Mom's Night Out - from Janet

(Click on the picture to enlarge.)

In September 1990, we started our homeschooling journey. We are finishing our 22nd year of homeschooling! We started out homeschooling Randy in Kindergarten. This year, we have only one student again: Emily in 8th grade. I never had all six of our children in school at the same time. By the time Emily started school, Randy had already graduated. But we did have several years with five students in our Country Acres Christian Academy.

From the start of our homeschooling adventure, we joined Home Educators Fellowship in Greeley. The support group meeting is called Moms' Night Out. I have attended MNO pretty faithfully, rarely missing a monthly meeting. It has been a big part of my social life and my sanity, some school years! For the past six or more years, I have been the treasurer for the group, which is not a huge job now, since we quit charging a membership fee.

After 22 years, I go for different reasons than the ones I had long ago. Now I go to be the "older" mother who encourages the new ones starting out. I want to be a blessing, to pass on the wisdom I gained from the older ones who were there for me. The ladies I meet with and have met with through the years are real friends; they prayed for me this past year when I went through cancer. We have shared prayers, requests, books, tips, encouragement, tears, and songs through the years. I'm glad I have four more years of teaching Emily, and I look forward to more Moms' Night Out blessings!

Beth made the cartoon above, in honor of the connections and fun I look forward to in MNO! (NoCO stands for Northern Colorado.) The rest is written by Janet.

"Want some nickels, Your Majesty?" - from Beth

Sometimes working in customer service can be a lot of fun. I have two stories from last week that I'll share here... the post title is a combination of the two.

I believe it was Thursday, that I had wrung up some things for a particular older gentleman. It was probably when he showed me his ID (for credit card use) that I said to him, "Thank you, sir." He, with a straight face said, "You don't need to call me 'sir'..." (now I was presuming he was going to finish his sentence with "...I work for a living," like others sometimes say, but he continued,) "...'Your Majesty' will be just fine." I smiled/laughed, and said, "Ok... Thank you, Your Majesty!" He smiled and his eye twinkled as he walked away. It's been too long; I've told the story a few times, and I just can't remember, but I believe he also said, "Now you remember that for next time!"

On Saturday I was busy checking out one customer and had one in line, waiting. Another, a lady, came through the door, and I glanced up to ask, "What can we help you find today?" The tall senior citizen stated matter-of-factly, "I need a box of nickels." At least, that's what I thought she said. Sometimes when people answer that greeting-question, they say, "a million dollars," and then you have to dash their hopes and say that they won't find it here. I decided to finish with that one customer and then ask the lady for an explanation... since she was standing there waiting for me anyway! Finished, I said, "I'm not sure I understand what you mean. You want a box of nickels?" I didn't let my face show my true feeling of incredulity. She, helpfully, leaned down under the counter (where our candy is) and pulled up a roll of these.

Of course, once I knew she wanted Necco candy rolls, and wasn't simply teasing me about money, I was thrilled to help her out (by having someone go get her "a box of Neccos").

- Beth