Teaching Children to Work

On Saturday my sister and I dropped by to see Len and Julie who returned home from their mission last week. They were just sitting down for lunch, so we were able to have a bite with them and visit about their mission. Len was covered from head to toe in white paint and sweat as he was painting his porch out in the back of his house. You could tell Julie had been busy organizing her house and unpacking. As we sat and talked, the theme became how important it is as parents to teach our children how to work. They both agreed that the best missionaries were those who had challenges in their lives and were taught to work. As Rich and I were going to bed Spencer called from Billings, Montana where they are visiting Annie's family. He told us that several times during their visit up North they had discussed how important it is to teach your children to work and be challenged with hard things. He then thanked us for making him get up early and learn to mow, pick up trash and work on Rich's jobs scraping paint and being a gopher. I have to say there were many arguments Rich and I had over how hard he was on my little babies, but I can say I am so proud of all of them and the work ethic they have embraced. As I look around at my grand kids and some of their friends I see a soft generation. Some expect to sit around and play video games all day and really don't do much to help their parents. It makes me sad to see their lives when life gets really hard and they have to work to support a family when all they have done is played and been given everything. This morning I was out early trying to find a way to keep my animals all alive. With record breaking temperatures around 113 degrees I worried all night about what I can do to help them survive, Mindi had her kids out mowing and helping, but it is a struggle. It is so good to have them back, I don't like being alone day in and day out, it got lonely and boring. I did make a quilt for Trulie for her birthday. I found some cute Dora material and so I whipped one up for her while I was here alone. Candi is home from California, she is back to work today and is so far behind it will take her weeks to catch up. She pays the price every summer for her vacation to the beach, but it must be worth it for her to be gone, I just wish I had a place to go to get out of this heat, that would be heaven.