When we were planning Annie's birthday party we discussed the idea of having people bring food to donate to hungry children and families. Annie loved the idea (it involved families) and she and I brain stormed and came up with the idea that instead of people spending money on a gift for her they spend the money and bring food for hungry families instead.
Don't think we deprived our kids of gifts... We also had a book exchange where we asked people to bring a new or used wrapped book. Each child got to bring home a book and Annie (and Emerson on his B-Day) got several great books.
Today we took the over-flowing laundry basket worth of non-perishable food donations that the kids collected on their birthdays to the Capital Area Food Bank. They were so excited to donate the food and it was so sweet to hear Annie explain to Emerson how they were giving the food to people who didn't have enough to eat.
A special Thank You is due to all of you awesome people who came to Annie's birthday party and Emerson's birthday party with food donations.
I am so proud of my kids. Today they experienced the pure joy of giving to others. My wish is that they will continue to seek this kind of joy for the rest of their lives.
