Paying it Forward

We have been so incredibly blessed by so many generous people who have helped with our fundraising and have supported our family throughout this process, both with their financial donations and their emotional support and encouragement.  Chris and I have always tried to consciously teach our boys about helping other people and have tried to impress upon them how fortunate they are.  It's difficult to really gauge how much understanding they have of that because they are so little, but we want them to grow up to be giving, generous, helpful adults.

We thought it was especially important this year to make sure our boys were involved in helping other people.  We have done a few things to do this, and have included the kids with choosing what to participate in.  The first thing we did was help with a can drive at school to help feed families in our county.  The boys each selected some non-perishable foods to donate, and we talked about some reasons people may not be able to buy enough food.  Henry's class brought in the most canned foods in the school, and they won a pizza party!  He is so proud of his class and excited for his party.

The school that we are so fortunate to have our boys in does a lot of things to benefit the people of our community.  They are committed to ensuring each child in our county has a Christmas gift, and they are doing a toy drive.  David and Henry each will select a toy to bring in for a child who may not otherwise get a Christmas gift.

My favorite activity we have done is to participate in Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse.  We filled these three shoebox sized boxes with toys, candy, books, and some personal hygiene items like soap, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, and toothpaste.  The boys picked every single item in the boxes themselves.  It was a bit frantic and frenzied, but they were excited.  Very excited. . . .we had to cut down the items they included by about fifty percent!  Henry and Jack each chose to buy items for a boy, and David picked a girl.  It was interesting to see him choosing items for a girl his age - needless to say, we didn't always have the same ideas!  They were excited to pick toys and gifts for people who would not get gifts, and we talked a lot about how Katie will celebrate (or not) Christmas at her orphanage.

Thank you for being part of helping us make our boys more aware of how we can help other people.  And thank you for helping us.