LIFE goes on...

I love blogging, but it often takes a back seat when life gets crazy. Speaking of life, I had to pull together a huge real life LIFE game for our 40 or so young men and young women in our ward last week. It was a huge stress for me. More than it probably needed to be - I am still learning how to be "in charge" and lead big events like this, so I am not the most efficient. I'm sure it did not need to be so stressful, but the idea that was presented to me just a little over a month ago was a pretty tall order and I wanted to do my best.

The goal was for the youth to get some kind of picture of what finances are like when you are a grown up. Each youth was given a job/salary and family situation - single, married with kids, etc. They were also given a check register and had to travel throughout the church building to get insurance, visit a car lot, real estate, the Cornell Acres Mall (Cornell is the name of our ward), college, the bank and mom and dad's house. There were also random events people handing out car wrecks, medical emergencies, inheritance money and even babies! The concept was so huge and involved recruiting over 20 adults to play various roles, that not everything went the way I imagined. Some of the leaders did their own spin with their roles - for better and worse, some of the $$ amounts were way too generous (we had one youth buy a Ferrari with cash - not much learned in being thrifty there!) and we were shocked at how unfamiliar and difficult using the check registers was for most of the youth. This alone was a huge speed bump for the first 20 minutes of the game.

On the other hand, the church looked pretty cool - I like how our "mall" turned out. (We had a big screen TV/all kinds of electronics boxes, huge 5' tall American Eagle mall poster displays, lights, etc.) Several of the leaders who helped out went the extra mile making it really cool and fun. The real life insurance agent we asked to help "play" the insurance agent had an awesome idea for his pretend insurance agency, "AllSaints - You're in God's Hands" rather than Allstate - You're in Good Hands. I thought that was clever. The car salesmen were hilarious and dressed the part. Fat Matt and Skinny Jim played their parts so well I think they deserved an Academy award. And the kids really got into our Burger King crown gimmick. Whenever they purchased something that would be considered "cool" or keeping up with the Jones' - they got a Burger King hat. If they bought more "cool" stuff, they got "cool" stickers to put on the crowns. Some started thinking that's how you win. So they spent like crazy. Some were heard through the halls, "I am starting to think these crowns are not so good" another said back, "No they're good, they're definitely good." The salesmen at the mall were so good it was scary - they pushed those crowns on the kids and said all kinds of, if I may say, crap to get them to buy. (o: It was sometimes painful to listen to, but sooo real to life. One of the young women refused to go near one of the sales people and told him directly, "You scare me!" Smart girl! In fact, this same "salesman" told me later that the guys were way easier to suck into his gimmicks. Interesting.

So all in all, things were a little chaotic, not perfect, but I am confident that everyone - even the Ferrari guy - learned something about finances and spending. That was the goal. In the end, the kids were surprised to hear that the Burger King crowns were a trick and definitely not how to win. We emphasized that this is what the "world" would like us to believe. Everyone who played the game got a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Those who remembered to pay their 10% to tithing got a brownie, those who bought insurance before an emergency occurred got chocolate syrup and caramel (for several youth insurance was an afterthought when they got into a car wreck or had a baby), and those who were not carrying a brick (which they had to carry if they took out a loan for anything but a home or college) got toppings.

It was a fun night. Unfortunately, I was so burned out and so busy before it, that many things including blogging were neglected. And wouldn't you know - we have Young Women in Excellence night in just two weeks! That will be a cake walk compared to the LIFE game, but still...there's always something to plan!! I love it though - I am really enjoying my calling, the young women are FABULOUS and I love all the ladies I work with. So dependable and so much fun - a great combo!

Although my life felt consumed with this LIFE game, my real life continued and even felt like it was spinning out of control around me. Angela was sick the day before and the day of my big activity, the kids were out of school for parent teacher conferences, the house was progressively getting more and more out of order. (Will it ever be in order???) and getting meals on the table was ridiculously overwhelming. The night after my big activity, Angela's fever got so bad that around 4 a.m. Harry* made an emergency trip for Advil (to supplement the Tylenol) and I bathed her and gave her a Popsicle to try and break it. We found out the next day that she had Strep. I am so grateful that Harry* happened to have Wed., Thurs. and Fri off of work since he's been working shifts temporarily. He was a huge lifesaver and so supportive. He was even the one who made the appointment and took Angela to the doctor and got the medication.

Meanwhile that day, on Thursday, I was winding down from the crazy night before (LIFE game and being up with Angela) and busy forgetting to go to Sarah and Natalie's teacher conferences!! EEEK! Sarah's teacher called when we were 15 minutes late wondering if we were coming. We had already missed Natalie's by that time. I honestly cannot say how long it would have taken me to remember that I forgot if she hadn't called. It was 11:15 - Sarah and Natalie were in the tub, I'm pretty sure I was still in my pajamas and I had no car seats since Jays had taken Angela to the doctor in the van. That was sooo embarrassing. Luckily, I was forgiven after several "so sorry's" and a "this isn't like me". We were able to reschedule with both teachers. And HOORAY, I didn't forget the second time! I usually really look forward to those conferences, but I guess last week it just ended up being one more thing for my over saturated brain.

Why does it feel like all of my entries are like this lately?? Will life ever slow down?