Our response to terrorism

Yesterday was a very sad day with the bombings at the Boston Marathon.  I happen to be a runner, although I use that term loosely as I could never dream of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.  (I have run 5 half marathons – rather slowly – and occasionally toy with the idea of a full marathon.  My pace is slow and slower!)  Even so, I feel a special bond with runners and understand the dream of the Boston Marathon.  Yesterday I sat glued to the TV, along with the rest of America, dumbstruck by the tragedy at the race.

Whenever something tragic happens, one of my first reactions is always, “What can I do to help?”  In this situation, there really didn’t seem to be a whole lot that me or my family could do from our home in Texas.  But, that didn’t stop us!  Even if we couldn’t directly impact the folks in Boston today, I knew that we could do something to help brighten the day here at home.

When I first started our Teaching to Give journey, the very first project Abby and I did in August of 2011 was to take cookies to the fire station.  Today, we decided to do the same project again in honor of everyone who helped in Boston yesterday and those who stand ready to help right in our neighborhood every day.  My favorite part of this project?  It was Jake’s first “real” project!  Jake will be three in May, and although he was technically “there” for a couple of projects before, this was the first time he truly understood and truly participated.

When I picked the kids up from school, we stopped by Target to pick up stuff to make our treats.  I asked the kids if they thought we should buy some healthy treats in addition to cookies and brownies.  They adamantly insisted that no, the firemen would prefer cookies and brownies.  So, cookies and brownies it was!  Here are the kids making the treats…

While the cookies were baking, the kids made some Thank You cards to go with the treats…

Notice Jake’s fireman hat.  Love that little man   When everything was ready to go, we took the goodies to the fire station just down the road from our house.  Jake HAD to wear his fireman’s outfit for the occasion…

We arrived just as the guys were sitting down to dinner, and they were so welcoming and great with the kids.  They took the kids out to see the fire trucks, let them sit in the trucks, and everyone came out to pose for a picture.

Abby had put the thank you cards she had made into envelopes.  (For some reason she is really into envelopes these days.)  When we were getting ready to leave, the chief came out with the drawing she had made, unfolded.  He had put tape on it and told the kids that he was going to tape it to the fridge so they could remember Jake and Abby every time they got something from the fridge.  Abby is also into taping things in various places, so she thought that was great!

Over and over I have seen a quote on Facebook and on the news from some comedian pointing out how the good will always outnumber the evil.  In times of trial, I don’t think it’s enough to just label ourselves on the “good” side of the ledger.  The “evil” ones go to great lengths to carry out their evil, terroristic ways.  In response, we need to do what we can to show people the good in the world.  Today’s project cost us all of $3 (since I had many of the ingredients on hand today) and it took us about 2.5 hours of time.  But, it was such a great reminder to both myself and my children to take the time to be thankful for those who stand ready to help against evil and to show others in some small way what we can do on the “good” side of the ledger.

The End (or is it…)

Hello all!  I apologize for neglecting this blog for so long.  As you may know, our “year of service” technically came to an end in August of 2012.  We have done several service projects since that time, but many of them were repeats and I just didn’t feel like I had that much new material to share.  As one update, we were able to ship four large boxes of shoes to the children in Kenya.  I was hoping for some pictures of the children with shoes to post, but unfortunately, I did not receive any.  The only picture I received was showing that the boxes had arrived, and I didn’t think that picture was blog-worthy.  At any rate, I decided that I kind of left things completely unresolved with this blog and wanted to wrap it up properly.

Our year of service was a wonderful experience, and I am thankful for all of the adventures we had along the way.  We met so many wonderful people, near and far, and hopefully we had a small positive impact in this massive, crazy world.  I fully plan to keep teaching my children to give, and we will do many of these projects over and over again at our house.  My youngest child, Jake, is now pushing 3 and is ready to start learning to give, as well.  I look forward to adding him in to our projects from here on out.

I hope everyone who stumbles across this blog finds a little inspiration somewhere to make a difference.  I know it isn’t realistic for everyone to do a service project a week, but it is realistic to do something.  I truly believe that if we focus on teaching our children to give, the world will ultimately be a much better place.  Many thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way on our journey!

Help us ship shoes to Kenya!

As you probably already know, we have spent the past several months working on a variety of projects for the Fresh Start Academy in Eldoret, Kenya.  (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the “Project Kenya” posts!)   We were asked to help meet some very basic needs.  So far we have sent toothbrushes and toothpaste and school supplies.  The biggest project we have undertaken has been to fill the request of shoes for the children by Christmas.  Several friends from different walks of my life have taken it upon themselves to help collect shoes for this project.  Additionally, people I have never even met but who have been inspired by the blog have sent shoes.

Today, a friend came to my house with over 100 pairs of shoes that she had collected.  After having shipped the toothbrushes and toothpaste and the school supplies, I have been very fearful of the cost of shipping the shoes.  But, to this point, I have basically taken the “collect the shoes and God will make sure the rest gets taken care of” philosophy.  Now we definitely have the shoes!

