More Qualities

Yesterday, I asked what qualities you admire in other people and I promised to explain more tonight.

Well, the mom who admires us likes that we seem to have a strong commitment to service, to having our kids participate in acts of service for others. For instance, on Saturday, we are taking the Scouts to a new homeless shelter to donate food but, perhaps more importantly, to serve the residents ice cream. It's something that's really hard to come by when you're homeless and, in the Florida heat, I'm sure it will be well appreciated.

This mom also knows about our last big vacation. We don't take vacations very often. It's one of the sacrifices we make to keep our kids in our church's school. Tuition isn't cheap but it is certainly worth it.

Anyway, my son was in the same class for a couple of years in a row with a little girl whose parents were considerably better off financially than us. They would travel internationally at least twice a year. Well, Bryce would hear her stories and see her pictures of Brazil and Great Britain and such and was jealous. He would come home from school and ask why we didn't get to go to those places.

So, we saved up for a vacation but not one like he'd thought. Instead of some wonderfully exotic, gorgeous tourist destination, we took a road trip from Michigan to Mexico. We visited relatives on the way and made sure we stopped by the Native American reservations in Arizona. We then went to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico. On the way there, we made sure we stopped by the orphanage. (We brought them food and a little candy and such.)

We wanted our kids to see the conditions that some people have to live in. We pointed out the shacks that people called home--with no windows, no electricity and no air conditioning in the middle of the Sonoran Desert when it was 115 degrees F.

Our children got to see how much these people appreciated something so little as a quarter or some food. I think our children better appreciate all their blessings now.

(Don't get me wrong. We did other fun things like going to the beach, Sea World, and a water park and, of course, we had to stop by my son's very own canyon, Bryce Canyon too. So they had fun too.)

As for what I admire in other moms: patience and sweetness. When I was small and I got hurt, my dad would always say, "You'll forget about it before you get married." LOL! I don't say that. If I do, it's "You'll forget about it before you graduate or before you get your doctorate." LOL! Oh, and yes, I do lose my patience and my temper with my kids. I admire the moms who seemingly never do that even though, I know they have to at one point or another.

Happy Scrapping!