how far you go....

Every once in a while someone writes something in a birthday card that i don't really want to get rid of. Something that really makes sense & that i'd like to hold on to. I always wondered how i could keep the sentiment without having to harbour the cardboard.....yay, now i have a blog, it's the perfect place!
This time it was my dad-he wrote a pretty cool quote which i just wanted to keep. Here it is:

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young; compassionate with the aged; sympathetic with the striving; and tolerant of the weak and strong.
...Because someday in your life you will have been all of these."
-George Washington Carver-

creative learning experiences/good work ethic

much of the time growing up, i remember us all having to entertain ourselves for short, or sometimes long periods of time. but somehow we were never bored. i remember us playing in the park together, singing songs while dancing around in a circle, digging in the garden somehow attempting to cultivate our own personal 'plot' whatever our age, & other, what seemed like-super fun activities.
when i got older i never had a problem finding things to do either. i'd sit down and practice songs on the guitar with the 5 guitar chords i knew; i'd fold laundry; i'd read something; i'd clean something... i know kids have a really vast potential for learning & doing & it bothers me when i see them wandering around not being interested in any of these-primarily because computer games is the only fathomable form of fun for them.
i think i owe that we had such active imaginations & good work ethic to the fact that my parents were constantly encouraging creativity, experiences, hard work & poured so much into us when we were very young. we were always going to cool places, doing baking, stringing beads, learning flashcards, memorizing Bible verses-stuff like that.
it was nice that they took the time to invest that effort in us, because it's equipped us all mentally for our entire life.
so i'm grateful to my parents for giving us such a rich childhood, because its made us all the ambitious, capable people we are today & that's being given a chance in life that some people never experience.

believe in us

another thing my parents always did that stood out to me growing up & still does, is believe that we are capable of ANYTHING! most people today have set limits on their own abilities, & this is not always their own fault, sometimes our environment can be filled with so many negative forces that we pretty much resign ourselves to not being able to do anything or get anywhere in life. and that's why im so thankful that we constantly had that driving force behind us to succeed.
of course money was never the problem (duh, we have a magic purse), but circumstances & seeming limitations were pretty much invisible to my mom....(even if it meant she had to stand in the parking lot holding a broom to teach us parking...) my dad's perspective was more like: okay girls come and see where the oil goes in the car...(like...there's no reason why girls can't learn about cars too) if my dad knows we have the slightest interest in anything....it'll practically become a new hobby of his to find anything he can for us to indulge our interest to our content.
anyway....the lesson is: believe in people! you never know who needs that belief to give them the boost they need in life. & believe in your children. they need that from you more than ANYONE!
and remember, more than anyone, God believes in us, so lets make Him proud of us.

money, values & the magic purse

my parents are not perfect. but dwelling on peoples shortcomings isn't what brings about anything positive in any situation. i want to write a book about all the things my parents did 'right' while bringing us up...its really interesting to observe how different things in people's lives participate in the structure of that
persons personality when they become adults. well, i find it an interesting topic.
so, i'll start a series of 'what they did right' articles where i'll post what i think they did that i honestly appreciate since it contributed to the dna of my character today. (since we're trying to concentrate on the good remember?) hehe...tata my bad personality traits....what? i don't have any...haha i like this new approach to myself.

one thing thats stood out to me in our lives growing up, was that despite the fact that there are 8 of us, somehow we always got everything we wanted. not just needed. wanted. i think somehow my parents willingness to get us things that we wanted - instead of that constant 'no, you can't get that', or the 'oh we can't afford anything' attitude that a lot of parents have adopted, made us feel like we had a million dollars & as a result we didn't have that sinking feeling of everything being so out of reach hence magnifying the desire to have it.

my mom has this magic purse that somehow always has money in it. i call it magic, because no matter how little money we put in it or how much she takes out to give us, there's still always plenty inside for anything we ask for! im serious. its almost ridiculous. the funny thing is, my boyfriend and i are also just starting out & i guess we haven't yet developed that positive attitude to money. for us it's like: if we havent got the money, we haven't got the money. as a result, we never have the money. pretty much for anything. every now and again when we do embrace the fact that we can probably find the money, it just appears- but my mom constantly has that attitude to money. she always says: i don't care how much it costs. we can afford it. and then she'll proceed to stuff the money into my hand & force me to go get it. and she gives it to us in the faith that we'll do something good with it. so we're hesitant to waste it. we know by being given money that we're being given a responsibility to use it wisely. my dad's a little different, - his wallet isn't always brimming with money....but there's always a 20 in there. and it's always ours. my dad will sooner die of hunger & thirst than deprive us of anything.

i think the fact that my parents took that loving approach with us, that we in turn showed them a measure of love back in being modest in what we asked for. or in wanting to reciprocate that love in kind deeds or buying them things too, even if it was with our little collection of brown money.

i guess the emphasis on material things also wasn't blown out of proportion the way it is today. we learned to value things like the benefit of having each other, playing together, helping one another, taking pride in doing things, praying with & counselling fully grown adults (haha that was fun), memorizing the bible, & praying with people.

yup, so that's the first post on 'what they did right'...i hope its beneficial to someone...otherwise, whats the point right?