Planting Seeds ... Enjoying the Harvest

There is not one person who will convince me that planting seeds among our children does not exist. Planting seeds is real, regardless of age, our children are watching and observing our steps as parents. They watch how we interact with others, how we treat our own bodies, how we respond to negativity, how we worship, how we learn about our world, how we ....

I think the domino effect of watching the seeds sprout and multiply is the fascinating part and the highest reward. When you look into the heart of your children and you see that they get something good out of what they observe, that is awesome and keeps me going. Mixed in with all the wrong choices, or mixed in with all the outside distractions, when you see the light turn on and the seed blossom a little bigger, the reward is great.

While I may have passions in life, I am not one to go around town or among my friends and spout them off. By nature I am a more private person (regardless of this blog being so public) - it is my one avenue of letting go and sharing endlessly. I tend to be more guarded in person. So while my immediate family knows about my involvement with Wiphan, Sole Hope, and supporting adoptive parents in their journey to bring their children to a forever home, I am not one shouting it among the streets and talking nonstop around the parent pickup line. I do. I talk. I write. I just mix it in through life in what I consider my quiet way. And it seems to be working ...

When my son decided to give his Candy Money to Sole Hope, it was done in the same fashion. It was his idea, his choice, his delivery. He wore his shirt to school today. It looked great on him. He felt pleased to wear his shirt that he bought himself that put life-changing shoes on children in Africa.

Tucking my daughter into bed this evening, she asked, "Mom, can I have a Sole Hope shirt?" I simply told her that she definitely could purchase a shirt with her money. She looked confused. I told her that buying a Sole Hope shirt was for a worthy cause, but it needed to come from her heart and her desire to help the children and women in Ndola - not because Mom or Dad handed over the money. She didn't say anything.

After picking up the upstairs and getting ready for bed, I went to the staircase landing to run the last load of laundry and noticed a note on our black hall table. It was a folded piece of paper with a green sticky note that read: MOM.  With my hands full I grabbed it and heard a giggle come from my daughter's room. I told her I'd have to empty my hands downstairs before I could read it and she said, "Good. Because I don't want you to do it up here."

Thinking it was going to be a note about some happening at school that she didn't know how to start with out writing it down - I will admit that my heart was just a little bit pounding. I unfolded the note and out popped cash.

My girl just purchased her own Sole Hope T-shirt.

Planting seeds is real. Children are watching and observing all the time and there is nobody who would convince me otherwise. When the seeds sprout and start to grow, that is when my heart leaps with joy and I enjoy the harvest.