Project Advent, Day 3: Donation to Christmas Food Boxes

12/03/2011

You may remember that when I introduced Project Advent, one of the conditions I laid out was this:
December's a busy month, and I know in advance that I just may not be able to do this every day, so I'm giving myself an out.  I took the amount of my annual salary, divided it by 2,080, and came up with the amount that I'm paid per hour.  To get out of an hour of service will cost me a donation of one hour's pay.
Today was exactly the day that I had in mind when I typed that.  Courtney's still out of town, and Blake had his first chess tournament ever.  He's been excited about this all week long.  I was, too, but, with four rounds of play, it was going to take up a pretty substantial part of the day.  The two younger kids had a special Kids Day Out at church from 9 to 1, and then my mom was kind enough to keep them at her house until the tourney finished.

Blake played well!  He lost his first match, but won the remaining three.  Even though he was playing in the K-2 division, there were some strong competitors, and his 3-1 finish wasn't enough to win an individual recognition.  However, the All Saints K-2 team won first place in that age bracket!  Blake got to bring the team trophy home with him for the weekend, and they're going to present it to their principal during Monday morning's chapel service.
Anyway, between the tournament, picking up the little two, getting them home and fed, and playing with them some before bed, this just was not a day where I could fit the hour in.  Instead, I mailed a check to my church to contribute to the annual Christmas Food Box ministry.  Each year, the church works with the South Plains Food Bank to put together food boxes for needy families in our community.  There's enough food in the box to last a family nearly a week, something especially important at a time when kids are home out of school for the holiday.  The weekend before Christmas is when the boxes are distributed, and I'll be helping with that when the time comes.

If YOU are interested in making a contribution towards these food boxes, you can mail a check to:
First United Methodist Church
1411 Broadway Avenue
Lubbock, TX 79401

Make the check payable to FUMC, and put Christmas Food Box in the memo line.

Gratitude Project: Between Courtney's four nights at work this week, and now her trip, I've had lots of solo time with the kids this week.  I'm starting to reach my frazzle point...  There are some things that I really needed to run to the store and get; nothing big, but it was a trip that would be a lot more simple and pleasant if I could just get out by myself for a few minutes.  I love the kids and, like I said yesterday, we have some really special outings together, but there are times when just the thought of loading them into the car and taking them someplace makes me want to collapse into a quivering heap in the corner.

I called my friends Clay and Marcy (you may remember Clay from when he joined me during Project Horror) and asked if one of them would mind coming over for just a little while tonight after the kids went to bed.  They had a Christmas party to go to, but came to my house afterward, just so I could run out for a while.  This was even though their own beautiful daughter was home with a sitter.  They were so friendly and gracious and cool about it, and insisted it was no big deal, but it really was to me.

I am so thankful to have thoughtful, wonderful friends like these.  I singled out Marcy and Clay by name, but they are only two of the many people who fill my life with the joy of friendship.

3 comments:

Ali said...

like I told you, this post made me feel SO much better. I was beginning to think a) you should be considered for sainthood since you never seem to be at your wit's end while parenting three kids or b) I should work on my own patience and try to be more like Danny! glad to see you're just a normal human like the rest of us. (and thank God for wonderful friends who help save our sanity - what would we do without them?!)

Danny Holwerda said...

Glad to dispel the myth a little bit.  I think the truth is that by the time I sit down and type stuff in here, I've had time to count to 10 and cool off.  Yep, just a normal human - but with exceptional hair.

Danny Holwerda said...

Glad to dispel the myth a little bit.  I think the truth is that by the time I sit down and type stuff in here, I've had time to count to 10 and cool off.  Yep, just a normal human - but with exceptional hair.

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