Bring your kids to work day

This was not a sanctioned event by anyone other than me, but I had the privelege to take my kids to work one day last week. Andrea had a doctor appointment and instead of calling in another babysitting favor from one of our relatives, I decided to keep the kids for a few hours and take them to work.

Anyone who has talked to me for any period of time or read this blog knows that I've grown really tired of my job. I've worked here for over 12 years and in that time we have 'grown' into 4 different companies. 4 companies that have never all made a profit at the same time. Each year I tell myself next year things are going to be different, we're in a great position and sales are going to take off. Since 2001 we have pretty much been in a steady decline while we've gone through some transitions. The company is owned by a little grey-haired man and his 3 daughters. Part of why I stay here is loyalty to him. A larger part of why I stay is the flexibility that comes from working for a small company. I was able to take my children to my workplace, let them play in my office for a few hours, I was still able to get some work done, and that was perfectly ok with my employer.

The kids and I got to work around 9:30 in the morning. Some of my coworkers bought things from Ryleigh's school fundraiser, so the first thing we did was to walk around and pass out the goodies that people had purchased. I think it was a good experience for Ryleigh to personally thank everyone who help her school. The next few hours was spent with the kids watching movies and drawing pictures.




Ryleigh drew these pictures. Please notice how well the green shirt in the drawing of Clark matches the picture at the top of this entry. The dozen or so pictures they drew while sitting in my office now cover the walls - flowers, rainbows, horses, hearts that say I love you. They make my office a much brighter place.


My job is not exciting. It doesn't give me the opportunity to meet many people. I don't make great benefits or a lot of money. But, I DO get to bring my children to work with me. I CAN hang hand-drawn pictures all over the walls of my office to remind me of my children. I can arrive late or leave early to tend to family needs. Maybe it's not great, but I guess my job isn't that bad after all.

Count Your Blessings

You might want to get yourself something to drink and make sure you are in a comfortable chair, because this may be a rambler. I've got a lot on my mind and once I start typing there is no telling what direction my thoughts might take me.

I have my mother to thank for filling my life with song. From the very beginning "Hush Little Baby" has been a part of my life. I recall her singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness" while cleaning the kitchen, and even the "Barges" song while we traveled in our van on vacation. As I was singing to my daughter last night and she asked me to tell her a story from when I was little, I recalled Christmas Eve at home. At some point Mano (for those non-family readers that is my mom's mom) would make her way to the piano to pound out Christmas carols. One by one, led by Mano's loving husband Papa (what we called my mom's dad) we would gather around the piano to sing along with her. One thing you need to know about Papa is that he wasn't necessarily known for carrying a tune, but he made up for it by singing loud. The louder we would sing, the louder she played and the louder she played the louder we would sing until the walls began to shake and dogs started to howl. We ended up with several rounds of "The Winter Song" - "zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, we are here by the fire pass the pipe pass the bowl....". My mom's parents passed on to her a special gift of music and song.

I tell you all of that to tell you this - several times throughout the day I break out into song, much to the dismay of my coworkers and my family. Sometimes they think I'm crazy, sometimes they join along. Sometimes it helps get things done around the house. I've convinced my daughter that household choirs can be fun, if you just sing while you are doing them, of course she adds dancing to the routine as well. If you are ever at our house while we are folding laundry you are in for quite a show. We sing (and dance) while we fold and it makes it fun for everyone. My daughter loves to sing, and likes to make up songs. We read some Bible stories the other night about giving and she proceeded to sing me a song about her "give-ful heart" and I smiled knowing that I had passed on a special gift to my daughter.

Sometimes songs are connected to emotions or events. I doubt that anyone who saw it live has forgotten when Whitney Houston sang the National Anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl while the U.S.A. was involved in the first Gulf War. A beautiful song received added power and emotion from her amazing voice. Sometimes it is the emotion that triggers the song. Andrea and I were overseas on a Let's Start Talking campaign when she was pregnant with our first child. While there she had some health concerns related to the baby that made us both scared, nervous, anxious, you name it. We returned from that trip on a Sunday, I believe, and had a doctor appointment on Monday where for the first time we heard the heart beat of our unborn child, and Andrea received a clean bill of health. As we drove home all that was going through my head was "Thank your Lord for loving me and thank you Lord for blessing me, thank you Lord for making me whole and saving my soul. I want to thank you Lord... - You get the idea.

I tell you all of that to tell you this - I'm at the end of a "Count Your Blessings" kind of week. Like most people do from time to time, I've fallen into the trap of feeling sorry for myself, focusing on how hard my life can be, and all of the stress I'm under. And just like that, life slapped me in the face and gave me a wake up call. Upon returning home Sunday following a getaway weekend, I checked my email to find that a family our age who has already had 2 family members in and out of hospitals in the last month, had their young son admitted to the hospital over the weekend. They have had more than their fair share of health problems. Then today, after feeding breakfast to my beautiful children, I received an email that informed me that a young couple we know lost their unborn child in its third trimester. The child was their first. That news just knocked the wind right out of me. In the midst of my sorrow for them, I was reminded of this song:






"Count your blessings,"






"name them one by one,"






"Count your many blessings,
see what God has done!"