My sweet friend Cheryl helped me back up all the shoes today…

Here are all the boxes ready to go…

We know there are a few more shoes on the way, so there will ultimately be one more box to add to the mix.  Now we just have to find a way to ship them all to these sweet children…

We have raised $280 so far to cover shipping.  Unfortunately, after spending several hundred dollars each time to ship the toothbrushes and toothpaste and school supplies, I am pretty much at the end of what I can personally afford to contribute.  Based on measuring and weighing the boxes today, we know it will cost $900-$950 to ship all of the shoes to Kenya.  Do you have a few dollars burning a hole in your pocket that could help get these shoes to these children?  If so, I set up a fundraising site where you can contribute here.   Even if you aren’t in a position to donate, please consider sharing this post on Facebook, Twitter, etc. to help spread the word and help us find a way to get these shoes to those who need them most!

‘Tis the season for giving!

It’s been a while since my last post, so I thought it was about time for me to check in.  I have had a few people ask me if we are still doing our projects, so I wanted to get the word out that we are still at it!  A lot of the projects we are doing now are repeats of projects we did last year, so I hesitate to bore you all with posts of the same old projects.  Some of them are just such great projects that we will keep doing them forever!  One such project is Reverse Trick-or-Treating.  I have now done this project four or five times with my kids, and each time it has been as wonderful as the time before.  I think of Reverse Trick-or-Treating as sort of the kick off to the holiday season when it comes to giving!

No idea what I’m talking about?  Let me explain!  Trick-or-treating is always lots of fun, but it’s all about receiving and pigging out on junk food.  Neither of those activities are what “teaching to give” is all about, so several years ago I came up with the idea of “Reverse Trick-or-Treating.”  I started this event at our church, and this year I got my moms’ group involved for the first time.  We put together goodie bags and decorated them.  Then we took the kids in their Halloween costumes to a nearby assisted living facility, and the kids went around handing out the goodie bags to the residents.   This project blesses the kids (and parents) as much as it does the residents.  Everyone has a great time!

This year we had about a dozen or so kids.  My favorite part?  Not one of them asked for a single thing!  They all had a great time and really seemed to connect with the residents.  Jake (my 2.5 year old) really clicked with one man at the facility.  They spent several minutes together after the other kids had left.  I loved it!  Here they are….

Halloween is still a week away – so there is still time to get out and do this fun project!  I promise – it will be well worth your time and you will want to do it year after year!  Here’s a shot of Abby (aka Dorothy) giving out a goodie bag…

Another great project we did last year was Operation Christmas Child.   Operation Christmas Child collects shoeboxes full of goodies and delivers them to less fortunate children all over the world.  Christmas may seem far away, but the collection week for Operation Christmas Child is right around the corner – November 12-19.  If you donate for shipping online, you can track your package and know exactly where your shoe box goes.  Our shoe box last year went to Haiti.  I will definitely do this project with my kids again this year.  If you’re interested, you can find a location to drop off your shoe box here.

We are still also working on projects for the Fresh Start Academy in Kenya.  We  have been collecting shoes for months, and we are getting ready to ship them soon.  A friend of mine took it upon herself to collect shoes, too, and she is coming over tomorrow with more than 100 pairs of shoes!  Another blog reader contacted me and put a box in the mail today with more shoes for us to send.  I am still nervous about the cost of shipping the shoes over there, but I’m trying to take a “God will provide” approach.  We’ll see how that works out! (Of note, it really warms my heart when people contact me and say they have been inspired.  The blog reader who just shipped the shoes told me she is taking her children out on a neighborhood food drive and going reverse trick-or-treating.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!!)

With the holidays coming up, this is a great time to get involved with teaching your children to give.  I have several fun ideas for the upcoming holidays – so stay tuned!

What goes around comes around?

This weekend, we took the kids to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine.  Many months ago, Rob and I sat through a high-pressured vacation club sales pitch in order to get a “free” night at the GWL.  (Let me tell you, it’s not worth it!  Stay away from those things!  Just pay for your visit to the GWL!)  After jumping through a million hoops, we finally cashed in our night last night.

The kids had a blast.  Here are a couple of fun shots from the water park…

The plan was for all of us to spend Saturday night, and then I would stay there with the kids on Sunday.  (Rob works at our church and had to be there for the service this morning.)  Jake has never been on a trip before, and he has always slept in his crib.  The whole “everyone-in-the-same-room-and-Jake-not-in-a-crib” plan did NOT work!  Jake was so wired about the whole thing, that he had zero interest in going to sleep.  At first, he just sang songs in the dark.  We heard several rousing renditions of “R-E-D Red”, “Figaro” and “Deep and Wide,” among others.  Periodically, he would shout out “Good morning!” to us.  At first, it was quite funny.  Rob and I were in fits of giggles on several occasions.  That probably didn’t help with the attempts to get him to sleep!  After a brief moment of silence, he piped up with “I just pooped!” to which I immediately shouted out, “Not it!”  Fits of giggles ensued.  It was funny for a while, but after an hour and 45 minutes of Jake’s singing and running around the room in the dark, we finally gave up.  Rob loaded him up and took him home for the night.  That meant Abby and I had some mother-daughter time at the GWL today.

