Sacrificial Hospitality Challenge: Week 3

I have to be honest... I am truly enjoying myself this Lenten season. I have been so much more MINDFUL of what the season is about this year and sharing hospitality has been such a rewarding journey. It hasn't been too hard to work these challenges with our current budget, but the creative thinking process has been good for me too.

And on to week 3...

I'm hoping this doesn't seem like a lame challenge to all of you! But, as I thought of needs I see out there that seem to go unmet, this one jumped to mind...

Let me start by saying that I absolutely adore my kids' preschool. The experiences and interaction they have there have been incredibly positive. It's an accredited public preschool (hence, on-site therapies, nurse, great resources) in a conservative town (where happily no one complains if you mention God and they DO celebrate Christmas, Easter, and other "religious" holidays). I wouldn't think of changing schools.

However, if there is one flaw with this location, it is the drop-off system. There is not a drop-off lane, if you will, for parents to pull up and have their child met by a staff member and escorted inside like at so many preschools. At our school, you must unload yourself and your child from the car, walk them to the entrance, ring the bell, and wait for someone to let you into the locked secure entrance.

No big deal, right?

Not really. Unless you have other children. And so many of us do! Then, you face the added challenge of juggling one, two, or three ADDITIONAL children while trying to get your preschooler in the building. It's time-consuming. It also often involves waking up a sleeping child. Because it's such an awkward process, I unfortunately witness a lot of mommies doing something that makes me incredibly nervous... they leave the other child(ren) in the car.

While it's true that the school is in a secure location and it only takes a couple minutes to drop off the preschooler, this practice still makes me anxious beyond belief.

We are fortunate, now, to have bus service for both of our children. This eliminates the whole drop-off juggling act for me. But I certainly remember it!

This week, I plan to drive to the school at drop-off and/ or pick-up time once or twice. I don't need to be there for my own kids. I just want to be there to help these moms. I want to offer to watch their sleeping/buckled/in-the-car children while they run in. Mine is a familiar face around there, lest you think I'll be creeping people out. (And, for the record, I seem to be one of the most non-threatening looking people in the country-- seriously, I NEVER get pulled aside for security checks and, in fact, people who are with me are often "released" just because they're traveling at my side... )

I know it would have made MY life so much simpler had another trusted mommy volunteered to keep an eye on my vehicle while my daughter slept inside and I ran in the building...

Maybe I can make some other busy mama's morning just a touch easier.

(**Note: I will be aiming for a day with unpleasant weather- cold and/or rainy- because that makes it even tougher on Mom!)
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How about you? Is there a way you could make an everyday errand simpler or safer for someone?

Sacrificial Hospitality: Week 2 RESULTS

When I headed into town with my 4-year old, it was still dark out and very, very rainy. To be honest, I would have just as soon delayed my errands for another day. I mean, it's not like we were OUT of milk. I could scrounge out another day or two with what we had...

But I had a mission. I had care packages to deliver. And what better day to spread some cheer than a gray, dismal, rainy one?

I had assembled our goodie bags earlier in the week and was all set to deliver them. I was excited, but a little anxious. What if other parents thought I was presumptuous? What if I tried to give one to someone and received a lecture on the corn syrup that was likely in that granola bar? I probably could have talked myself out of the whole idea during the 17-mile drive into town if it hadn't been for the constant singing going on between my son and me!

I used Hefty One-Zip bags to hold the items. I had picked up a box of these for free with a coupon. (Long story, but I bought a box one time and they were all defective. The company, in a true show of excellent service, paid me to send the defective bags to them AND sent me three free product coupons. Anyway...) In each bag, I slid a book (Beatrix Potter classics were clearanced for a quarter at our Target!), a couple coloring pages (I opted for doctor themes), four crayons, and a granola bar. Confession? Those crayons are "restaurant crayons"- the freebies they give you along with the kid's placemat? We don't go out to eat a whole lot, but every time we do we seem to collect more and more of those things. They're not new or pristine, but they still work! And, quite frankly, the ones I usually dole out in the waiting room have all been used too; I've yet to meet a child who cares. I actually usually make our granola bars, but these Fiber One bars were a fabulous deal and I thought strangers might feel safer with factory-packaged treats. I mean they don't know me like YOU all know me, right?? ;)

Sorry about the glare! I love that doctor pic- he looks so trustworthy! Actually, he kinda looks like my dad...

I had made up a half-dozen of these bags and that ended up being just about perfect! I was able to give two of them to the harried mom of twin newborns with two more kids about 3 and 5. I think because it was rainy, people seemed even LESS likely to be prepared. I could envision these poor parents dashing out the door with their sick little ones just trying to get to the car without getting soaked to the skin.

