Pay Day

Tonight I feel so very proud of this little lady right here.

Daphne's hand on a collage at school - she drew a bee to represent her love for bugs. :)

In January of 2016 we had dinner at the Quintanilla's house and Sophie drove her around in her mini hum-v power wheels car for little kids.  They had a blast and from that time forward, Daphne has been saving her nickles and dimes for her very own power wheels car.  Burke said if she would work hard and save half of the cost of the car, he would cover the other half.  Daphne has worked so hard, saving every penny of her birthday and Christmas money from grandparents, extra chore money, etc.

About a month ago her cousin Millie was over and they decided to count up all the money she had saved and were shocked to learn Daphne had over $75 bucks!  Millie sighed in envy, "Aw man, I spent all my money on chapstick!"  Oh to be 5 and have the dilemma of buying chapstick or saving for a power wheels car!

Another background story to lead up to tonight happened a couple of weeks before Christmas.  We had been planning on buying each of the kids a Melissa and Doug camp chair to set their stockings on Christmas morning.  Daphne has had two obsessions over the past year: bugs and octopuses, so we thought she would be stoked about the octopus chair.  The day before we ordered them, I  had been greatly troubled by further incidents reported in the news of the bombings in Aleppo, Syria and of the plight of the orphaned children.  My brother Elijah had also told us of the condition of the Syrian refugees he was helping in Turkey and my heart ached for them.  It seemed so wrong to be buying colorful, frivolous Christmas gifts while children on the other side of the world were starving.  We decided that we would sit down with the girls and have a family council on this dilemma and suggest that we forgo the camp chairs in order to donate some money towards Syrian relief efforts.

After gathering the girls, we sat down and told them a very watered down version of the horrors the children of Syria were being exposed to.  We told them how there were thousands of children starving, cold and homeless and that we would like them to give up one of their Christmas gifts in order for us to have money in the budget to be able to send some small relief on their behalf.  We then showed Daphne and Darcie the picture of the super cool camp chairs and asked if they would be willing to sacrifice the chairs for the Syrian children.  When she saw the picture, Daphne's bottom lip started to quiver and she cried, "But I don't WANT to give up my octopus chair!"  We tried to explain again how we have been blessed with so much and these children had nothing, but again she resisted.  I told her we would not give her camp chair away without her agreeing, but that it would be very sad for us to choose a fun chair over a meal for a starving child.  I could see she still wasn't convinced, so Burke and I invented a game on the spot.  We gave each of the girls our phones and gave them 5 minutes to run around the house and take pictures of everything we have been blessed with.  They ran around giggling from room to room as they snapped pictures of beds, toys, the computer, fridge, oven, clothing, shoes, etc...  At the end of the timer, we flipped through the pictures and then pointed out even more things we have been blessed with that they may not have noticed: carpet, light fixtures, electricity, running water, a water heater, and many more.  We returned to the idea of donating and despite the exercise, Daphne still wasn't convinced.

I was feeling very frustrated by this point, but felt strongly that I shouldn't force her to "make the right choice."  We tabled the issue and simply pulled up the website where we were going to donate and said she could push the button whenever she was ready to sacrifice her chair.  We then went about our evening and let the idea (aka: guilt) simmer.  Finally, 30 minutes later, Daphne came up with her head bowed and said with a sniffle, "Mommy, I'm ready to give my chair away."  We gave her a big hug and told her how proud we were of her and how if enough people could donate, all of our small efforts combined could make a huge difference in other's lives.  She willingly clicked the button after we entered in the desired amount and turned to me with a smile saying, "It's okay Mom, you can just get me the chair for my birthday!"  

*Face palm!*

All of this background to explain why my mother heart nearly burst tonight.  This past week we were up visiting family in Logan and Salt Lake City.  At one point, I had to go pick up Burke from a work conference and came across a refugee family on the street asking for money to buy diapers and formula for their baby.  I gave what I had on hand in my wallet and later told Daphne about the experience to help reinforce how strongly we believe that we must help those in need and treat them as the Savior would.

Tonight, after a Family Home Evening lesson on prophets and apostles, Burke was getting the girls ready for bed while I fed Alan.  After brushing her teeth, Daphne came to me with a meek expression on her face and said, "Mommy, I don't want to buy a car with my money anymore.  I think I should give that money to help the Syrian children.  I have enough toys."  She smiled at me with a look of pure angelic innocence and gave me a big hug as tears fell down my cheeks.  I held her close and told her how proud I was of her and said I would start researching if there were local refugees that we could help or if Uncle Elijah could get her money to some of the refugees in Turkey to help them in some way.  

Talk about a pay day.  

Burke has worked incredibly hard over the years and we have been very strict with our budget in order that we might live a comfortable, but frugal lifestyle.  If all continues to progress as we hope, our children will never want for anything.  However, Burke and I both have deep convictions that our children will learn to be hard workers, save for the things they want, be grateful for the things they have been blessed with and generous in spreading those blessings and resources to others.  We are determined that no child of ours will feel entitled or greedy.  To hear our sweet 5 year old freely offer up her hard earned money from the past 15 months without so much as a glimmer of regret was one of the dearest moments I have experienced in my motherhood thus far.  How very grateful I am for her selfless example to me.