well, since i last wrote on ash wednesday, i figure i'll update you on our lenten experience thus far. the boys did well in the service last wednesday (although they were sitting in church doing homework... we have to get creative with busy schedules and heavy workloads!) and they were fascinated and freaked out a little about getting ashes on their foreheads. truthfully, i know they don't really get what the service was about, but it was a good introduction for them.
we've all chosen to give something up for lent (new for the boys): ed has given up chocolate & ice cream, drew - sweets and soda, taylor - legos and "doodling" in school, noah - sweets and evan- chocolate. for my part, i'm working on giving up my kneejerk reactions and giving grace... real grace, as in, when it isn't deserved and i don't want to give it! this is even harder for me than giving up chocolate in years before!! i'm sorry to say that we've each slipped up but we're pushing on and giong to try to make it to easter. i just know things are going to get ugly in a few weeks!! :)
this season (lent - easter) is usually pretty wacky for me at work as we have lots of events/services going on at church. i'm doing my best to delegate work in order to not have to carry the burden so much myself. i'm also trying to work ahead as much as possible. i've been doing pretty well with keeping my hours (not working later than i'm supposed to) but this season will be the test for me. so far, so good... we're only into the first week!
non-lent-related: we finally finished with the dentist yesterday (ev went 4 times in 8 days!)... now we get a break until august. phew! everything is good. they need to get started on braces (should have already, we're told) but their mom's new father-in-law is an orthodontist, so they will go to him and save everyone a lot of money! yeah!!
speaking of money, we're focusing on teaching the boys about managing money and because they don't quite have means to make money, we're going to go back to giving *meager* allowances (they tell us all the time how much more $$ their friends get... our offer is "take it or leave it") to the boys. every week they'll figure out savings, tithe and spending money and they will have to start using their own spending money. the older boys will be able to add babysitting money to their income, so its a really good time to start teaching them to manage money responsibly.
this allowance thing stresses me out. i didn't grow up with it (neither did ed) and i really don't want the boys to make an inaccurate connection between chores and allowance. we're specifially emphasizing that the boys are NOT being paid to do chores (taylor asked me today if he could not do chores and not get allowance...) we've told them that the two are not related and chores have to be done regardless of receiving money. however, ed has promised me that we're not shelling out allowances if chores aren't done. anyway, the allowance starts next month... so far, it looks like we won't have to pay much because if things continue as is, the "no chores, no allowance" punishment will save us money!
that's it for now. i'm off to tackle some filing... good times.
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