Another healthy family trait and a cool story from our trip

First night of our vacation.
Ocean, sand, good food, and each other.

We just got home last night from our dreamy California vacation. Late.  I had plans of doing laundry, dishes, unpacking, and getting caught up on my blog. PPPfffff. Yeah right. I didn’t even do dishes today people. My children were stuck on me like flies on sticky fly paper. We even all took a two hour long nap. Yep, it is EXHAUSTING transitioning back in to the real world after 6 days free of children, meal planning, stress and worries. Exhausting for everyone, even the kids. Everyone is just trying to figure out what normal life looks like again. I'm still on California time. 

I missed Healthy Family Trait Monday yesterday, and here it is 10:22pm and I am gathering my thoughts to present to you another trait to encourage and challenge you.

This week’s focus is:

3. The healthy family values 

service to others.

One way I see this acted out in our family is through hospitality. One of our family’s gifts, I believe, is hospitality. When we were looking for our house, we knew we needed a house with a living room big enough to have people over. We wanted a dining room that could fit an extra family or two. We wanted a kitchen that would be open enough for people to stand around and fellowship while meals were being prepared. We wanted a house that would allow us to serve those we love, a house where we could invite in new friends and neighbors.

I love having people over. If you have ever been over for a momdate playdate you know that I love making lunch and feeding everyone! I get so much joy from getting to make mamas and their kiddos feel comfortable and welcome in my home. The same goes for dinners here. We love having people over for gatherings. Filling bellies is an act of love in this family. It’s a way we love to serve.

Another way Matt and I value service to others? Missions work. Since having children I haven’t been able to do this as much (well, in the way of hopping on a plane and going to faraway places to serve others), but in my high school days I did missions trips every year. I went to Jamaica, West Virginia, Georgia and Mexico.  Then after I graduated I went off to Puebla, Mexico for a year and served at Esperanza Viva. I was a dorm mother to 14 little girls that were babies to 9 year olds. After Matt and I got married we went as chaperons with our church’s youth team back to Mexico. It was Matt’s first mission’s trip. Then we began having babies, so I stayed home while more opportunities arose for Matt to go back to Mexico, and also to Honduras.  

While we were in Los Angeles this last week, my heart ached at how many homeless people we saw. Saturday morning I mentioned to Matt that if we ever do a trip like this again, that we should plan ahead and get connected with a ministry or charity and do a day of volunteering. Well Matt took that idea and thought “well why not now?” and next thing I knew we were spending our fancy dinner budget money on bread, turkey, chips, apples, juice boxes and lunch sacks. Our plan had been to head out to Venice Beach, and we thought we’d turn it in to an opportunity to share the love of Jesus.

(source)
Not my picture, but similar to what we saw on Venice Beach.
 

I was nervous. I didn’t want to offend people. I didn’t want to assume they needed our little sack lunches if they didn’t. Matt though? No fear. The first guy we walked up to was holding a big 50 lb. dog in his lap. He had a little cup out and was asking for change. We asked him if he was hungry. He gladly took the bag. He asked us if we love God. We said “yup” and told him that God loves him too. He told us thanks and we were on our way. 

The next guy we ran in to was this dude handing out his record and asking for donations for his music. He was this thugged out young guy dressed in white. His name was Salt (that’s what his cd said) We listened to his music and he asked us what we were up to that day. We told him. Just handing out meals. He looked Matt in the face and told him “y’all love God huh?!” We said “yup” and he went on to tell us we had light in our eyes. That he could tell we loved God. And he told us he does too and that he’s cleaning up his life and reading his bible.

Then we met two young people who had just arrived from Arizona a week before. Again, after we handed them the meals they said the same thing. “Do you guys like, love God or something?”  And this guy went on to tell us (long story short) about how he has stayed sober for over two years, is on probation, and is trying to get his life in order.  They needed a fresh start. Matt asked them if we could pray with them and they said “sure!” So right there, we prayed over them, for God to provide for their every need and to protect them.

Next couple we met, same story, had just come out to California for a fresh start. Just needed help with a meal.

We had two bags left and we passed by a rough looking pair. A young girl and young guy. Totally strung out on drugs. Matt motioned for us to go over to ask them if they need a meal. They were surprised. And gladly accepted. It was sort of an awkward exchange, so we told them to take care and we walked away. A few seconds later I look over at Matt and he is weeping. He was so broken for the girl. She looked awful. We were almost back to the car when Matt said “we gotta go back. I have to talk to them.” So we went back. Matt got to share part of his story with them about when he was on drugs and out on his own too. They were so open to us. The guy asked us if we were Christians. He thanked us over and over and kept shaking Matt's hand. We prayed with them and walked away. It was pretty amazing.

Whoa. Didn’t mean for this post to be so long. Sorry. It’s still fresh on my mind, so I just wanted to share. I'm not sharing this to show off and be all "oh look at us do-gooders!" because it is not that at all. God put these ideas on our hearts and all we did was say yes. In return we were so blessed to serve people who just needed to be acknowledged.  Who just needed some love.

So back to service to others: It’s SUPER important to our family. We can’t wait to be able to bring our kids in to more of these kinds of opportunities in the near future. We want to raise them up to notice the needs of others:  friends or strangers, the lonely or the needy, the orphans and the widows.

How does your family value service to others? How do you allow for your kids to have the chance to serve others?

Need an easy place to start? Bring your fam to Feed my Starving Children. Volunteers can be as young as 5 years old. Make a freezer meal for a new mom and her family. Bring dinner over to the family who has had a rough week. Take your friends’ kids for a few hours to provide them some rest or a much needed date night. Have your kids help pick up garbage in your neighborhood. Teach your kids to hold the door open for others. There are so many easy ways to serve others.

I encourage you to say yes the next time you get a chance.

Ok, it’s 11:46pm now. This mama has got to get to sleep.

Peace.