When the Church sent out the "Light the World" campaign last year, I really wanted to participate. But it was hard with moving and everything. So this year I made sure we did something just about every day. Here were some highlights:
-Donating some unused diaper packs to the local women and children's shelter.
-Bringing 2 cases of water to a local women's shelter.
-Baking cookies and bringing them to all the people in our building. (Cora only dropped one plate of cookies, and it was when their dog jumped on her. Soooo, I guess it was warranted.)
-We have a large homeless population here, and usually i don't give money to them. But this day I decided to pull over outside a Sonic and give a man $10 from my wallet. He was so gracious, and I felt really good about it. I told Cora all about why we do nice things and sometimes people are hungry so we give them money for food. To which she said, "Mom, I hungry. I need applesauce."
There was a night themed "Blessed are they who mourn". I wasn't sure what to do, and one of the suggestions on the website was to make someone dinner. I didn't know how that would happen, then I checked my email. And there was a family from the ward who needed dinner!
I tried to have some good one on one time with Cora one day. She and I listened to Christmas music, and I didn't enforce naptime. And of course she had a major meltdown at a friend's house that night, but that should have been expected.
Every time Cora saw a Salvation Army bucket she said "Mom I need the monies". Then she would go put them in the bucket one by one. We made a lot of friends that way.
For the day themed "I was hungry and ye fed me", we got some McDonald's gift cards and passed them out to the homeless people I always see in that parking lot.
This really opened up my eyes to some of the needs in Visalia. On the day we donated clean water, Brandon told me he has many homeless patients and sometimes they are so thirsty in the summer that they drink out of the nasty rivers that run around here. I walk around those rivers all the time, and it smells. It breaks my heart to think of someone needing to drink that because they don't have any other option.
In addition, it gave me a much more compassionate outlook on the homeless people in general here. I don't know what their story is, but it isn't my place to judge. Even if I donate money and 9 times out of 10 they use it for something not good, if 1 out of 10 people can have a hot meal or something sustaining that is worth it. I don't think Heavenly Father will have a problem with me giving TOO much money to people.
So I am going to have water on hand for the summer months, in the car and in the strollers when we go on walks. I am also going to try to have cash and/or gift cards on hand for people. I also want to be able to be the person that people need more often. I am more ready to be compassionate and merciful with people that aren't within my own family, so I am going to work on that.
This was an amazing time for us. I want to keep the spirit of Christmas alive year round!