I received so many thanks and smiles... my son was absolutely delighted! He was so proud to hand them out. One woman gave him a Hershey's kiss as a thank you. It is true that one parent seemed afraid that I was selling the things and she seemed stunned and skeptical that I would just give it to her child with no strings attached. Again, this made me realize how infrequently we see such little displays of hospitality...

"Hospitality is a mark of affirmation, a signal that someone is special, like the ribbon bow on the baby shower invitation or the gold ink used to announce the retirement party. Little touches, big impact."
-Chirstine Capecchi
"A slice of pumpkin bread: How hospitality heals"

How about you? Did you find a little way to make someone's life slightly easier? Were you able to meet an unspoken need? I would love to hear about it in the comments!
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Be sure to stop by later today to see my challenge for Week 3.
To read what my Lenten journey is all about, see this post.

Having A Flexible Spending Account

We have health insurance and always have. We pay for it through my husband's job and, let me be clear, I am TOTALLY OKAY WITH THIS. I could go on and on about the reasons I've been glad to have it, but instead I'll just give you the biggest one--

When our daughter was born at 24 weeks gestation and stayed in the hospital for 3 1/2 months, the bill was over 750k. That's right. Over three quarters of a MILLION dollars. More than the cost of all three homes we've owned combined. Yikes. Our portion? $250. Total. That was it. So, yes, premiums can be costly. But in the grand scheme of things? Still worth it.

All that being said, we still have to pay for health-related things of course... co-pays, deductibles, prescription co-payments, over the counter medications, my contacts, etc., etc. A couple years ago, my husband and I sat down and looked seriously at setting up a flexible spending account (FSA) to put aside money for these costs pre-tax. We crunched some numbers and figured out how much we KNEW we would spend and elected to have that amount pulled out monthly, before taxes, from my husband's paycheck.

The end result?

We really didn't miss it. It didn't really feel like his paycheck "shrank", per se. But when we had to pay up for something "medical", we had a debit-type card with money already set aside for that purpose. Easy and painless. We no longer had those pesky $15 co-payments popping up at odd times and throwing the budget off-kilter. It really worked for us!

The bonus? When my husband's position was suddenly eliminated only a couple months into the year, we were informed that the FSA is fully funded at the start of a new year by the company. So, essentially, even though WE had only "paid into" the account for two months, the full year's allotment was in there. And we were perfectly free to use it all before his position ran out.

Yet another thing to be grateful for!

Having an FSA has paid off for our family. It definitely Works For Me!

How about you? Does your family have an FSA? Has it been helpful or a burden? What questions do you have about FSA's? I'll try to answer them in the comments!

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To see more things that are "working", check out Works For Me Wednesday, hosted at We Are THAT Family.

Banana Cookies

These cookies are a definite favorite with my kids- they feel spoiled when I make them and, to be honest, I'm not sure I've seen many cookie recipes that can claim to be as healthy! Makes me chuckle every time they gobble one of these down for dessert and look like they've gotten away with something. :)

Banana Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 4 egg whites
• 3 cups oats
• 2 tbsp. whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 chocolate chips or nuts (if you wish-- I've made them plain, with nuts, or with choc. chips... they're good no matter what!)

Directions:

• Mix first 3 ingredients together in a large bowl. Add egg whites and mix. Add remaining ingredients except nuts or chocolate chips. After dough (more like batter, really) is mixed, add nuts or chips.
• Batter will seem too liquid, but drop on cookie sheet by tablespoon anyway.
• Bake at 350 for approx. 12 minutes.

Notes:

• I often make a whole batch of these, but I've cut it into a third before and used only one banana and one egg white. That worked! Each banana used seems to yield about a dozen cookies.
• If I use nuts, I prefer walnuts or pecans for this recipe.
• Don't know what to do with those egg yolks? I have another kid-friendly recipe coming up that uses just yolks!

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For more Kitchen Tips, be sure to stop by The Finer Things In Life, where Amy is guest-hosting for Tammy this week!

My Story Monday: My Children Meet For The First Time

When the day finally arrived for our daughter to be released from the hospital, I was very ready! I had spent the last few days in a frantic rush to pack up all of our belongings from the one room we had been living in for the past 3 1/2 months. You'd be amazed how much stuff you can end up with in that small of a space. We had already carted some of our stuff home and I had all the rest packed up for when my husband finished work for the day. It was a momentous occasion, to be sure, but that didn't mean he got the day off or even got out early-- he had recently changed jobs and was still too new there to really request any "favors". So I waited, along with my 14-month old son.

As soon as he got "home", he loaded up the rest of our gear in the car, we fed our son a quick meal, said tearful goodbyes to the Ronald McDonald House staff, and headed over to the hospital.

