H is the letter of the day. Last summer, my boys and I were busy with our usual summer activities: swimming, baseball, fighting (the boys), refereeing (me). And my children had a SEVERE case of the "gimmies".
"Mo-om, I want (fill in the blank with the latest cool toy/gizmo/gadget on the market)."
I'd sincerely had enough. We went to a local dollar store and bought brown paper bags, small packets of crackers, tuna, cookies, dried fruit and nuts. We came home and I asked the boys to draw pictures on the bags. They did. Then we proceeded to put a bottle of water, a couple of food items, and a piece of hard candy in each bag. After we were done, we drove around town and handed them out to the homeless. I talked with the boys while we were doing this about the homeless, the less fortunate people we see every day. They were very quiet. I wasn't sure if it was sinking in.
We came back home after an afternoon of handing out the bags and the boys went into their rooms. I let them go play, with little thought of what they were doing. A little later, all three came out with small toys--probably collected from various kid's meals--and asked if we could take those somewhere for children who didn't have toys. I noticed more than a few Hotwheels and cherished treasures among the toys. I have to tell you, my eyes filled with tears as I looked at those little faces.
We loaded up those toys and took them down to a local shelter. I was, and still am, so very proud of them. That's the kind of men I want to send out into this world.
Blessings.
Wonderful, Linda!
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