September 3, 2010: Today Compassion Begins

This morning I opened the fridge to find that Dustin had left his lunch at home again! AB and Lydia and I already had one errand to run and it was close to Dustin's work. I decided we could swing it! (we are getting much better at outings). Lydia turned 6 weeks old today and was in a super happy mood, smiling and the whole 9 yards, so yes, we would take Dustin's lunch to him.

Here is a photo of Lydia Grace in her super happy mood:

Once we got to Dustin's work he brought AB some pretzels and a banana. We went on to run our errand and headed home. Here is AB eating the yummy pretzels:

On the way home we drove past a homeless man lying on the grass. I saw him but wasnt sure if Anna Beth saw him to. Yep, she saw him.

Here is what our conversation went like:

AB: Mommy, that man is sleeping on the grass. Did you see him?

Mommy: I did see him. He is sleeping on the grass because he doesnt have a house.

AB: He has a house, his house is in, he has a house...his house is just in Georgia.

Mommy: Nope, he does not have a house at all. Some people have houses and some people do not.

(we drove through another intersection and this time she saw a homeless lady)

AB: Mommy, do you see her. She is sad.

Mommy: I do see her. She is sad. She doesn't have a house either. See the sign she is holding up? That sign says I do not have a house, please help me.

I then explained how she doesn't have a house, food or money. As we were turning into our neighborhood I asked her what we could do for the lady.

AB: She can come to our kitchen and eat.

Mommy: That is a good idea. Maybe one day she can come to our kitchen and eat. How bout today we go give her something to eat now. Do you think she will like a banana?

AB: (with much excitement!!!) Yes! She will love it.

Mommy: OK I will turn around.

Trying to reiterate the lesson that was being learned I continued the conversation.

Mommy: Ok, here we go. We are almost there. Do you know why we are giving her your banana?

AB: (I was hoping she would say because she doesn't have a kitchen or money or something along those lines, but nope...my 3 year old blew me away) Because we LOVE HER!

Mommy: Do you know why we are giving her a dollar?

AB: (I was hoping she would say something like so she can buy a house or something but again, my 3 year old blew me away) Because we LOVE HER.

Mommy: You are right. We do love her. We will give her a dollar and a banana so she can eat and maybe buy a house one day. And we will pray for her that she will know Jesus. Let's pray. Jesus, please let the lady know you, have a house and a happy heart (she's 3, that is as simple as I could put it). In Jesus name, AMEN.

AB: Mommy, what is her name?

mommy: We can ask her. Oh, there she is.

We missed the red light but decided to just turn our hazard lights on and have a chat with her. I gave her the dollar and then proceeded to explain to her that AB wanted to share her banana and we wanted to pray for her and wanted to know her name. She took the banana and started eating it before she said a word. After she ate a couple bites she said her name was Jenny and explained her situation. Her husband gets work here and there and only gets about 500 a month and was trying to get her off the streets. We said we would pray for her and AB got to say hi to Mrs. Jenny. The light turned green and off we went, but not before I snapped one last photo. Mrs. Jenny had moved on the car behind ours but AB wanted to see her eat her banana. Here is the last photo I snapped.

This is Mrs. Jenny eating the banana:

Today some innocence was lost. AB knows that some people do not have food and they do not have a house and have to sleep outside during the heat or the cold. That is a lot to stomach for such a small child but today, my daughter got to see Jesus in a different way.

³⁴"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Matthew 25:34-35

I love my Job!