Monday, December 29, 2008

An Ironic Day To Simplify Our "Things"..

Today, I had told Dusty and Isabelle that it was time to bag up any toys that they no longer play with to give to other children who would like to have them. They were quite agreeable to this! We did do this a bit before Christmas, but not to the extent that I would have liked (mama got sidetracked!).

So Isabelle and Dusty have spent the morning going through their things and they did a great job of letting many of their toys go! I was very proud of them! As we were bagging up, they asked me what we would do with them, and I explained that we will perhaps give them to goodwill, or put an ad on craigslist in the "free" section, or take them to the gas station to give away (the owners are very good at allowing people to sell or give things away right on their front steps, they let us sell our extra vegetables from our truck in the summer).

It wasn't two minutes after this conversation that the phone rang. It was from the school, which I thought was very odd to be getting a phone call from the school over Christmas break, but I answered to see what the message was. It was an automated message, announcing that one of the teachers had lost their home in a fire on Christmas Eve and there was to be a bake sale on January 3rd to raise money for them!! The teacher they announced was Isabelle's very own teacher!!

After the message played I hung up the phone and called Izzy to come over to me. I told her the news and she immediately teared up, I quickly reaasured her that her teacher was just fine but that they had lost everything.

I knew her teacher had children, and asked Izzy if she knew their ages. "3, 6, and I think 8 or 9." she said.

I looked at the bag of toys and knew excatly where they needed to go! Isabelle is so excited to think her toys will go to her teachers children, especially the 3 year old who is a little girl, she went up and found even more things to give away! January 3rd I will attend the bake sale and bring a few donations of my own.

What a tragic thing for their family, losing their house on Christmas. I can't even imagine. Our little rural community is wonderful though, no one is rich and most just have enough to get by themselves, but we are very good at pulling together when someone is in need, there is no doubt we can get help them get back on their feet with food, clothing, some funds, and elbow grease!

I have some of Izzy's dresses and clothes from when she was smaller that would be just right for the little girl, and perhaps Elyssa has a few items she could give to the older girl (Elyssa is petite for her age and her things would be a close match for the 9 year old).

Time to get busy!!