The crusaders are at it again

 So we went to DC with our friend Shannon and her kids on Saturday and after walking all over, we found this little park for the kids to play at while we waited for Aaron to get the car. I noticed that we gained a kid in the play time, he fit right in with his 3 year old self and pretty soon all the kids were playing freeze tag. After awhile they all got hungry so we pulled out our snack and all the kids ate the remainder of the lunch we packed. (Travel Tip: pack a lunch, the museums may be free, but the food ain't...) I noticed a group of homeless sitting close by and realized his mom was one of the group.

Breaking my heart as I put 2 and 2 together, I realized this little boy was homeless. I treaded gently with my children as they later asked about him. Introducing the subject of homelessness to such tender and innocent hearts brought tears to all our eyes. We all immediately prayed for him and is family, that they find a warm cozy place to sleep and they would be safe. Praying is the most powerful thing we can do for someone, unfortunately we feel powerless many time over because we often use it as a last resort. No wonder we feel so limited in it's power, we are the ones that limit it.

The kids felt like they needed to help, not needed, but N.E.E.D.E.D! to help. They made homemade cards (above), Sarah's said "Thank you for playing with us", and Sophie made a swan, no kidding, that is our 4 year old drawing a swan. We stopped by the store and got a little matchbox car, a small airplane a couple of bouncy balls and the kids finished our present with their extra Halloween candy. We trucked over to McDonald's to get a gift card, packed up some of our homemade Chai Spice cake (DIVINE!!) and loaded the family truckster and headed out on a mission to find this boy!!

After driving around, praying and driving some more, we found a parking spot and set out to keep looking. We asked someone that was clearly homeless and gave a description and waited to see what happened. He lead us to a homeless camp with tents and such and I was told this was his families "home". I "knocked" on the tent a couple of times, announced myself and nothing happened. I ever so carefully opened the tent and found the little boy's home. They were not there, but we left our gift with a note. We had a special moment knowing he had a little something to greet him when he got back.

Was it the right tent? God only knows, but the point is the girls saw something they could do, they could help, they could fix something. How many times have I walked right by someone that clearly needed help and did nothing. I am ashamed that I do it more than I realize. These kids teach me how to open my eyes and make me realize there are things we can do, they might not be big in our eyes, but I think about that little boy playing with is new treasures today and I smile a little bigger. It is a great day for sure. We can be a part of fixing things, if we just do SOMETHING.