Hello
Dad always has a project, and the boys are always in the middle of whatever is happening when they are home. Either they are with him and D at the Bible school working or helping with whatever project their dad is working on at the house. One time it was rebuilding the fireplace, another building a grill, and yet another time, helping build a deck behind the house.
When at school there is almost a never-ending cycle of activities happening. John and Jeff play on the softball team. Jeff enjoys basketball and John soccer. We have had the opportunity to travel and watch them play. Then there are a number of social and community things happening, as well as sports day.
Jess is busy busy busy. She is a social butterfly. If it is not girl scouts, then it is a sleepover, more often than not at our house. Perry tries his best to simply fade into the woodwork when that happens. I feel sorry for him, but only a little when the house is overrun by girls. Hehehe.
And there are the other activities, like children’s choir, school plays, and the annual celebration of Independence Day where everyone, yes even our kids, dress up in traditional clothing and put on programs presenting cultural activities and dances. Not quite like the big singsings but still very colorful and fun.
Another project that the three kids have organized is a tortilla-making business. They are a creative group. It is not easy to find a way to earn a little spending money, but they figured it out. They discovered that the expats really like tortillas and that tortillas are very hard to find (like once or twice a year in the stores) or are really expensive. So they asked us about setting up a business and selling tortillas. They even had done a little marketing research and discovered there would be a market for this.
Of course they have roped mom and dad into this and we even bought a pasta roller to simplify one step in the process. They even agreed to pay for the materials, flour, oil, etc out of their earnings. Mom and dad really liked the sound of that.
When the boys came home for break, they got started. In the last three weeks, they have rolled, fried, and sold 66 dozen tortillas. That’s a lot of dough! And a lot of moola (lettuce [money]). And they could have made more because of the demand. But no more time because the boys’ break was over and they were off to school and Jess as well. Good news is that most of the times their school breaks happen at about the same time.
I guess I know what we will be doing during every break in the near future. It has been great to see them organize, learn to work together, and succeed. Oh, there have been the times when they got tired, lazy, and grumbled. Pretty normal. But overall, they have succeeded, and that is always good.
Now they are back to school, studies, social life, sports and everything that makes up the life of a teenager. We are blessed to have three wonderful kids.
Nancy and Perry
Are there ways you can help your children become part of the world around them? How are you encouraging them to make friends and be involved in the lives of others?