LG, Zada, Congo, and Halsey (in the Barn at Camp Timanous- photo by Tomm Polos)

It is that crazy time of year when we run around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to do way too much! Partys, events, school, and not to mention the usual things we are responsible for like, yard work, house work, homework, walking the dog, feeding the family, the dishes, football games to watch and of course finding time for art work. It's a crazy time of year! It feels like some irresistible tread wheel that I want to stay off but always seemed to get tricked into jumping on. It is that time a year for thinking about others, especially those less fortunate, or those non profits all for good causes that want our money. It is that time of year when a fool is soon parted from his money. My wife LG presented us with some choices for giving back the other night for "family meeting".

Family meetings take place every week..usually on Sunday night after dinner. We start by taking turns to commend each person in the family for something, then we talk about issues or the week ahead. Issues are usually about the kids doing more of their fair share of work or screen time problems or somebody (our 14 year old) leaving his stinky socks laying around etc.. the coming weeks schedule is usually the main topic. Because many of the issues are dealt with at "Family Dinner" that happens at least 5 times a week. We are far from the perfect family, if there is such a thing. but it's important for us to connect at least once a day around a table where we are all equal.

So LG brought home a bunch of options for us to donate $200.00 the other night at family meeting. We talked about each one asking lots of questions, sometimes too many questions and almost driving LG to the brink of mental tsunami. We decided that each person could use their $50.00 for whatever they wanted to donate too. That worked out well. Halsey wanted to help the outdoor one, Zada wanted to help the animals, and LG and I the schools. and that was perfect.

The next day LG was interviewed and we appeared in the local newspaper.

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2014/12/01/organizations-community-celebrate-giving-tuesday/19750011/