Get it all in
So exploration week four might have better been dubbed "fun and errand night". Still jaded by the recent flop of a farm visit, I wanted to go kind of anti-fall for our next activity. But an extremely busy week meant that we needed to go kind of get-stuff-done at the same time.
Having been graced with a warm afternoon, we trekked out to play putt-putt. A last grasp at summer and a long-overdue fulfillment of something the boys have been begging to do for months. Of course, the place we had hoped to go, where I had free passes, was closed. Which is what happens when you live in a vacation destination, bleh. So we went for option two. Probably a better course, but not nearly as free.
Next stop was to purchase items for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. I knew going in that this was going to be a struggle. The boys are relatively new humans who have never seen or known true need, praise the Lord. Aaaaand they are also a bitspoiled, er, well, there's no other word, by their grandparents. Ahem.
And so before we went into the store, we had a little talk in the car about why we were there, about how much joy this would bring to the boys who received the boxes, and about how God wants us to share what we have with others. Wide eyes and dark blond heads nodded.
Yeah, still some work to do on the generosity portion of their personalities. Let's just say my speech in the car was pretty much repeated over and over, nonstop for the next half-hour. And let's just say that the boys' Christmas lists have gotten a lot longer, even down to what kinds of toothpaste they'd like to find in their stockings. Good grief.
Oh, how I want my boys to be servants and givers. This is a very difficult thing to impart, especially with the sense of entitlement and impatience running rampant in society. I know it's not impossible. Just need to find what gets to them. Something I've been thinking on for years, but still am not sure what to do.
Anyhow, we capped off the night with a grocery run. These can go either way, though they are decidedly better than they were even a year ago. Trey often helps me make my lists, and so he is a great little director. Though it needles him to no end if I get something out of order. And Aden, well, he still sits in the cart. He says, "Mama, this is a seat for babies!" And I say, "No, it's a seat for Mamas who don't trust their little boys." How he longs to walk around in freedom like Trey. But long about the apple juice aisle, he's nuzzling me and rubbing my arm and telling me he loves me.
So we make it work. Happy sigh.
Back home, Trey read books to us and we talked about airplanes and history, just waiting for Daddy to get home so man night could begin. And even though it wasn't a true adventure and contained more errands than fun, we were together, my boys and me. Who could ask for anything more?
Having been graced with a warm afternoon, we trekked out to play putt-putt. A last grasp at summer and a long-overdue fulfillment of something the boys have been begging to do for months. Of course, the place we had hoped to go, where I had free passes, was closed. Which is what happens when you live in a vacation destination, bleh. So we went for option two. Probably a better course, but not nearly as free.
Next stop was to purchase items for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. I knew going in that this was going to be a struggle. The boys are relatively new humans who have never seen or known true need, praise the Lord. Aaaaand they are also a bit
And so before we went into the store, we had a little talk in the car about why we were there, about how much joy this would bring to the boys who received the boxes, and about how God wants us to share what we have with others. Wide eyes and dark blond heads nodded.
Yeah, still some work to do on the generosity portion of their personalities. Let's just say my speech in the car was pretty much repeated over and over, nonstop for the next half-hour. And let's just say that the boys' Christmas lists have gotten a lot longer, even down to what kinds of toothpaste they'd like to find in their stockings. Good grief.
Oh, how I want my boys to be servants and givers. This is a very difficult thing to impart, especially with the sense of entitlement and impatience running rampant in society. I know it's not impossible. Just need to find what gets to them. Something I've been thinking on for years, but still am not sure what to do.
Anyhow, we capped off the night with a grocery run. These can go either way, though they are decidedly better than they were even a year ago. Trey often helps me make my lists, and so he is a great little director. Though it needles him to no end if I get something out of order. And Aden, well, he still sits in the cart. He says, "Mama, this is a seat for babies!" And I say, "No, it's a seat for Mamas who don't trust their little boys." How he longs to walk around in freedom like Trey. But long about the apple juice aisle, he's nuzzling me and rubbing my arm and telling me he loves me.
So we make it work. Happy sigh.
Back home, Trey read books to us and we talked about airplanes and history, just waiting for Daddy to get home so man night could begin. And even though it wasn't a true adventure and contained more errands than fun, we were together, my boys and me. Who could ask for anything more?
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