Girls' Weekend & Lessons Learned

This past weekend, my husband and son traveled to our son's 1st Y Guides Spring Outing near the coast.   I had a lot of work to get done here, but I still wanted to make the of the mother/daughter time special for my girl.  She must have felt the same because she went out of her way to be good company and not so annoying.

I had scheduled an evening of horseback riding at the farm where we celebrated her birthday a few years ago, but rain and hail storms postponed those plans.  Since the weather was miserable and frankly, I was exhausted from another crazy busy week, we decided to have a relaxing Friday evening at home.

She kept saying she wanted to have fun and thanks to a CD prize in a McDonald's happy meal, she was familiar with Cyndi Lauper's song lyrics: 

 "Oh, girls, They wanna have fu-un, Oh, girls, Just wanna have fun...." 

So in the spirit of Lauper's 80's era, we feasted on pizza, jammed to 80's tunes, and looked through old scrapbooks from the 80's while she made fun of my hair and clothes. I heard such comments as:

"Mom, your clothes on your 9th birthday looked Dutch." 

"Whoa...in this picture, you are wearing rainbow weird style like I wear now...you would never dress like that now." 

"Is that Uncle Paul in that picture?" to which I had to respond, "No, that was me, dear. I had short hair in the early 80s."

The next morning, we rushed to the doctor's office to get my back, neck, and hips put back in place and then went to the Feed the Hunger packathon at church. She was such a great helper as she scooped vitamins and rice and weighed and sealed each package.  We danced to Christian rock music while we worked and set a Feed the Hunger all time record.

When we had finished our shift, we gathered in the sanctuary for a final report from the project director and President of the worldwide aid ministry that leads these projects and delivers the food.  He is childhood friend of mine who graduated with me from the same high school, so an added benefit of the annual packathon is getting to see this old friend who has consistently been characterized as a humble, faithful Christ follower as long as I have known him.  We were so pleased to learn that records had been set in each of the two shifts thus far that weekend, and that our shift had packed the most ever for Feed the Hunger in one shift (Gift #564)  My dear daughter wanted to keep her hairnet on for the final tallies and closing prayer.  How I love that silly girl.

For reasons that are obvious to those who know me or my family, I have never cheered for UNC in any sport.  However, I am cheering for the UNC football team for now anyway because they set such a great example for their younger fans by volunteering at our church's Feed the Hunger packathon this past weekend. Thank you for showing our kids that real men serve instead of seeking to be served.

After the Feed the Hunter packathon, she wanted to me feed her hunger at Chick Fil A.  We had a coupon from a CFA location way out of our way.  It probably would have been cheaper to just buy her a sandwich at the CFA across the street, but she wanted to use her coupon, so we drove a long way and waited in lots of traffic because I wanted to let her make some of the decisions this weekend.

Driving out there made me realize how grateful I should be that we did not move to the most exclusive side of town where this CFA is located.  (Gift #565)  We could not have afforded it anyway, but it is so gorgeous out there and prestigious enough to receive national recognition.  A popular apocalyptic fiction book series I recently read was even set in this community.  Not only is everything overpriced out there, but it is too far out and way too congested for me.

Ironically, the road that leads us right into this community has a unique home and yard alongside it that provides a stark contrast to the hoity-toity upscale communities all around it.   I cannot believe the very strict town ordinances, which are so strict that several builder friends refuse to do construction work in our town, even allow it.  It at least provided a nice diversion while stuck in traffic that simply was not moving.

When we finally got there, cars were circled all around the building for the drive thru, and the line was out the door to get food.  I guess CFA gets more business on Saturdays to ward off CFA cravings on Sundays when all CFAs are closed.

Feed Her Hunger Mission almost accomplished

Later that afternoon, dear daughter joined me for a bike ride on that most gorgeous day.   During previous family bike rides, she never made it to the lake because her younger brother would complain that his legs were tired, or the kids would start fussing causing us to cut the bike ride short.  This time, we went all the way to the lake and back (Gift #566) She was thrilled to keep up with me.  Our pace was only about 2 minutes slower per mile than when I ride solo, so it was still very enjoyable for both of us.  This girl loves rainbows and rainbow colors (as her bedroom decor and wardrobe will attest), so how fitting that a rainbow reflection would appear at the lower left corner of this photo (Gift #567).

Lesson learned during our bike ride:
Just as you should turn off your cell phones while driving, you should probably avoid taking selfies while biking because you might inadvertently break the law against taking photos against a bright background.

Another valuable lesson my daughter learned this weekend with her dad and brother away is that maybe having a brother isn't so terrible after all (Gift #568)

10-year-old: Not having my brother around this weekend makes me think of how it must feel to be an only child. It can be lonely not having another kid to talk to all the time.

Me: Are you saying that you miss your brother?

10-year-old: Well...not all the time, but yea, I guess sometimes.

Then I wondered how long after the guys' return it would take before they had their next argument.

My girl's behavior that weekend was remarkably different. Instead of crying and complaining over chores, she did them without whining.  She even took initiative to help me by making herself breakfast and dinner and sharing some of it with me with accompanying little hand written notes from her to me (Gift #569).

At the end of the weekend, she commented, "Gee, Mom, we haven't argued all weekend!"
Imagine that!  When we each look out for the interests of others instead of only thinking selfish thoughts, relationships flow so much more smoothly!  Maybe that lessons we've been teaching for years is finally taking root in her heart (Gift #570).  Regardless, I appreciated her thoughtfulness very much.

Philippians 2:4

do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.