Thought I'd post a little blurb with some updates on the family.
Elf and Emperor went to Home Depot this morning for the monthly Kids' Workshop project. Many thanks to Lori of My Little Wonders for suggesting it! It was a lot of fun, and the boys were able to bring their bean bag toss project home to do with Woodjie and Rose for "therapy." LOL, I suppose all directed play gets called by the catchall "therapy" around these parts. Elf and Emperor like to be a part of it. They can't wait to go next month!
In other news, G is working to pay off a $45 debt he incurred at home. I won't give details as he is up in his teen years and I wouldn't want every last thing *I* did at 14 on anyone's blog, but there it is. (YES, God's grace was upon my life! Whoo! That, or someone is only just now blogging about me. Do NOT forward me the link. I don't want to know. Really.)
That teen thing is not a lot of fun to deal with for everyone, including G. He can do so well and then things go downhill anyway. He *is* doing well in school by all reports, however. I can proudly say that he has had a great morning and done all of his work without complaint. Do you know what a blessing that is to be able to relate? Yeah.
Patrick has known about an orchestra visit to China for about forever. Of course, they didn't give a specific itinerary for the trip until now, as the departure date isn't until next June. Of course, this means Patrick had no real motivation to save his money. Of course, this means that NOW that he realizes there are some actual fun things on the trip, he wants to go.
It might just be unreachable at this point, and I'm tremendously sad for him. Even if he were to get ZERO souvenirs and ZERO snacks the entire trip, he would have to earn something like $43.89 per week between now and April when the final deposit is due. (If he earns $6 per hour after taxes, that would be about 8 hours a week, given that things will come up, etc.) And THAT is given the fact that we have pledged to finance half the trip and pay for his passport. I'm not sure he can do that with his workload at home and school.
D refuses to raise salaries here. Patrick gets $2.50 a week allowance and is expected to do some childcare, laundry and dinner cleanup for free. D doesn't want to raise this as he feels that paying about $1500 (plus... you know it's always plus) anyway should mean nothing else changes. I suppose he will apply for a job. Then who would have to drive him in the snow?
Yeah. I really wish we could just fork over the money and be done with it. But I don't want to have a huge marriage-busting fight over it. AND I'm peeved at Patrick for putting it off so long.
Ever get in the middle of a fight and just want to yell at everyone? And if Patrick can't go to China, I'll be so sad for him. I think I'll cry the whole week the orchestra is in China. And I'll be so angry at him! And so angry at D not to pad our end more! I'm feeling sick thinking about it.
Patrick's solution so far is to "think" of money-making ideas. He has spent $30 of his own money (about his savings... sigh) on fundraising tickets and hopes to sell these to people. I'm hoping he will not walk into the sanctuary and go, "HEY! Want to buy a ticket?" but then again, I've been approached in this manner before by other kids for missions fundraisers. (Just because it's "for church" doesn't make it less rude IMO.)
Well, if anyone wants local Green Lantern carwash tickets at $3 a piece, leave a comment. Let's see... if we can sell 1,000 of these exactly, his trip would be paid for! Wow! Oh. But you'd have to use up all your 1,000 car washes by March, ok? :P
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Look Out, Dad!!
My father is the purple dot above the blue weather station. He's juuust outside Milton's evacuation zone. Well! My brother and I jus...
Why don't you put up a Paypal link to your blog and maybe FB? People can then donate money that way. Maybe Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents can contribute to the trip instead of buying Christmas presents. We have all kinds of tricks for fundraising!
ReplyDeleteYeah that's right..if you have a paypal account it would be better.
ReplyDeleteLovely to catch up. A trip to China sounds very exciting, good luck with the fund raising.
ReplyDeleteHey, is the orchestra participating in the World Expo? My ds is in the school marching band and they have their sights set on the World Expo in Beijing next summer.
ReplyDeleteThe band director already has a good chunk of changed saved up for the band from previous fundraisers . . .
World Expo wasn't mentioned, so probably not!
ReplyDeleteI'll tell D that y'all are advising me on the paypal. He'll probably insist the kid actually works, though. :]
PS Joan (I'm assuming that's your name), I had no idea Pearl was adopted!! I just thought that if sponges and crabs could talk, that Krabs could father a whale. :P
ReplyDeleteI know all about this drama as you know & now Dearest thinks I really should go to [for hand holding purposes]. I don't know who is going to drive me craziest first & the whole thing is likely to send ME into meltdown. And comparatively speaking Singapore is right next door. It's times like this I howl at my Heavenly father demanding to know why, oh why, if He was going to give me gifted & talented children He didn't also supply all the necessary funds to pay for trips to Singapore etc without my stress levels going into uber~space? He hasn't explained yet & I so hate the cross my fingers, pray & hope for the best method!
ReplyDeleteMoney, or lack thereof.. is the bane of most parents lives. I hope you find a solution, or Patrick does and he doesn't miss out on the trip of a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend whose daughter got invited by People to People to be a youth ambassador to France a few years ago. They raised money by having a huge yard sale, where people they knew donated things to be sold, and her daughter has a talent for sewing, so they had a website set up for that, as well.
ReplyDeleteWhere there's a will, there's a way. A little ingenuity and Patrick will enjoy his trip very much. :)
Praying for you! I know how frustrating it is to not have the funds, but I think it's character building for both the kids and us to struggle a bit. I also like the idea of the PayPal button on your blog. You probably won't raise all the money required with that, but it might help a bit. You could make Patrick write thank you notes to everyone who donates...
Glad you guys enjoyed the Home depot, you are excited about next month also.
ReplyDeleteIf I think of any ideas for fund raisers I will let you know. China would be amazing!!!
"PS Joan (I'm assuming that's your name), I had no idea Pearl was adopted!! I just thought that if sponges and crabs could talk, that Krabs could father a whale. :P"
ReplyDeletelol.. I always wondered how Mr. Krabs had a whale for a daughter.. that explains it! :O)