A very touching moment

Last week we did something we've been waiting to do. My son had his fifth birthday party in March and asked each child to bring $1 donations for Feed the Children in addition or in replacement of any gift they brought for him. Most did...some didn't and it was okay either way. Some gave five dollars or more. In total, he raised $16.87.

He's been asking for weeks when we could drop off the money to their offices. He's extremely concerned with kids in Africa. He's the reason we sponsored a child through Compassion International. He saw Micheal W. Smith's video of how many kids in Africa were starving and in need, and he asked me that night if we could sponsor a kid. I wholeheartedly agreed to.

I thought I'd be the one to mold my son on his path in life, and I will but my son teaches me more than I ever imagined possible. He's got such a big heart and it's full of compassion for those less fortunate.

Feed the Children's corporate headquarters are in Oklahoma City, so you'd think it'd be easy to swing by...but I couldn't get off work to take him for a while. Finally, last week, I took a day off no matter what. It was long overdue.

One of their directors met us in the lobby, to take my son's ziplock baggie full of money. You would have thought he'd brought in one million dollars, instead of just under seventeen. This generous man walked us back to where they sorted money to show my son how his money would be counted and processed.

He explained how the machines worked that automatically opened envelopes. He said there were arms that would grab each side of them to open them, once sliced at the top, for the ladies working the machines to grab the checks. My son was entralled with the sound of it, and when he was walked over to the machine all he could do was get this real serious look on his face. The FTC employee asked my son what was wrong, and he replied, "BUT where are the arms that open the envelopes?"

He was looking for human arms and after a laugh, he pointed out the mechanical arms that sucked up the envelope. He told us that she sorted three thousand envelopes a day. My son was extremely impressed and told him that was a looooot of envelopes. I thought so too.

After he walked us back to the lobby, he told my son that he'd be sending him a certificate in the mail as a thank you for his donation. My son replied, "Oh we'll be back...my mom says kids go hungry in Oklahoma every day, and now, we need to feed those kids."

Sure enough, two days later, we got a letter from Larry Jones to my son and a certificate, shown above as a thank you. I photo-shopped my son's name out of the certificate and inserted another one very fitting.

He's going to change the world some day in a big way...I just know it. God's hand is upon my child and He's blessing him with such compassion and spirit. I thank God daily for my little boy's heart, and pray for his protection. I have a big responsibility in raising this child, and it's not one I take lightly.