The sermon on Sunday, December 2, was about extending Christmas into the community. After the boys sang in the choir, the pastor gave the sermon about the good news that was for ALL the people and then told the church about a giving project to help the children who were part of the Children & Youth Services in Lancaster County. These are kids who had been abused or neglected and were part of the system now. There were trees with numbers on top of them to let you know how many kids were in that family.
We talked about how many children to buy for (when we hear kids in need, I think we both want to take all the names!) and said wouldn't it be nice to have the boys buy gifts for other children to teach them about giving? By the time Shawn went up (we first said goodbye to our parents and his sister and brother-in-law and then we continued to let the crowds die down) there weren't many names left on the trees. Shawn found a tag of names on the trees with two kids in the family, and one was a boy named Ryan who was 17 and the other was a girl named Maggie who was 16. Since we have a Ryan, he thought it was a good choice.
The instructions said NOT to give money, gift cards, anything used or edible items. I'll be honest and say that I don't have a clue what teenagers would be into that aren't outrageously expensive (like electronics) or aren't gift cards. The suggestions on the instructions included school supplies, warm socks and gloves, etc. But, there were no sizes on our tags, just ages. I struggled at what to get. I really wanted to bless these kids who had nothing with something they wanted. Finally, I decided to call the agency. I didn't want to bother any workers, but I hoped someone could give me at least sizes for these children so I didn't buy an XL for a gal who wore a small or a medium for a boy who might need a 2XL. I wasn't sure they would give out this info, but I thought it was worth asking. The worst they could say was no, right?
It took me a couple times of calling to get through, but I finally was connected with the person who was in charge of the program. She was AMAZINGLY NICE! I was immediately impressed with her desire to help the less fortunate. She didn't know, but she took their names and the ID numbers that were on the cards and told me she would call me back. She talked to their case worker and called me back with the sizes for both children and a short list of ideas that each one would like. She then went on to thank me for taking the time to call and invest in these children's lives, explaining that they were the poorest of the poor.
Shawn & I agreed that we should get everything on each list. I went and purchased an alarm clock for the boy. At first I thought about getting the cheapest one there, but then I decided that that wasn't the spirit of the season and I began to compare and review and got one of the nicest ones they offered. I also thought of back-up batteries and purchased those with it. He also asked for a wallet, which we got him. The girl asked for nice smelling stuff and warm slippers, so I headed to Bath & Body Works and Kohls. We bought them some items from Old Navy and hopefully they will fit and look trendy. Any time the Lord brought them to mind, I would pray for them. And I wrote them both letters from our family, which I wasn't sure if the agency would include or not, but I thought that the time to write a personalized letter of encouragement was hopefully a gift as well.
Shawn's sister Missy doesn't typically go to our church, but she is a very generous person and also picked names and dropped off the bags at our door to take along to church. When we arrived at church that week, we asked where to take the items and we were told that all bags were being put on stage. We weren't allowed to wrap the gifts but instead were asked to put them in trash bags with the ID tags on them so they knew which families the items went to (I'm sure they were probably inspected before the kids got them). The stage was filled with what looked like a whole lot of trash, but it was cool to see the sheer amount of giving that was taking place.
And I have to say that we enjoyed buying the gifts for these kids as much as when we bought the things for our own. We even took a date night where Mamaw watched the boys to finish up shopping for them. I'm truly hoping they enjoyed what we got them. And I know that God answers prayers, so I'm believing they received far more than "stuff" this season.
No comments:
Post a Comment