This past week has been a strange combination of the realities of setting up the charity mixed with the emotions of helping another person. If you know me, I tend to get obsessive focused on whatever I’ve set out to do. So this week, I got obsessed focused on setting up ALL the structure of a charity (tax ID numbers, whether or not to accept donations, how to get traffic to the blog, and on and on….). And since I’m a complete novice, it was pretty much like fumbling around in the dark. Another thing I’ll likely laugh about someday…..just not today. =)
On the other hand, aside from setting up all this structure, we had a need for boys clothes in sizes 3-4. In my family, my third son, Aidan just turned 6 and my fourth son, Riley just turned 3. Since we have four boys, we typically pass most everything down between them where we can, but we decided that we were going to take on this request and make it a family activity to reinforce the idea of giving back. We had the whole family in Riley and Aidan’s room (they share a room) and we went through the clothes we had in their closets, drawers and storage bins. Now, I’m not going to insult all you moms of many little ones and act as though my children were singing church hymns while we went through the clothes. =) We had some sword fighting here and there, some random pulling of clothes off the hangers, a few threats of time-outs, plenty of refocusing, but in the end – we had thirty items of clothing and felt it was time well spent with the family. We boxed up the clothes, included our letter of love, and sent them onward. It felt awesome – and as the box sat in the dining room, I watched the kids keep peeking in on it. I could tell they were as proud as I was…and once again, all was right in our little world.
Its been a roller-coaster of emotions this past week – but we SO needed to be the ones again getting down and dirty in gathering up the clothes. It reminded me all over again what the real focus is….its not the charity – it’s the people.
I know that life is busy, many times each day seems to blend in to the next - all of us never getting to the bottom of our “to-do” list. But, there is always time to be thankful for all that we all have, and attempt in our own way to give back. There are many worthwhile charities out there. Maybe the one thing that sets PIOB apart is that we engage in the act of “mindful giving.” While you are collecting the clothes, boxing them up and including the letter – you feel the act of giving, you feel the act of charity. It is a sacrifice of time, possessions and yet a true act of love. Our family, like probably many out there – gives to other charities. But those donations don’t always feel like an act of charity. It happens in the midst of cleaning and organizing and it is set aside from the stuff we are tossing out, but in reality, it feels the same. This activity felt different – was different. We talked through our blessings, we laughed together when the little ones threw in random pieces of non-size appropriate clothing (think underwear or little doll clothes), we chased down our fourth one who was worried that we were giving away “his” clothes, we wondered what the little boy and his mom would think of the clothes, but in the end, we ALL felt a sense of pride, not to mention some wonderful family time and memories. We ask, again, that if you cross our path via this blog and feel that you too would like to join us that you reach out to us and help us, help others.
On a side note, all ended right with our fourth one, Riley, who was worried about his clothes....he had a icey stick to celebrate his accomplishments…..
On the other hand, aside from setting up all this structure, we had a need for boys clothes in sizes 3-4. In my family, my third son, Aidan just turned 6 and my fourth son, Riley just turned 3. Since we have four boys, we typically pass most everything down between them where we can, but we decided that we were going to take on this request and make it a family activity to reinforce the idea of giving back. We had the whole family in Riley and Aidan’s room (they share a room) and we went through the clothes we had in their closets, drawers and storage bins. Now, I’m not going to insult all you moms of many little ones and act as though my children were singing church hymns while we went through the clothes. =) We had some sword fighting here and there, some random pulling of clothes off the hangers, a few threats of time-outs, plenty of refocusing, but in the end – we had thirty items of clothing and felt it was time well spent with the family. We boxed up the clothes, included our letter of love, and sent them onward. It felt awesome – and as the box sat in the dining room, I watched the kids keep peeking in on it. I could tell they were as proud as I was…and once again, all was right in our little world.
Its been a roller-coaster of emotions this past week – but we SO needed to be the ones again getting down and dirty in gathering up the clothes. It reminded me all over again what the real focus is….its not the charity – it’s the people.
I know that life is busy, many times each day seems to blend in to the next - all of us never getting to the bottom of our “to-do” list. But, there is always time to be thankful for all that we all have, and attempt in our own way to give back. There are many worthwhile charities out there. Maybe the one thing that sets PIOB apart is that we engage in the act of “mindful giving.” While you are collecting the clothes, boxing them up and including the letter – you feel the act of giving, you feel the act of charity. It is a sacrifice of time, possessions and yet a true act of love. Our family, like probably many out there – gives to other charities. But those donations don’t always feel like an act of charity. It happens in the midst of cleaning and organizing and it is set aside from the stuff we are tossing out, but in reality, it feels the same. This activity felt different – was different. We talked through our blessings, we laughed together when the little ones threw in random pieces of non-size appropriate clothing (think underwear or little doll clothes), we chased down our fourth one who was worried that we were giving away “his” clothes, we wondered what the little boy and his mom would think of the clothes, but in the end, we ALL felt a sense of pride, not to mention some wonderful family time and memories. We ask, again, that if you cross our path via this blog and feel that you too would like to join us that you reach out to us and help us, help others.
On a side note, all ended right with our fourth one, Riley, who was worried about his clothes....he had a icey stick to celebrate his accomplishments…..
In love and kindness,
Email Elizabeth
Email Heather
Hi, I'm visiting from MBC. Great blog!
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