A Penny for Your Thoughts

In our home, we believe in being fiscally responsible. Apparently, so does Macy Walker. Early in the week Macy bargained with Casey to earn $10 bucks. They negotiated an agreement on how she could earn the ten extra dollars with the stipulations the task would be completed every day without an adult reminder and that if even one day was missed the $10 would not be earned. Macy completed her end of the bargain & earned a crisp $10 bill on Friday. She also received a card from her Great-Nana with $10 in it. She now had a total of $20 bucks burning a hole in her pocket.

We taught her long ago the importance of tithing but try not to remind her about it when she gets money because it’s her responsibility. She watches us tithe, she watches us budget, she watches us save & invest. We’ve given her the knowledge to do the same, it’s up to her to apply that information.

I was out of town on Thursday & Friday, not arriving back in OKC until Macy was already retired for the night on Friday. Saturday morning the first thing she did was bring to me $18 dollars, saying “Mom, look! I have $18.” I knew about the arrangement she made with Casey to earn extra money but I wasn’t aware she infact received the card from my Nana so I was confused as to why she would have an odd sum of money. Why wasn’t it $10, $15 or $20? Why $18? Before I could ask her why, she pulled another $2 bucks from a separate pocket.

Macy, holding $18 in one hand and $2 in another I heard, “I have $18 and I’m gonna give this (holding up the $2) back to God.” Immediately it dawned on me she must’ve had $20 instead of $10. I asked her about the total sum when she admitted she received Great-Nana’s card.

We went to church, Macy returned God’s portion to the storehouse and we carted ourselves to Barnes & Noble afterwards. We spent a good 2 hours reading books for free (don’t judge us!) but she wanted to make a purchase. We looked and looked and looked and looked some more for just the right book but nothing caught her eye. We ventured back to the CDs area when I suggested the Selena Gomez CD.

Macy asked, “How much is it?” as she flipped it over for the price. “Nah, it’s $15 dollars. I was hoping for something a little more affordable. I’ll only have about $2 left if I buy that.” More affordable? I thought. She’s 8! Since when does SHE care about affordability?!? I shrugged & said oh, okay then I guess we can keep looking. “What else do they have here? Besides all these CDs & books? These are too much money.” In my mind, I’m kind of giggling. It was funny for me to hear her replay all the things I think about when I shop and I’m a little bit impressed she’s trying to calculate the most wise decision.

At this point, I suggested she just save the $18 and go about her business. She didn’t want to do that saying “I already have $200 something in the bank. I asked to make this money so I could buy something.” Wellokaythen. So we kept looking. FINALLY, she found a set of 4 miniature puzzles that was $9.95 plus 50% off. “Mom, how much is 50%?” I told her she’d have about seven bucks or so left and she was okay with that.

The moral of this story is be very careful of your financial habits. Just like your language, your behaviors & your attitudes, your children will emulate those spending habits too! I am far better at 31 years old than I was at even 20 and I DO model all the things I’ve mentioned here but I am so blessed and so grateful our sweet eight year old daughter has apparently learned now to think about her pennies!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

So, what was Macy Walker's most memorable activity this summer? Wanna' guess?

Swimming with Beluga Whales.

All You NEED in Life

One of Macy's assignments this week was to write a poem about herself. I'm pretty sure this gal has the needs vs. wants thing mastered.

Like My Mother Does

During the Summer, Macy goes to daycamp. She loves it, particularly because they swim nearly everyday. Today was no different, I picked her up at the pool but this time I chose to stay for a while so she could swim longer. I got her a snack & she ventured over to a nice loungechair where a friend soon joined. They talked about various stuff in the day while I people watched with my eyes & listened to them converse with my ears. Periodically I asked them questions & acknowledged their conversation. Soon, as another friend passed I heard sweet Macy say "Look at Jack's hair. It's crazy!", followed by much laughter among the two girls. It was quickly met by Macy's friend with "Oh! Mrs. Walkerrrrr, Macy has a crush on Ja-aaack!" I kind of grinned without hesitation or distress and said, "She sure does, doesn't she."

Macy looked at her friend and said "Trinity, you don't have to try to embarass me. I tell my Mom everything!" I think Trinity was surprised because she said "Oh? You do?" Mace replied "Yeah, I tell her everything about me. I love her. She's like my best friend but she's not my friend, she's my Mom."

