From The Mud Puddle

Phone book deliveries started today. This will be our eighth season of delivering phone books. I remember that first day of doing phone books that November day in 1999, seven years ago. I remember looking at my car full of about 150 books, wondering how we were going to get rid of them all. It seemed like such a monumental task. I remember we started with a small apartment complex. Kids ran out to our car as if we were selling ice cream. One older gentleman even gave my seven year old son (at that time) a nickle as he handed him a phone book. I remember turning it all over to God, knowing that if God wanted us to do this, He would bless it. In our minds, we just wanted to make a little extra money to use during that week Jay would have off after Christmas. Simply put, God provided above and beyond our expectations and hopes. While the money was nice, what happened during that time of our deliveries was priceless. The memories the kids and I have built during phone book season are treasured thoughts and conversations between us. Often as we have delievered, we will say, "remember when..." and then finish the story with one of our phone book tales. For instance, one of our memories comes from that first day. It was getting dark. People were turning on their Christmas lights for the night. My son(yes him again LOL) was taking a phone book up to this person's house and tripped over the cord to one of these snowmen decoration things (no not the inflatable kind...the old fashion kind). He was fine, but he ended up unplugging the snowman and all went dark in that part of the yard. It's probably one of those "you had to be there" sort of things...but the story always makes us laugh. That first year also was the year...at Christmas no less, that my kids ended up with chicken pox. (my son first...just two days before Christmas...and my daughter a week later...New Years Day, 2000) We didnt stop, we just adjusted our schedules and kept going as best as we could. Another memory involves doing books in another town. The kids were flipping through the phone book, reading the entries and came across one that said "frog dealers". I dont know why it tickled us all so, but it did. That there are actually people that "deal frogs" amazes me. We have laughed over that one for many years.

I always showed the kids the check, payment for the work we did....letting them hold it and look at it, as it was as much theirs as it was mine. Through this experience they also learned about taxes and what taxes are for-always a homeschooler ::grinz:: Later that year, or the next, the kids wanted to know if those same taxes we were paying out of our check also paid the policemen that stopped us, thinking we were scoping out a neighborhood. (LOL) Fortunately we had a good reason to be there, driving slow....and it was hard for the policeman to believe much else when there was a whole backseat full of phone books!

We learned to work together well as a family and how to overcome through Christ those grumpy moods that sometimes get to all of us from time to time, with humor and grace. We give thanks to our God in the good and bad because of who HE is. (and believe me-sometimes phone books have been bad) We are thankful that today was a good day and that we were safe and got a lot done. We know tomorrow may have troubles, or new lessons learned the hard way, but either way God is always God and still on His throne, worthy to be praised. We remembered today as we remembered that first year and all the years in between that we are really working for God and not man....and somehow-that makes all the difference in the world as we go about our days.