71* Dec. 27, 2008

PIES PIES PIES...

What a weekend! I would have to say it was a bigger success than I had hoped. The totals ended up like this....

Samantha $248

Casey $5

Rebekah $71

Isabelle $5

Porter $6

Victoria $10

The kids earned $1 per pie ordered from their school. Isabelle and Porter had to split their sales. Sam & Rebekah earned profits from the pies they made. Sam & I were up at 4AM. Jeanie arrived soon after. Sam is one lucky girl. I don't know too many aunts that would get up at that hour to help their niece make pies. We started delivering pies by 8:30AM. All our neighbors had their pies by 9:15AM. We would have been delivering all the pies by 10AM except I left off 2 orders & had to bake 2 more crusts & then wait for them to cool. Sam whipped a couple pies too long & had to remake them. However the whipped topping wasn't ready & again we had to wait. It was a good learning experience. Now we know to ALWAYS bake a few extra crusts & never whip the strawberry cream cheese pie filling too long! I hope everyone loved their pies and will order again. I love that the kids are learning to work and earn money. It's hard at those early ages to find jobs. Porter wanted to make sure ALL of his money went into his mission fund. All the money earned goes directly to college/mission (after tithing of course). Sam is allowed to pay for EFY. She needs to earn $200 more for next years EFY. We had a good conversation about fast offerings. Right now she and Casey pay about 1/2 their allowance to fast offerings because they have other means of income. She was figuring how much she potentially will make from her babysitting job this summer & asked what she should pay in fast offerings. She asked if she should pay $10 for every $20 she earns. I had to laugh inside. If everyone was that generous there would be NO poor or needy ever in need. We talked about taking someone out to a REALLY nice restaurant for 2 meals, etc. I explained that she would have to come up with that on her own but that she really wasn't making THAT much money. She looked at me a little shocked & replied, "That's a lot of money to me!" It led into a conversation about always putting the Lord first and caring for those in need. We talked about the blessing that come from keeping those commandments. She recognized she had already been blessed with this babysitting job. We talked about when she becomes a mom & has a young family. The blessing of always having your NEEDS met. Maybe not always your wants but always the needs of your family. I hope she gains a strong testimony of this now that will carry her through out her life.

GRATITUDE JOURNAL:

1. Grandma's (Mom's) pie recipes... they are OH so YUMMY!

2. Grandma's (Mom's) "You can do anything" attitude.

3. Grandma's (Mom's) financial support... thanks for the tins, boxes & whipped topping!

4. Grandma's (Mom's) love & encouragement.

5. Grandma (Mom)... without you & your example life would not be the same. You taught me to work hard, pay my tithing, take care of others & give your best!