[picapp src=”0214/0b77d1c4-0ec8-4cac-9f06-b931430430c2.jpg?adImageId=7332600&imageId=218009″ width=”234″ height=”317″ /]I always try to find some way for my young kids (ages 8 and 11) to get involved in helping others. And this year, I have extra incentive – their Church confirmation class requires it. (I think this is a great requirement, by the way. Kids need to learn how to give themselves to others – it should feel natural to them). A project through work, the United Way, and the Women’s Leadership Council caught my eye, and before I knew it, the three of us were signed up.
Last night, we went to downtown Dallas to the United Way Offices, with about 75 other women, and made Thanksgiving posters to decorate the doors of the patient rooms at Children’s Medical Center, for kids who would be there for Thanksgiving. We each made five, and painted and stamped and cut and glued our little hearts out. The kids did a great job, and experienced the happiness of bringing joy to someone else.
But the highlight of my evening, and one of the highlights of my motherhood, was reading what was written on one of the posters made by my 11-year-old girl. She’d put a Thanksgiving picture in the middle, but around it wrote,
“You Inspire Me”
And that was all I needed to know. At least for one night, I’d done my job. My kids learned the lesson of giving to others who might need some help, and the truly amazing lesson that usually the giver is also the receiver in so many ways[picapp src=”0058/ae5fa05d-789e-4d5a-8e6f-6fa58626b1b2.jpg?adImageId=7334065&imageId=60951″ width=”234″ height=”156″ /]
