeless yeast was sitting and went into my cabinet.  I grabbed two bowls and sprayed them with cooking spray, put the dough hook on the mixer, and went back to the yeast.  I stood there for a couple of minutes...waiting.  And wouldn't you know it, up rise the bubbles followed by the yeast!  I couldn't help but praise God as I watched that starburst pattern rise again and again from bottom of the measuring cup.  My Father loves me so much that He created a cooking class just for me!

Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Holiday Shop

This week I volunteered at holiday shop in my children's schools.  While serving the kids as they shopped for loved ones, I made some interesting observations. 

First among these was generosity.  The kids' lists had quite the variety of recipients whom they were anticipating blessing with a gift.  Beyond immediate family the lists included friends, babysitters, teachers, and even a dead cat!  'How cool', I thought, 'that our young people have such generious hearts for others.'

My second observation involved spending tactics.  The kids that I served worked pretty independently to stay within the budget they had.  I would regularly encounter blank stares as the kids were performing mental math to add up their purchases.  Others incorporated counting fingers, adding on paper, and one saavy shopper even brought her calculator along.  While It was wonderful to see the kids staying within their budget, I noticed that they were also determined to spend every single dime of the money they brought with them.  "Look, ma!  No change!"

Finally, I saw the face of today's American family.  One child was buying for "dad's girlfriend".  Another child brought in tags to buy gifts for two seperate holiday celebrations: one at mom's house and one at dad's house.  Two other encounters left me wondering about whether some young people today see fathers as a mere accessory in a family.  In the first instance, a parent volunteer was serving a child to try and brainstorm who to shop for.  The volunteer offered that the child could buy a gift for "Daddy".  The child responded that they were doing a test to find out who "Daddy" is.  A similar scenario occurred with me and a different child.  The child had tags for multiple people.  After shopping with her for mom I (without looking back through the tags) instinctively asked her what she wanted to buy for dad.  "Oh, dad's in there?" she inquired.  "I used to have a dad.  But he left.  Now I have another dad."  My heart broke in two.  I looked through her tags, now more than ever hoping to find "Dad" in the mix.  In the end, I had to turn to her and say, "I'm sorry, Honey.  Daddy isn't here."

Money Back Guarantee?

The other day my daughter was asked to "doggysit" for a neighbor.  She earned $15. 

In our home we have a practice of what the kids do with any money that they receive.  First, they tithe to our church.  Then they put half into savings and the other half into spending.  (Hint:  If you have younger children, after the tithe you can put it all into savings--they'll never know :-)

Lately, Morgan has been putting all of her money into savings after the tithe.  Her reasoning is that she wants to save all she can for college.  I am very proud that she has made this decision on her own at only 11 years of age.

However, the day that she earned the dogsitting money, I saw her putting it all into an envelope.  "What are you doing, Morgan?" I asked her.

"Making out my tithe," she responded.

"You're putting all of your money in?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I want to," she answered.

Now you would think that as proud as I was of her putting money into savings for college I would be even more proud of her wanting to sacrifice it all to give to God.  Nope.  Instead I started thinking "Is she just being lazy?"  After all it takes time and effort to figure out the tithe, make the appropriate change, record the money in her allowance ledger, etc.  Maybe she just doesn't want to go through all of those steps.

After kicking things around in my head, I finally gave up and kicked myself.  I realized why I was not at ease with her giving all of her money.  Because I didn't trust God to provide.  You see in my  mind, when Morgan puts money into savings for college, there is a guarantee that she has so many dollars towards her education.  When she gives the money to God, there is no guarantee that she will ever see those dollars again. 

Or is there?

Matthew 6:19-21 says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I had it all backwards.  By putting her trust in God, Morgan is storing up treasures in heaven where there is a guarantee that she will see those treasures.  The money that I am trusting in could be spent, stolen, or lost.  The treasure that she has stored up will last forever.