I Too Must Give, The Follow Up

 It's 15 degree outside.

This little girl had no socks or shoes

remember how cold it is? 15 degrees. Do you see the adult behind her? Sandals. Only sandals.

No socks

But do you see that smile?

I'm so proud of the women who pulled together to bring a little bit of help (and warmth) to these people. We're doing it again if anyone else would like to be a part of it, let me know. I'll give you the info on where to send the boxes if you're not around these parts.

Because I Have Been Given Much . . .

A friend at church told me about a refugee village in Afghanistan where many children died due to the unseasonably cold winter and lack of warm clothing and blankets. I spent that night reflecting again and again on them, unable to wait to collect blankets and clothing to send. My friend collected four large boxes worth of items to send to these refugee villages. Then we found out that there were friends who didn't get the email with the instructions in time to donate. We started another collection of donations, but this time my friend was out of town and asked me to head it up.

Oh. My. Goodness. Three large boxes and 7 medium boxes. Full. Completely full of blankets, clothing, shoes, socks, hats, gloves, scarves, and anything else that these fabulous women dropped off to my house. Money for shipping costs has poured in.

One friend told her son that children in Afghanistan were freezing and didn't have any blankets. You want to know what her two boys did? They walked right into their bedroom and stripped their beds of their blankets, bringing them and a stuffed animal to me.

There was actually more than this. I got about 4 more large donations before taking it to the post office.

Lincoln helping with the boxes.

Megan brought me her favorite blanket. It's been her favorite since she was very small. It was very hard for her to give it up, but she really wanted to be a part of this.

Today another friend met me at the post office to help me send the boxes off. As we were finishing the last of the taping a woman came up to us and said she had to ask what we were doing. Without even waiting for a complete explanation, she whipped out her checkbook and started writing. "I have to help you with shipping. What's your name? Can I just write you a personal check?" People, this woman wrote me a $100 check. That was almost half of the shipping cost right there. This random woman I've never met heard a snippet of our story and helped us do something that was financially difficult for us.

I've been in shock all day. So many people, my friends, friends of friends, and a woman I've never met and will probably never see again have come together to try to help people none of us will ever meet half a world away.


This whole experience has helped my testimony of Relief Society as an organization. This is what it was organized for. This is what God wants us to do.

Laundry Day

I went down to the basement to do laundry and after opening the dryer, shoving some clothes in, and walking back to the washer for more wet clothes, I came back to the dryer to see this cute mug.

He actually threw a pretty big fit after I took him out.

Maybe next time I'm down there he'll help me take clothes out.

Expelliarmus!

I walked into the living room and found Emma and Nathan playing Harry Potter. It was adorable so I had to take a few pictures. You'll notice Memory Cards on the floor. We are back to playing Memory all day long with Emma.

Emma Wins!