Thinking of others
My son turned five on Sunday. I can’t believe my baby is five. He wanted a star wars party and we went all out. We invited 16 kids, expected maybe 12, but got all 16. The house was crazy. The kids went through a star wars training camp to prove their readiness to become Jedi’s. My husband was the master Jedi, my older son was his apprentice, and my niece was Princess Leia. All the kids received tunics, light sabers, and certificates of completion. Great fun was had by all. [For a detailed description of this party and how we pulled it off, click here.]
It got me thinking of a couple of things though. While we were opening presents from 16 children I started feeling embarrassed or ashamed of how many “things” my son was getting. It was way too much. We are really blessed…to the point of spoiled some times. How many of us will ever experience true need. Truly be in a position of not having something we need or something our children need? I venture to say not many of us. I grew up with a father that worked in construction so the work was not always there. There were plenty times that we had to rely on places like the church or the Salvation Army to get us through, but I still don’t ever remember not being satisfied.
There have always been images on the news of people in need. But right now I am thinking of the kids in Haiti. My heart hurts for the children and the parents who can’t do anything about it. The story of the mother who could hear her child calling to her for a couple of days and she could not get to her, kills me. I can not imagine. Now, although I would love to adopt one of these children my husband isn’t quite ready for such a commitment. In the mean time, I want to teach my children a little bit about others in need. You see, mine have never been in need for anything. So, this weekend I am going to take the kids to the store and we are going to prepare a medical kit to send to Haiti. We will probably include some comforts as well. Hopefully this will bring comfort to one family. And hopefully my kids will begin to understand how blessed they are.
Do any of you have any ideas for helping others in need? How about sharing this with our younger generation? I’d love to hear some other ideas.
Jessie
