The 7 "fancy stockings" are still in perfect condition and just sitting, unused. I had a thought this morning that we need to fill them. We tossed around some ideas (missionaries, single retired sister-friends) and decided to call the local women's shelter.
They currently have 7 women staying at the shelter. Is that a sign? I think so. We set out to fill the stockings and decided to grab 7 more stockings and fill them for each of the children staying at the women's shelter as well.
These kids gave me 5 hours of shopping today. I'm proud of their perseverance, commitment to their allowed budget, great behavior in the stores (tender mercy!), and charitable attitude while they thoughtfully selected items for each of the residents. It was a good experience for me children, but more importantly, I hope the recipients of these stockings feels uplifted and knows that someone cares about them. I like that we will never see who actually receives these gifts. The kids need to understand that giving is not about waiting for a thank you. The reciprocity in charity is feeling the love of Christ for everyone. I feel like this was accomplished in our home today as my children caught on and started adding gifts they'd picked out for one another or recently received to the stocking piles for other children to enjoy. I hope the love is felt Christmas morning on the receiving end. The pleasure was definitely ours, today.
Huge thank you to Carly and her family for their donations of pampering products (a stocking stuffer staple!), to Gwen for her adorable Christmas sugar cookies and the toiletries, and to Teresa for the Dickeys BBQ coupons, and to EA for the light saber and storm trooper for the boy child. These extra touches really helped personalize the gifts make them so much more special. I'm amazed that our family prayer to "help us find someone to serve today" turned our family into a vehicle to make such a magnificent thing happen. We feel really grateful to have been so blessed to feel the Christnas Spirit so strongly today.
When we checked out at one store, the cashier told me I'm crazy for bringing the kids along to pick out their own stockings. Corbin told her that "we don't get to keep this stuff, it's for the shelter with no daddies". The cashier told us with tears that she herself lived at the women's shelter years ago and they helped her to get this job and that small donations and gestures really do go a long way to make a difference in someone's life.
2 comments:
This is so beautiful. I love that you do this and model compassion and service to and with your children. I keep erasing gushy sounding sentences. Sufficed to say, it makes me teary with joy. Love that you shared this. I think, when one shares how they did something that can seem daunting, it encourages others. You're rad.
I love this!
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