29 Gifts: Day 4

Gifts of time and books

It took me a while to get to my gift today. I had a list of things to do and as so often happens not a lot of spare time it seemed. But the truth is I did have spare time. I puttered around, I perfected my molasses bread (mentioned in Gift #2) and I got a number of things done for "me." But as I drove around in my newly-repaired Pilot, it occurred to me that I hadn't really given a Gift yet. Not really. 

I hadn't spent extra time with my kids or picked up the phone to talk to anyone or given anything away... I just hadn't. 

So on the way back from picking up the final much-needed book shelf, I stopped in at the grocery store for more molasses to finish off the bread recipe (I used up an entire bottle yesterday!) At the check out I took in only the dollar bills I had in cash and the total price read $6.88 - but I forgot that Virginia taxes all groceries, food included - so the cost was actually $7.05. I had $7 on me, and my change was in the car. 

Rats. I told the woman standing there that I would need to run to the car for want of five cents. She rummaged around in a container and found me a nickel. I thanked her and started to pass her to leave the store - I had one more stop to make before going home and I knew the kids were waiting to go with their friends again. But she made a comment about taxes and I decided right there to give her a few minutes. She was the only clerk standing there to monitor the self check out area and it just seemed like she could use a minute. So I gave her about five, and really enjoyed the conversation. 

Then I got home and the boys helped me move the shelves upstairs. When we were done I remembered  Maestro was going to deliver some books to a nearby family for me. It's an old series of Bible stories told in a certain way - the Uncle Arthur Bible Story Books.  I remember fondly my dad reading to use from those books every night (or nearly so) for quite a long time as a girl and so I had bought them for the kids to read or be read to.

Maestro and Chef both say they liked them, so why did I decide, ultimately to give them away? Well, that is a good question and the only two answers I have are 1) they took up a lot of space and we have so many books already and 2) they would have to have some "tweaking" done to make sure that the theology meshes with what we are teaching our kids in terms of theology. But they have wonderful illustrations and are easy to read and enjoyable. 

So Maestro was going to help me give them to a family up the road that homeschools and has six children. He asked me if I wanted to walk up there to her house with him and I accepted. It is good to try to connect with our children each day, and so the short walk to a neighboring street gave us a good chance to check in a bit. That was gift #2 for the day.

Gift number 3 was when I stayed and talked to the frazzled Mom for about a half hour. I also invited her to come by tomorrow for bread and tea or something. She hasn't been home schooling as long as we have and has asked me some questions about various aspects and how we handle different time lines with lots of kids, etc. So having her over tomorrow will be a treat for both of us

So there are my gifts for the 3rd day of the 29 Gifts challenge. Won't you take a minute to give me a "gift" me by taking a minute to leave a comment with whether you're feeling challenged to join the 29 Gifts group? 

What gifts are you giving away?

If you haven't joined in the fun by now... What's stopping you?