The Spirit Of Giving

Can you believe this little boy has been the buzz of our church this past week?

I am soooo proud of him!!!

Our church does something called DreamFest each month..  A girl at church asked me if the kids had toys they don't play with anymore that I could donate for the kids.  So a couple Mondays ago I sat down with the kids and told them about some children who didn't have many or any toys. I told them that their Mommies and Daddies who don't have money to buy Christmas presents for those children.I told them we could help make those children (and their parents) happy by sharing some of their toys. I asked if they would like to go through their toy box and pick out some toys to give to these children. They both said yes. So I told them after nap we would pick out some toys to share. They went to sleep and Dakota woke up first. When he got up first thing he said is can we go get our toys to share. I told him after Aiyanna woke up we would. They share a room and she was still sleeping. He asked me at least 20 times before she woke up. I was really surprised that he was so excited to do this. After Aiyanna woke up we went to the toy box and started going through it. He would tell me if he wanted to share it or keep it. They donated 2 trash bags and a diaper box of toys. I was so proud of them!!!

(Can you believe I didn't get any, not even one, pictures of all the toys we that were donated)

Here are a few children playing with some of the toys.

That's not the end of the story though. Later that evening while we were eating dinner he started asking me questions. Do they look like me? Are they big? Are they boys or girls? So I asked him if he would like to go and meet these children and help give out the toys he is going to share. He said yes so we went and volunteered. He was so great showing the kids how to work some of the toys and talking to them. When we left he asked if we could help with DreamFest again. We will now be volunteering every month

Word got out that this 4 year old boy was sooo excited to share his toys and drove his Mommy crazy waiting to go through his toy box. It spread around the church so quicky. Everyone was talking about it.  I didn't even realize that until we were at Dream Fest. A member of the church came over to us and he started talking to Dakota. He told him that everyone was talking about him and how he was so excited  to share his toys with children less fortunate then he was.  Dakota just said "really".  Like what's the big deal.  I know he has made me realize what the Spirit of Giving means.  He didn't do it because he had to. He did it because he wanted to!!!  Because he wanted other boys and girls to have toys to play with. He was happy to see them pick out toys he brought for them.

He has reminded me and many others what it means to be a cheerful giver!

 When we were asked if we could donate toys  I had heard of DreamFest but never really knew what it was.

 It is so amazing!!!

The church buys food and has it trucked to the Atlantic Beach Community Center in South Carolina.

They give this food out free of charge to anyone who comes. No questions asked!

Each person/family gets a number. when their number is called they get a buggy and walk through with a volunteer and are given food.  I was told it's enough to last a month.

There are also two beauticians that volunteer their time to give free hair cuts to anyone who wants one.

They have nurses there that will check your blood pressure.

They also have activities for kids.  This month they put on a play of the Christmas Story, gave out bags with a few goodies in them, and then let each child pick out a donated toy.

We had a great time helping out. I am really excited that we will get to spend one Saturday a month as a family helping others and showing them God's love!