Good Investments with Big Returns
"*Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.** But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)*
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[](http://brendayoder.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/mp910220741.jpg)
The other day I was filling my Honda Civic Hybrid with gas. "A good investment" I said to myself for it's 45 miles per gallon.
I noted other good investments in our life.
The Important Ones.
I'd love to hear some of your investments in life that have blessed you.
Here's my random list.
1. **Adventure In Odyssey audio CD's**
** from Focus on the Family. **
It started out with one,
and over the last 15 years,
even the teenagers
ask for more episodes.
I've discovered my kids
know things about
God, life, History, the Bible,
that I didn't know they knew,
because they learned it
from Whit's End.
I've heard them say
more than once
"Mom, it's an inside joke
from Adventures in Odyssey."
Last summer,
the destination my children
wanted for our last family vacation
was "Whit's End."
So off to Colorado Springs we went.
All of them still listen to a story at night.
Even the 18 year old.
*I'd say, a good family investment.*
2. **Dates with the kids**.
There are only a handful of things
I've tried as a parent
that have turned out fairly well,
summer dates are one of them.
Being married to a dairy farmer
the first 18 years of marriage,
Small family outings were rare,
so I made my own with the kids.
When Kaylee was 5,
I took her on our first
overnight outing
which slowly grew into
one day away with
each of the school age children
during the summer.
These have been days filled with
laughs and memories
of silliness and soaking wetness,
flat bike tires and
lost cars in a rainstorm,
With teenagers,
it's mainly a lunch date at a "fancy" restaurant,
but it's time together
we don't otherwise have
in the busyness of life.
A *Good investment*.
[](http://brendayoder.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/mp900431787.jpg)
3.** A dress up box**.
My talented sister gave
Kaylee a box with dress up clothes when she was 3 and we have added to it through out the years.
It's provided
hours of fun for little girls and boys alike
including our own private Halloween parties
when we were the uncool parents
who didn't do Halloween.
The kids still get things out and
use them for their own fun.
*Good investment (and cheap!)*
4. **Books. **
I'm a sucker for books.
They've provided bedtime stories
I wouldn't trade for a minute
and contributed to
academic success on the report cards
as three out of my four
are self-proclaimed "readers."
I bought some books
- Heroes of the Faith -
I wanted the kids to read
and gave incentive "book bucks"
when they read a book.
It paid off.
Kaylee became impressed
with a missionary named Jim Elliot
and she's devoured
biographies about missionaries
ever since,
and now she wants to be one.
A most humbling *good investment.*
5. **Family vacations**.
When you're dairy farmers,
the only time you're not milking cows
is when you are gone.
From Year 1
my husband made vacation a priority
so he could get some rest from the Moo's.
Living on one income
most of our married life,
we travel cheap.
We've stayed in motels where
I've told my toddlers to
"keep your shoes on!"
We took sack lunches
to the Biltmore Mansion.
We've had more marital fights
over directions
and could have made our own sequel
to the Griswald's Family Vacation.
All in all,
now that the kids are older,
our best memories
are from family vacations,
laughing over Mom and Dad fighting
outside of a XXX bar
under an overpass in Philadelphia
and Kaylee dropping her camera
from the train in the Royal Gorge.
From babies to teenagers, it's been a *good investment.*
*([Here's the link to our Hollywood adventure](http://www.thewomanthang.com/2010/04/ethel-saved-our-marriage-and-other.html))*
My list could go one, but I want to hear from you.
Post a comment here or on Facebook for my FB readers -
what have been the eternal investments
that have blessed you?
Can't wait to hear!
*Brenda*
www.thewomanthang.com