Serving

We took the kids to do some volunteer work this afternoon at the Chattanooga Room in the Inn. We have so many opportunities to do fun stuff but we also want to take advantage of showing our boys how they can give back to our community. They grumbled initially but enjoyed rolling up their sleeves and contributing. They had a little fun learning how to use a mop.

 

 

Sharing the Halloween Spirit

Starting in the 7th grade, and continuing until I graduated from high school, I participated in a visitation program through my church's youth group. On Monday nights we would meet up at the church building as a group and then divide into smaller groups and go visit shut-ins and nursing home residents. Sometimes we would do chores for individuals, sometimes we would sing, but often we would just walk the halls and visit. We would shake hands, smile and talk with the people we met.

During this time of my life I was very much an introvert and sometimes these visits could be extremely uncomfortable, but overall I have very fond memories from these experiences.

Since high school I have only been back to nursing homes on a few occasions, typically around Christmas to sing carols, but it hasn't been something that has been a priority.

Recently our small group from church decided to take our kids to a local nursing home, dressed in their Halloween costumes, to hand out candy to the residents. This experience really took me back to my weekly visits in youth group.

As a parent, I can't really describe the pride I had in all 9 of our kids. They confidently marched up to people they didn't know and handed them candy. They really made a lot of people's day. I loved seeing the nurses excitedly walking the halls with us to make sure we didn't miss a single resident. 

With kids ranging in age from 2-11, all of the kids did amazingly well. The two-year-olds were especially funny in that they were determined to not miss giving a single person a piece of candy. I'm not sharing this to brag, I am just so very proud of these kids that are a part of our lives. I am thankful that Jack has a good example of older kids in his life. I am thankful that these kids were willing to spend part of a Saturday visiting other people's grandmas and grandpas, and that they didn't expect anything in return.

Volunteering

Over the years Daniel and I have discussed how important we both felt it was to teach our children {should we have any} to volunteer. We want to instill a selfless attitude and a willingness to serve in our children. Well, now that we have Jack, we have been talking more seriously about how we could make this a reality.

When the opportunity to serve lunch at The Downtown Rescue Mission in Huntsville came up, we signed up right away. We felt that there is no time like the present to get Jack used to the idea of serving and to see his parents in action. We know that he won't remember this particular instance, but if this becomes his normal, we hope that he will take on the desire to serve others.

With that in mind, we went to the Downtown Rescue Mission after church. I stuck Jack in the Baby Bjorn and we headed in. It was amazing the response we received by having a baby with us. Jack is the perfect age to do this. I could control him and not worry about him running around. He loves to laugh and smile at people and he really engaged a lot of people as they passed through the food line. This would not be an easy thing to do with a toddler, but I think serving lunch with a baby strapped to you is a great opportunity to share your child with people that might not get to see the sweet smiles and giggles of a baby. We are so glad we took this opportunity to serve. We hope there we will be many more such opportunities in our future {and in Jack's}.