December, our month for considering and serving others continues…
Monday, December 6th
Slow Walker, in 2nd grade, gets out at noon on MWF. I know that might sounds crazy to some, but we love it. Jack loves it. The little Future Hoarder of America practically sits at the door waiting for his brother to get home. …On Monday, FHA and I decided to sort through one of his piles of “treasure” and give it to those in need of some perfectly fine toys. Much to his chagrin (at first) we lightened his load, put them in a box, and loaded them in the car.

We’re fortunate to have a Good Will collections truck in a shopping center parking lot not too far from our house. After Slow Walker got home, I piled the boys in the car on the way to afternoon carpool so they could drop the stuff off. When we got there, I could have easily pulled the box out of the car and carried it to the waiting staff, but I “encouraged” Slow Walker to step up to the plate and do it for FHA.



From there we picked everyone up and made our way to errands and homework of the day. In between math and science problems, the girls and I had a chance to get going on one of our home-made gifts to give friends.
When they scoured the block Sunday for the North Texas Food Bank (It’s All About … Others), they took some chocolate bars in the wagon to give people as a “thank-you” for their generosity. The cute little candies came from a kid selling wrapping paper for our local school fundraiser. (I guess the company is capitalizing on a captive audience by expanding its offerings beyond gift wrap.)

After taking the bars our of their box, we were admiring the adorable packaging. So, we did what any “normal” family would do … we got out the our laminator.
I decided this morning that Driving While Texting is much less dangerous than Multi-Tasking Mothering Driving. As I arrived at Teen-Take-Out’s school (stop number one), I tried to remember our ride over. I really couldn’t picture much since I had been quizzing the kid the entire ride. … I might not be able to remember the police man waving us through one of our many school zones, but I could tell you which countries sport flags with red, black and yellow stripes.
Mom driving can be a dicey endeavor … whether conducting a quick tutoring session, lecturing, handing a Happy Meal to the back seat, lecturing, buckling a wayward child, lecturing, answering multiple questions while enduring a whine session, and did I mention lecturing??!!… Oh, the things we do for our families!
So… after dropping prepared quiz boy off, I reminded the rest of my brood,
“Remember… It’s our December ‘serve others’ month.”
Blank-stare-silence.
“So, today, let’s try to serve someone at school… quietly, without letting anyone know”
Silence
“Okay, if you can’t think of anything to do at least you can throw away someone’s trash for them after lunch.”
Silence.
“Doesn’t that sound good??!!”
Speed Police looks at her sister, then at me from the rear of the car, “I’m not even going to answer that question.”
I have to say I got a hearty laugh out of that one!
I then offered incentive to anyone who could serve at least 5 people today at school … no matter how small the effort.
Later, when the kids got home from school, I asked them each if they did anything for someone else.
Slow Walker: “Uh…. I forgot.”
Speed Police: “No.”
TTO: “Huh?!”
Sister Save-A-Lot (aka Go-To-Girl): “I served 4 people. … I didn’t really want to… but it actually felt great. I think I’m going to try again tomorrow.” …Of course she is.
A Slurpee is coming her way!
Tune in tomorrow for Ron & Denver’s post. Next week Joe White is sharing some terrific stuff on putting others ahead of ourselves, and I’ll keep you up on our service attempts as well as other home-made gifts and service ideas from MOAT moms.
Thanks for walking the road with me.
-Kay