Our children have been blessed to be able to have parties with their friends for their birthdays each year. However, with each birthday party, an additional 5 or 8 or 10 toys were coming into our house. Our kids have too much already, and Dave and I decided that beginning at age 5, our children could relinquish those gifts from friends for a higher purpose.
When Carlos turned 5, we explained that he would be getting birthday presents from mommy and daddy and aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents, so that he didn't need to get so many more toys from friends. We asked him to think of someone who might need something and then ask his friends to bring a gift for that person in need. That first year, Carlos asked his friends to bring new or used baby toys for the nursery at our church. the nursery workers were in the process of cleaning out old, worn-out toys, so it was the perfect time to bring in new ones for the babies. His friends (or more accurately, his friends' parents) all complied with our request, and Carlos was able to deliver new and used toys to the church nursery. One of his favorite people in the world, Mr. Hap (the Children's Minister at our church), was there to receive the donation and talk with Carlos about it, and he was hooked. He got it. He liked it. And any consternation over what he might be missing was gone. The next year he chose to support our church's food pantry, Covenant Foods, and asked his friends to bring food for the food pantry. We delivered more than a shopping cart full of food to the pantry that year. Covenant Foods has been his passion since.
When Kidist was first presented with the idea, she was ready, because she'd witnessed her brother contributing to Covenant Food all these years. However, it's tough to give up birthday presents at such a young age, especially for Kiki - our social, vibrant, fun, in-the-moment kid. She did it, though, and right out of the gate, she wanted her substitute presents to go to Ethiopia.
Carlos still loves Covenant Foods and Ms. Mary, who runs it, but after much thought, he decided this year to do something for the Ethiopian children he will be meeting and serving in January. The elementary aged kids at our church (which includes Carlos and Kiki) collected over 100 pairs of gym shoes this summer to give to the kids in the Ethiopia Youth Soccer Ministry, a ministry we will work with in Addis Ababa. There are about 100 children in that program, all of them street kids in Addis. Carlos decided it would be nice to give each child receiving a pair of shoes a new pair of socks as well. He asked his friends to forego a present for him and bring new socks to his birthday party. He received 104 new pairs of socks! The very best part is that our kids had collected 103 pairs of shoes. I love it when God makes the math work!!!
Tomorrow we will begin stuffing shoes with socks. I can't wait to see my kids' faces when they actually hand those socks and shoes to kids who desperately need them. I know that giving up birthday presents will never be the same for them after that. How grateful I am that they can learn that lesson so personally. What a privilege and a blessing. Thank you, Lord!
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