Let's just hope it stays that way!

If I Should Have a Daughter

Ladies & gentlemen these things, the things in the opening lines are what I teach my daughter. What will you teach yours?



I don't write poetry perse but the words I choose to explain things to my daughter really become spoken poetry in a sense to educate, entertain & inspire.

Trainer for Hire

You never know what kind of conversation you’re gonna get out of Macy. Sometimes she’s very serious, sometimes she’s quiet (that’s when I know her wheels are really turning), often she’s singing but most of the time she’s just downright funny. Purposefully? I don’t know but either way it’s note worthy of course to ME, anyway.

Apparently our habits of health & fitness have transferred to the child. Good? Maybe. I don’t know. I hope? Anyway, she & I were discussing the importance of stellar achievement with school. I explained her grades are soley her responsibility, it’s her job so-to-speak. We talked about how if you only set yourself up to achieve B’s then you’re selling yourself short of the crème of the crop and our family doesn’t stand for setting the bar low. I guess she’d heard enough of the grade “discussion” because she piped up with …

“Paige, she needs to step it up on her weight.”

First I was taken aback by the term "step it up" but whatever, moving on I thought Huh? Her weight? What? We were talking about grades! How did that cross-apply? So I asked, “Wha? What are you talkin’ about?”

“Her weight. She needs to take better care of herself and keep her body healthy. She has a big belly and that’s not healthy. When she gets older she’s going to have heart problems and knee problems and her body is gonna break down and she just brings juuuuuuNK in her lunch and when we’re outside, she just walks around. She doesn’t climb or run or ANYYYYthing. That’s lazy.”

OUCH! Easy there Jillian Michaels …er, um … I mean, Macy Walker.

You know part of me wanted to say take it easy but guys the kid is RIGHT! It’s our responsibility to take care of our bodies. Genetics do play a role in naturally unhealthy aspects for some folks but there are ways to prevent & control the bad hand you were truly dealt. A box of Twinkies isn’t what you’re dealt, it’s what you chose. Be mindful.

Livin' On A Prayer

Livin’ on a Prayer, you ask? Yeah. Cause when Macy Walker’s your child, you pray that the next thing out of her mouth is appropriate! Afterall, Casey & I are her parents and uh, well where else would she learn to say some of the stuff she does?!? But also we pray the example we try to set sinks in. I think we’re on track ;)

One good thing I can tell you is Macy lives on a prayer too except she prays for other people on her own and understands the need for her future spouse to love Jesus. How do we know? Keep reading.

This picture you see here was an assignment at school that says

"If I had 100 dollars I would..."

"I would go on a lemo ride with Justin Biber and we would have a good time with each other and have dinner some where downtown. I would do it becuase he is cute and he is wonderful my dad allways says they haft to love Jesus and I said yes they haft to.”

I don’t know about all this Justin Bieber business but hey, first things first---love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul & strength, amen!

Also, tonight outta’ nowhere Macy said she was worried about Alex (someone in her class). “Alex said he doesn’t believe in God or Jesus.” I asked her how she knew that. She said “because he said that when I was talking about God.” I didn’t ask her what she was saying about God and I didn’t ask her any further what Alex said. What I did do though is begin to think about what I was supposed to say to her. Wasn’t I supposed to tell her how to be a witness to him? Wasn’t I supposed to say we should pray for him? I don’t know? I mean I DO know but I think I was just caught off guard by it? Nonetheless, I said nothing. I continued about my business cutting up veggies and doing what I was doing. She continued talking but had changed the subject to something else and I continued to listen. The whole part about Alex knowing Jesus was a fleeting thought at that moment, so I thought.

When bedtime rolled around, this was her prayer. Some of this is standard stuff she says (the parts at the beginning) every night like a dang book but she’ll usually add some other really specific stuff about whatever she feels necessary.

"Dear God, please let us get a good night’s sleep. Please watch over my family, friends and protect us, God. Jesus, forgive of us of our sins-the things we’ve done bad today. Help us to do better tomorrow. Help me to do good in school on the things I missed today and let me be obedient to you. Jesus, I don’t know why Alex doesn’t believe in you but I do. I believe in You. Tomorrow, help me show Alex how to believe in You with how I behave. Let me be kind, let me courteous and let me do things so he can know You. Aaaaa-men."

All I have to say is "woahhhhh, we're halfway there ..." ;)