Dakota and money

Dakota went to Youth Camp this week. He'll be back Saturday afternoon. On the way to church Monday to drop him off I ran by the bank to get some money for him for snacks, souvenirs, offerings at Worship time, etc. I decided to give him $40.00 for the week. May not seem like much for a week away but he has a tendency to lose money.

As we were leaving the bank I began to lecture him...
"Alright Dakota, here's $40.00 for the week. You need to hold on to this and pay attention to what you are doing with your money because if you lose it, it's gone. There's no more! A week is a long time to go without any money for snacks and stuff."

"I knoooowwww, mom. I won't."

Monday night I get a phone call around 11:00 pm..."Hey mom, had a good trip over here. I'm rooming with ***** and *****......" We talked for about 5 minutes before he was ready to get off the phone and get back to his friends.

Tuesday night I am already asleep and my phone rings around 11:00 pm - Dakota was very talkative and wanted to tell me all about his day and what they did. I tried hard to rub the sleep from my eyes and wake up enough to absorb most of what he was telling me...at least enough that I could ask him questions so he knew I was listening to him. I really was interested and was ecstatic that he wanted to talk (because he NEVER wants to talk on the phone that much) but I was dead asleep when he called. From what I could gather he had gone out into one of the neighborhood low-income apartment complexes and done a VBS-type set up with the kids there all day. He said it was very similar to our Meet the Church projects we do.

This morning around 7:30 my phone rings.
"Hi mom! I'm on my way to breakfast and I just wanted to tell you good morning. I don't have long to talk before I head out for the day."

"Well, this is a nice surprise! Good morning Dakota! Did you get a good night's sleep?"

"Oh yeah! I was tirrrreeeddd after yesterday! It was sooooooo hot working all day outside."

"I packed you a water bottle - are you using it and refilling it?"

"Actually I bought another one...it's cool! It's...." (went into an explanation of how this water bottle is really "cool" - but I don't remember what made it cool.)

"How much was it? Are you spending your money wisely?"

"Welllllll" Long pause here "I only have $5.00 left. I think I lost $20.00 at Taco Bell."

"When did you go to Taco Bell?"

"Ummm, Monday on the way over here."

"So you lost $20.00 two days ago and you are just now telling me? Did you look in all your stuff real good and in your pockets and luggage?"

"Yes mom! Okay, I gotta go to breakfast. I'll call you later. Love you!!"

Grrrrrr...he'll be 12 in August - praying this will get better with age!