Who is Most Blessed?

Yesterday was one of the best days ever. You know, one of those days that you never want to forget. It was one of those days where you heart felt good and you see growth and maturity spring up in your children (at least 2 of them). Today the girls and I visited a local mission in downtown Flint, the goal was to help wrap Christmas gifts. We talked a little bit about how the parent(s) of the children were not able to purchase gifts for their kids themselves so the mission gets the gifts and wraps them up so the kids would recieve some presents. We talked about how by helping we are the hands of God and we are showing His love by working in His name.

We arrived and there were huge tables just FILLED with toys. Everything you could imagine. Sweet Baby couldn't resist grabbing the toys and checking them out. But both Sissy and Peanut were just anxious to get to work.

I think the most enjoyable part of the process for the girls was that they actually got to choose the gender and age of the children and then they got to choose the gifts to give them. There was an information sheet on each family that listed the child's age and some wishes for their gifts. We were able to find a couple sheets that had 7 year old girls in the family and then Sissy chose a family that had a 10 year old and 14 year old girl. It was so sweet to watch my children choosing carefully and putting a bit of themselves into the choices.

Peanut was thrilled to find that one of the girls wanted art supplies (Peanut is my little artist) and the little girl's favorite color is pink (also Peanut's favorite color). Imagine her delight when she discovered that the child likes to read as well (Peanut wakes up from her bed nearly each morning carrying a book with her to read before she does anything else!). I was shocked that Peanut was able to do all the wrapping by herself (except cutting the paper to size, the rolls were too big for her to manuver). Sweet Baby even helped place the tape on many packages.

For me, Sissy (10) impressed me the most. She was sitting next to me wrapping and at one point she said, "Mom, this is fun. I think next year, I don't even want to get any Christmas presents for myself, I just want to come here and do this again for the people who need it." I had to work very hard not to cry. It was at that moment that I realized that as parents, we must be doing SOMETHING right. Her maturity in that statement was amazing.

On the way home Sissy said, "Mom, did you have a funny feeling in your stomach when we were at the mission? Because I did, it felt really good to be helping." This isn't the first time her dad and I have felt she is old enough to be helping people who need it. Our church runs a center that gives free clothing and food to the community once a week. Once a month they do it in the evening so we are able to take her up there, she helps and loves it, but for some reason - yesterday was a day that touched her a bit more.