Samantha came to me the week before Christmas with an armful of books and puppets and fun masks from her room. She had been cleaning in there and brought them to me and in her quietest voice said, "Mom, I want to take these to an orphanage to share with the kids who don't have what I get to have."
Of course I teared up very proudly and we both went to work with ideas of how and where and when. She kept bugging me every other hour - "When can we go, Mom? When?" We first thought of sending them to Ukraine, but you guys were bouncing around so much I wasn't sure you would get the package to share with the children there.
After trying to contact Children's Home and a few other places, We thought of Children's Hospital where Sofie had her surgery. So we bundled up close to 20 little packages - each with a book, puppet or mask, candy cane and "Jesus Loves You" bookmark.
Sofie wanted to contribute one of her Christmas dresses that she knew she wasn't going to wear, so we took that with us too, "in hopes we would find some little girl who could wear it on Christmas instead of her hospital gown" - in Sofie's words. The three of us headed down to Children's the morning of the 22nd. As we pulled into the parking area and garage, the girls kept saying, "Mom, this is so sad - there shouldn't be this many cars here this close to Christmas."
We were allowed to hand deliver the bundles to some children we knew wouldn't be home in time for Christmas. Samantha just beamed with joy as she handed each little child their package...Sofie helping right along side her.
One little girl who must have just finished being examined by her doctor was with her parents and the doctor and was very upset and crying, saw the girls come in the room and hand her the Minnie Mouse headband-bound bundle of fun and she squealed so loudly and a big smile came to her face as she said "Ohh...thank you." Her mom looked at my girls with tears in her eyes and said "Thank you - your timing was absolutely perfect."
Of course, I started tearing up. (Go figure). Sofie found the perfect match for her Christmas dress, too. That trip to the hospital was the best part of our Christmas this year...for all of us. They kept telling me how much they enjoyed doing that for them and want to start doing it every year, it made them feel so good to see them smile. Little did they know how much I was smiling in my heart and how much God was smiling down on them.
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