The Value of Money

On the way home today, Wyatt said, "Mommy, you know how chocolate is my favorite candy? Well, I accidentally ate the Hershey kiss off Zoe's cookie, today." [Wyatt and his friend, Thomas, made cookies with Poppa this weekend, which he then brought in for Show & Tell and to share with the class--and to get them out of the house!!! ] It seems that Zoe, for some strange reason, didn't appreciate a peanut butter blossom cookie with the chocolate picked off. We decided that he ate the chocolate on purpose but that he made her feel bad on accident. And he thought that getting her some new chocolate to go with an apology card would be a good route toward redemption.

Not wanting to let a "teachable moment" slide, I took him to Wegmans. On the way there, he picked three empty soda bottles out from under the kids' seats--okay, I realize we missed the "teachable moment" of keeping the car clean. Baby steps, people. We brought the bottles to the return machine and it duly spit out the little receipt. He said, "It's broken, this isn't money!" Urgh...does every moment have to be a teaching moment?

We dashed to the bulk food aisle and picked out 5 Hershey kisses (just in case any "accidentally" disappeared on the way) and weighed it on the scale--8 cents. Perfect, now he would even get a little change back from the 15 cents he "earned" on bottle returns. After getting all rung up, we started for the door, his fist tightly closed around two pennies and a nickel.

Wyatt suddenly stopped and dashed over to the Coinstar machine. "Turn your change into cash," he read aloud. "Sweet!! I want to give it my money and get three dollars!" The nearby store manager thought it was hilarious, but she wasn't the one dragging him away from the machine. I'm teachable momented out at the moment!

Can I Just Say...?

My alarm was set for the wrong time this morning, so I woke up at 7:00...to get the kids out the door by 7:30?!?!?! And the day just progressed along that same line, right up to just having dinner ready in time to leave for prayer meeting, not in time to actually eat any of it.

Some days are like that...even in Australia. As we each arrived, it seemed that every sister at prayer meeting had that same kind of day. Not necessarily a bad day, just little frustrations that compounded throughout the day. Some of us seemed on the verge of tears [Not me...never. :P]

As the evening progressed, I noticed that our spirits became lighter. I felt my own tension begin to unwind as we shared from the Bible, talked about last night's message (very encouraging, Bro. David!), and spent time learning from each other (resolved: bodily functions can slow the learning process in classrooms, at every age level).

Tammy's cat even got more relaxed--instead of gnawing on the shoe that I (honest) accidentally kicked at him, he sprawled full-length on the floor, front paws tucked up under his chin, stomach-side-up, back paws stretched to the sides. If I liked cats, I might have gone over and given him a nice pat on the head. But he is bigger than I am, and he scratches harder than I do--I've seen her kids after "playing" with the kitty.

Anyway, I left there with a lighter spirit and more peaceful countenance. Looking around, we all seemed a little lighter and happier.

Perhaps the most poignant reflection of this was Dory who sneaked downstairs toward the end. At school, today, she had a complete meltdown-- she was just weeping inconsolably for no obvious reason. She fell asleep tonight, on her Mommy's lap, lulled by prayers, surrounded by sisters, and with a pretty sunshine sticker stuck to the middle of her forehead.