This leads me to the reason for this post.  For our last activity at the GWL, Abby begged me to let her play games in the arcade.  She only wanted to play games that give you tickets, of course.  She played and played and, since she’s not quite 5, ended up with just a small handful of tickets.  As she stood at the counter checking out the candy and small trinkets trying to see what she could “buy,” one of the ladies that works there pulled us aside.  She handed me four cards and said, “Someone gave me these cards today.  They have 500 tickets on them.  They told me to give the cards to whoever I wanted.  I see you don’t have many tickets, so I want you to have them.”  Let me tell you – Abby had an absolute blast “shopping” with all those tickets!  My favorite part?  She spent a good deal of time (and a lot of those tickets) finding and “buying” some really nice gifts for Jake.  She was so excited to tell him about the tickets and the gifts she bought him when we got home.

It was such fun today to see Abby experience the other side of giving.  It certainly makes it easier to teach her about giving when she sees how great it feels to be the recipient.  I can’t say that I believe in karma or “what goes around comes around” or anything like that.  But, I can say that it feels great every time you realize that there really are good people out there in the world!

My challenge for you this week:  commit one random act of kindness – and be sure your kids are involved.  Be anonymous and have fun with it!  I am 100% going to find something fun to do with Abby to pay it forward after receiving a random act of kindness ourselves.  (If you want some cute ideas for RAKs, check out this website for Guerilla Goodness.  LOVE IT!!!)  And, if you do a RAK this week, please comment below to let us know what it is!

Thanks from Kenya!

As you probably know, we have connected with a school in Eldoret, Kenya – Fresh Start Academy – who asked for our help in meeting some very basic needs.  Thanks to the generosity of dozens of  you, we were able to send hundreds of toothbrushes and toothpaste and school supplies to the children in Kenya late in the summer.  Below is the message I received back from John, my connection with the Fresh Start Academy:

In behalf of the Fresh Start Academy, I would like to express  our deepest gratitude for your generous donation last month.

The donation you made contributed greatly to the success of our  project.We were able to make 300  children happy that day and we were also able to give them gifts  composed of Toothbrushes and pastes plus the school supplies.The beneficiaries were overjoyed by the activity and are hoping that we will continue supporting these children.

Thank you so much for giving importance to endeavors such as ours.   Bringing smiles to children’s faces is truly a heart-warming way to  share our blessings to others.We hope you continue supporting us in  future activities.

Yours sincerely,

John

He also sent me several pictures of the children with their new goodies that I wanted to share:

Many heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped with these projects!  It’s so exciting to get to see the pictures of the children with our gifts – to know they are really getting to these kids and we are making a difference!

We are going to continue trying to help the children at the Fresh Start Academy as much as we can.  Our next project is to try to provide shoes for the 300 children before Christmas.  Many people have already donated shoes, and I know there are many more coming.  If you have shoes (in good condition) that you would like to send to these children, please let me know!  The biggest issue is going to be shipping the shoes.  If you would like to make a contribution to help ship shoes to these sweet kiddos, you can do so here.  Even $5 or $10 can really help!

Second Annual National Day of Service Neighborhood Food Drive

As I am sure you are well aware, today is the eleventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks.  Last year, on the tenth anniversary, we were a month into our year of service.  When I learned September 11 had been designated the National Day of Service, I knew we had to do something.  Our service project last year was such a success that we decided to do it again!

I am the “charity” officer for my mom’s club, so I made the National Day of Service into a project for our group.  We met at my house and went door to door in our neighborhood with wagons to collect canned goods for a local food pantry.  We didn’t get the turnout that I had hoped for, but the group we had was great!  We had four moms and four kids participating.  (Me and one other mom decided we’d leave our little ones home to play with my husband.  That was a very good decision.)    Here are the kids at the start…

We spent about an hour going door to door.  Last year, there were a small handful of people who were not interested in helping when we knocked on the door.  (That was hard to explain to the kids.)  I am happy to report that this year every single house (where someone was home) happily donated!  Here are a few shots from our event…

I really, really love this project.  The kids have such a great time with it, and it’s so fun to get the neighbors involved.  After about an hour on the street, we had a big wagon full of food to donate to the local food pantry.

(It’s not an easy task to get six little kids to smile and pose for the camera!)  Here is our whole group…

Last year we had two families participate in this food drive, and this year we had four families participate.  I hope to continue doing this food drive for years to come with more participation each year.  You should consider doing this project in your own neighborhood.  It doesn’t have to be for the National Day of Service.  There is a need year- round!  Consider hosting a food drive at a time of year other than the holidays – when most people aren’t donating as much to local food banks.