Apparently, there are all kinds of rules to writing a blog. Really? Yeah! I read a bit about the dos and don'ts but quite honestly I'm much more comfortable doing my own thing and I just had to tell y'all the rest of the story!! So here I am again...2 times in a week with what will most likely be more than 300-400 words. Sorry but...
When you last saw our little (haha) family, we had wrapped up some presents for The Homeless Present Project. We decided that we wanted to make the gifts a bit more personalized so I used my Cricut to make some easy to assemble Christmas images. I set the kids up with some scrap paper and folded some card stock into cards and we were good to go!! All of our children participated and created 12 unique cards!! Each card had a special message in it and was signed by whichever child made it.
The plan WAS to give the gifts to homeless people that we ran into during the day, but since it was a Sunday and we were all home we decided to put the whole bin in ONE car and go out looking for people to give our presents to. We ended up driving to our downtown area and found a few people napping and hanging out in the plaza. We quickly realized as we made made our way toward them that 12 presents wasn't going to be enough.
Now, I have to be honest, there are times that I have hesitated to want to help people who are homeless. I have doubted, judged and been less than Christian in my thoughts. I am not proud of this and I know that I am a work in progress but what happened that afternoon as we passed out the few presents we had, touched me...deeply.
As we approached the first gentleman with our small offering, I let him know that we only had a few, he smiled and said, "Give them to the ladies first! A blessing is a blessing no matter how small." Another lady said to me, "Oh no, you don't apologize! It's such a blessing just to be able to see you all doing this."
As I drove my family home, my eyes welled up with tears. I suddenly felt that I hadn't done enough. I could have done more, couldn't I have? I could have eaten a little lighter this week, not splurged on the extras that we take for granted, made more packages...I guess I suddenly felt a little guilty. Why do I have so much while others have so little? Why so I behave so ungratefully while others with less are happy because a "blessing is a blessing no matter how small"?
When you last saw our little (haha) family, we had wrapped up some presents for The Homeless Present Project. We decided that we wanted to make the gifts a bit more personalized so I used my Cricut to make some easy to assemble Christmas images. I set the kids up with some scrap paper and folded some card stock into cards and we were good to go!! All of our children participated and created 12 unique cards!! Each card had a special message in it and was signed by whichever child made it.
The older kids in our family took charge of attaching a card to each gift. (It was awesome to see them making this their own!!)
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| This bin was supposed to hang out in our car during the Christmas season. |
Now, I have to be honest, there are times that I have hesitated to want to help people who are homeless. I have doubted, judged and been less than Christian in my thoughts. I am not proud of this and I know that I am a work in progress but what happened that afternoon as we passed out the few presents we had, touched me...deeply.
As we approached the first gentleman with our small offering, I let him know that we only had a few, he smiled and said, "Give them to the ladies first! A blessing is a blessing no matter how small." Another lady said to me, "Oh no, you don't apologize! It's such a blessing just to be able to see you all doing this."
I'm sad to say that I didn't get any pictures of us actually passing out the presents. Truthfully, I didn't even think about it. All 7 of us chatted with the people we met and enjoyed our interactions so much that it didn't even occur to me to photograph it. A picture would not have captured the tenderness, humility or the generosity of the sweet souls that we met that day, anyway, I suppose.
It wasn't until we were getting ready to leave that I snapped a couple of pictures. The gentleman that first spoke to us when we arrived was quick to ask, "Can you get one with all of us?" as he hurried over to his friends.
My family and I don't know why any of those people are homeless, we only know that they are. Quite frankly, it isn't any of our business. We only know that something happened in their lives that for whatever reason led them here. It is OUR business to take care of each other. As human beings...one soul to another.
We made a promise to each other on that car ride home that we would not let this stop here. We WOULD do this again...and soon because that day was a blessing to us. And a blessing is a blessing no matter how small...or how big!
Love,
From the creative, chaotic happiness that is our family
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