Monday, April 14, 2008

Guess what? We are all in one piece this week! National news showed aftermath of local tornadoes. We experienced the storms without too much damage - just no power for several hours, half a night in the downstairs closet, and five very exhausted people. We all got up and went about our lives the next day as normal.

The highlight of the week was for Dave and I. Saturday, we helped with the stake youth conference themed "Life Choices". Part of the conference was the life-sized game of "Life". Dave played the part of a Car Salesman. His responsibility for the day was to try to sell as many youth as possible the most expensive car they could (not) afford. Each youth was given money and a credit card to make purchases throughout the game. The game had several parts where they were required to make large purchases - one being a home and the other a car. Dave played his part so well you would have thought he did that for a living! Many of the youth and leaders commented about how successful Dave was as a salesman. Everyone seemed to enjoy his enthusiasm. Can you all picture him playing this game?

I played the part of the "Court Clerk". My responsibilities included collecting taxes, dishing out refunds, collecting speeding ticket fines and divorce fees. I think the best part of the event was all the comments from the kids like ... "kids are expensive", "you mean, my car insurance doubles when I get a speeding ticket?","the government pays me to have kids?...Let's go get more!" and so on. The funniest ones to watch were those forced to get a divorce when they wanted to stay together. There was one kid who begged for a divorce - he just couldn't stand who he was paired with (it was a mutual dislike). Then he seemed a little miffed when he found out it would cost him $50,000, his home, his car, and half his life's earnings.

The event was all organized with help from the Dallas area LDS Employment Services. The local director has the game which she uses to teach youth all over the area about the importance of a good education and good financial practices. I was very impressed and was glad I had the chance to help with the event.

That's enough for now. This week should be another quiet week for us. Matthew continues with his baseball and the girls try to keep up with school work amidst friend time. I hope ya'll have a great week!