Considering all the hoops we had jumped through to get to this day, it was surprisingly easy to pick up our daughter. The nurses had her gear all packed in bags along with important paperwork including prescriptions for vitamins and her special formula. She was hooked up to her portable oxygen tank and monitor, and we settled her into her infant seat. I went through all these motions with the nurses while my husband waited in the waiting area with our son- being so young, he was not allowed back into the NICU area.

Once everything was hooked up and I had handles and straps hanging all over our body, we were set to go. I walked our little girl out to the waiting room...

I can't even express to you how amazing and, well, odd it felt to carry my little girl out like that. While she had tubes and wires all over her little body still, it just seemed to NORMAL to be able to walk around with her in an infant seat. And, in many ways, it was like we were leaving the hospital with any typical newborn-- we were a few days shy of her due date, she weighed a whopping 6 1/2 lb, and she was now our total responsibility. Of course, we all know just how much had to be done to get to this point. Still...

I'm not sure A. really noticed that I was carrying this tiny baby girl. He was in my husband's arms (he couldn't walk yet at this point!) and it had been a long day for him too. A nurse accompanied us to the car, helped make sure all the equipment was functioning just as it should, and wished us well.

And then there were four. Four of us. Mama, Daddy, brother, and sister.

We all got into the car. My husband backed out and we bid a grateful farewell to what had been my daughter's home for so very long...

I glanced in the backseat and saw my forward-facing son gazing at my rear-facing daughter and my eyes filled with tears. I had spent almost four months torn between these two precious children. I could finally be Mama to them both simultaneously.

I was more than ready for this next chapter in my life...

We Heart PBS

(Mr. Steve with my kiddos... and me because, well, C. just wasn't too sure about climbing on his lap!)

Our kids do not watch much television. I don't think it's evil or anything... I just also don't think it's necessary. And I think it is very unwise when parents choose to watch the shows THEY might enjoy while their children are still up and about (shows like CSI, ER, House, etc... good shows... just not kid shows).

What little TV our children do watch is limited solely to PBS. With a couple notable exceptions (Caillou comes to mind), the kids' programming on PBS is excellent and appropriate. There are no commercials so I needn't worry about my kids getting the "wantsies" about all kinds of junk food or inappropriate toys. Quite frankly, I trust PBS.

Not only do my children enjoy the occasional half hour of PBS, but my husband and I also find ourselves frequently immersed in a Nature program. Or Antiques Roadshow. Or some other interesting presentation that totally sucks us in and gives us something to talk about afterward too.

I'm also impressed with the fact that PBS offers family-friendly local events free of charge. We recently took advantage of one such event here in Indiana. Our preschoolers were able to attend story hour, do crafts, and see Mr. Steve perform live. (Our children adore Mr. Steve and, quite frankly, so do I... he's very clever!!)

We spent about three hours at the PBS event and had a blast. It didn't cost us a dime and our children left with happy memories, each with a brand new story book in hand (and they had excellent children's literature to choose from!).

For our family, PBS is not only a Frugal choice... it's also a Finer Thing!
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For more frugal ideas, visit Biblical Womanhood.
Be sure to visit Finer Things Friday over at Amy's place!

Sacrificial Hospitality Challenge: Week 2

Since last week's challenge was a definite success and my spirits are high, I am excited to face week 2 of my Lenten journey!

So here's something I've noticed...

Every time I go to the doctor's office for one of my kids- whether it be the regular pediatrician or my daughter's follow-up appointment at the hospital- I seem to be one of very few parents prepared for the wait. I always have snacks, books, crafts, coloring books and crayons, small toys, you name it...

And you know what ends up happening? Kids gather around me. I end up reading to a small crowd (which is perfectly fine, by the way!) and tearing out coloring book pages and doling out crayons. I really don't mind doing it, but I have to admit I sometimes feel sorry for the kids. And sometimes the parents seem somewhat embarrassed.

This week I plan to put together small "waiting room packages" to hand out. Children's books can be had for pennies at thrift stores or a dollar at Target. Or, quite honestly, I could retire a couple of our own for this purpose. We have a whole lot of crayons and coloring pages are easily printed up. I figure four crayons, a couple coloring pages, a small book, and a little snack (like a granola bar, for instance) would make a nice, neat package to help keep little ones happy and entertained. I look forward to being able to share these little treats with other parents and maybe making their day a little easier... it's not always easy to remember to pack those things when you're worried about a sick little one!

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How about you? Have you ever found yourself sharing with another family's children? Or perhaps you've benefitted from the generosity of others? What ways do you think you could reach out in a hospitable way? Feel free to join me on this challenge and be sure to come back for my results next Thursday!