CHEA Christmas Party

This year Sam's groups have been going extremely well. Sam has made friends upon friends upon friends.

And I have made friends with the parents. (One of which I was able to enjoy a night out with recently-much needed break. She is so encouraging and full of great advice from a Christian perspective due to her years of experience being married, parenting, cooking, and especially homeschooling. Parenting is a whole different world when you home school. We don't deal with teachers and homework or bullies at school. We struggle with if we are teaching them enough, how and when do we get time for ourselves-to just be with God. And how do we help our children handle some of their problems-ie being made fun of for not being in "real school." Anyway, I'm off on a tangent. Neither is better. Both are hard. Parenting is sometimes hard, and sometimes fun. But talking to someone in the same boat helps no matter where you are.)

I feel like we are getting to know this group and getting involved has been an adventure, getting to know the board members and other members. Going to the play dates and field trips, just talking while we watch the kids play and discover from a distance. It has been amazing. Truly amazing.

One thing though, I like to instill in Sam is involvement, as I stated before in my post Community Involvement. So when they began asking for volunteers to help with the Christmas party, I jumped on it. Little did I know that they were going to ask me to plan it. "Me?! It's my first year!" "We need some fresh new ideas. It's easy. You'll be fine. You seem like you are organized and can do it." "Okay...If you say so."

Hours later searching on Pinterest for games. Making lists of what to buy. People to email. Others to call. Trying to get a location and days set up between the 4 of us.

Okay. Location/Date. Done.

We spent all afternoon yesterday at one of the board member's houses. We figured our she lives 1 mile down the road, as do most group members, so we trekked to her house to get the "Magic Christmas Box" full of supplies that everyone kept talking about. And Sam played with her 8 year old daughter while we planned and planned.

Okay. Meeting set up for next Wednesday after the field trip. Check.

Posting on the calendar. Delegated. Check.

We need games. We need decorations. Darn. I can't get the supplies until closer to time when we know who is signed up.

Well, good start. I guess we'll finish up Wednesday after I spend some more time on Pinterest looking for games.

It has been an experience. I have met many great women just in the past week. Sam has made new friends through this. And she sees the involvement. She sees me working hard at home. And soon she'll see the result.

I am glad I was "tricked" into planning this, as I put it. When my little brother started school my only thought as far as sadness goes was basically, "I'm sad I won't get to do like room Mom and PTO stuff, but it is worth it in the end to miss out on that but be here with her all the time." Now I get the best of both worlds. I get to plan parties for her group. Volunteer with her and the group. And in two years when they have people run for the board, you better believe I'm doing that too. That's even better than PTO. ;)