Soles for Souls

After the terrible earthquake that devasted Haiti, the E-NP Elementary students took part in the Soles 4 Souls campaign to collect shoes to send to Haiti.  Drue came home from school and excitedly handed me a paper while explaining the purpose and describing what she knew about the natural disaster.  She had been watching coverage of the earthquake with me all week.  We spoke about how those people now had lost what little they did have.  How babies and children died.  How children no longer had parents or care takers, left alone to fend for themselves.  Drue was so excited to know she was going to be helping some of these people, even some her own age.  She ran straight to her shoe basket in her closet and grabbed her favorite cowgirl boots and her favorite pair of Sketcher tennis shoes!  I couldn't believe it. But, Drue didn't care!  She wanted to help. Her boots were like prized possessions to her.  She wants to be a cowgirl, she has to buy a new pair of boots every September for the rodeo.  She wears jeans everyday and they have to be long.  Like, not-a-smidge-above-the-bottom-of-her-ankle-bone-or-she-won't-wear-them, long because that is what cowgirls do.  She loved her boots...only problem was they still fit.  So I suggested we wait until they no longer fit before we donate them, but she proceeded to pick out 4 other pairs of shoes, plus her rainbow, sparkly Sketchers and put them in a grocery sack.  She also got Lane excited to share and he found 2 pairs of shoes he was able to donate.  Then Nanny found 3 brand-new pairs of flip-flops that DD took to school also.  I was so proud that the kids were excited to help and didn't think twice about giving something they knew other children could use.  The next day, I ran the bag into DD's classroom and explained how she chose her favorite shoes to give and Mrs. Hildreth ended up sharing the story with the school Principal who thanked Drue for her caring and sharing. 

The Haiti incident also had us talking about adoptions at our house.  We aren't adopting...but we 'play' adoption.  The kids didn't really have a concept of what adoption was until the earthquake and are realizing what a gift adoption is.  My first Cabbage Patch Kid was an African-American (ok, I don't know that exactly, but she was black) and her name was Gloria.  My Grandma Larson would also make me home-made Cabbage Patch type babies, one of them was a little black boy.  Now Drue and Lane play that they adopted these babies from Haiti and explain to Ryan and I what happened where they lived, etc... 

My heart swells knowing Drue and Lane have it in their hearts to give and to care. I'm one proud Momma.