For our first “Service Saturday” we were off at 9:00 am to clean our local church with a couple of other families. I gotta admit, I was not looking forward to it. But like I tell my kids, “Sometimes you gotta do what you don’t wanna do because it’s the right thing to do.” And although service is rarely convenient, it is good for our character.

On our drive home from Disneyland, my husband asked me what my favorite part of the trip was. Upon reflection, I realized that one of my favorite parts was our money system that we used. We called it “Disney Dollars”.

I am always amazed at how fascinated my kids are with elevators. We can be at the most magical place on earth or visiting my small hometown and it doesn’t matter. As long as the hotel has a pool and an elevator, the kids think they have died and gone to heaven.

We watched a video recently about families serving all over the world in different capacities. I was inspired by the video and the importance of service, and kids are less likely to be snotty and entitled, if they learn to serve, right? As I watched the video, I asked, “How can our family serve more?” Almost as I asked the question, the answer came to me: “Service Saturdays”.

My kids have been fighting like cats and dogs for a while now and it drives me crazy. We were headed out on a 12 hour car ride and I wanted to deter the fighting. I went back into the archives of my childhood and pulled out an idea that my mom did with us on one of our trips- she paid for peace.

I set out a glass, tumbler, cup, mug, and a goblet. I asked my kids, “What do all of these have in common?” The kids knew they were all used for drinking beverages. I also wrote the different names on index cards. Then I had the kids match the name with the correct object. It was time to talk about drinkware do’s and don’ts.