Lack of Memory

I used to be able to remember many things. I could recall birthdays, anniversaries, and special occasions easily instead of looking to the calendar to see what month it was. One day I was visiting a friend and she had a whiteboard calendar on her kitchen wall. She had marked down her husband's schedule, her kid's activities, birthdays, and appointments. This looked like the perfect solution to my failing memory. So I went to the store and bought an inexpensive white board calendar. I had some extra space so I also added a cork board and a blank whiteboard. At the time we were renovating our home so our cabinet maker put a frame on all three boards too. Total cost of the project $30.00.

I assigned each girl a color and then marked all of the their piano lessons, gymnastics classes, birthday parties, and dance lessons with the kids coordinating color of either red, green, or blue. Now at a glance my kids can look at the month and see what they have going on. My calendar has truly become my place of peace and I no longer have that nagging feeling that I am forgetting something. When someone calls to let me know about book club, or baby shower it goes on the calendar. My friends now know that if an activity makes it to the white board they can count on me to attend....and probably even on time.

At the beginning of the month the girls help me decorate the board and set up the schedule. The kids enjoy seeing what is planned for each day and they often reminded me about upcoming events. My whiteboard calendar has relieved me of the job of remembering everything. In a time where there is so much going on, it is nice to know that there are somethings I don't have to remember. Maybe this month I will even try scheduling in date night!

Patience is a Virtue

Last Easter the girls were so excited to have fifteen baby chicks as an addition to our family. The chicks were so small and fragile and needed constant warmth and care. It took almost six months before they started laying eggs but the girls still checked the nests daily.

In Linda Papov’s book The Family Virtues Guide, she describes patience as “a quiet hope and expectation based on trust that, in the end, everything will be all right.” She also states that patience is “enduring a delay or troublesome situation without complaining.” Her daily thought on patience teaches that “Patience is preserving - sticking with something for as long as it takes to finish it.” Patience is a commitment to the future.

In our society it can be difficult to teach children patience. We have fast food, instant credit, instant messaging, and high speed internet. Could it be that our society has become impatient? Our children hear how they can buy homes and cars with “little or no money down”, lose weight without effort, and look like a body builder in only twenty minutes a day. This definitely does not make it any easier for children to develop the already difficult trait of patience.

I am constantly searching for avenues to teach my children patience and I am thankful when they experience that “quiet hope” for the future. Two days ago one of my girls ran in our home carrying a small brown egg. All summer the girls helped clean out the coop, feed and water the chickens, and take them to the garden for fresh greens. The girls learned that sometimes it takes time to get what they want. Even if they felt impatient, they acted calm and accepted that they didn’t have control over when the first egg would arrive. This morning we had five eggs and had a Sunday breakfast compliments of our very own chickens! The girls were so appreciative and thought it was the best breakfast they had ever had!! They experienced the rewards of patience.

Our value of the week will be patience. I hope to show my children that patience is having goals and picturing the end in the beginning. I also want to teach my girls that trust in God teaches patience. Patience is a quiet hope that can get us all through tough times.