The Road Home

I have to admit that I am usually pretty cold hearted when it comes to people standing on the road asking for money. But this year has been different, very different. Its actually hard to explain exactly how i've felt but its been a good thing. I guess Heavenly Father is trying to soften my heart.
Early in the holiday season there was an older man standing on the median somewhere by sam's club. I just felt like I needed to give him some money so I did and he was very grateful. Usually I wonder what they are going to do with the money but not this year. I've felt very prompted that it doesn't matter what they do, this is my lesson to learn. To not judge. To not condemn.
Jared and Kamryn were with me when I gave that man some money and they were very curious. I explained to them what it means to be homeless. They asked me if he would be able to get a house now since I gave him some money.
So, we've been talking about the homeless all season. I've given money out a couple of different times and they have always been with me. Sometimes I can hardly talk to them I'm so overcome with emotion.
This morning my first task was to clean up the family room downstairs. Its been a mess for quite awhile with way too many toys taking over the room. By the time the twins woke up and came down, the room was clean and i had a big black garbage bag full of toys to donate somewhere. Jared looked in the bag and was devastated to see a dumptruck of his in there. He hardly plays with it and its in good shape. He started bawling about having to give it up. I talked with him and explaing about so many kids not having a home or any toys and that we should share. I let him think about it for awhile and then told him he could take it out if he wanted but wouldn't it be nice to share. He ended up leaving it in there.
While I was out on errands after I heard on FM 100 about their big effort at The Road Home today. Right then I knew I had to take the kids down there today. So we gathered some coats, a blanket and these toys and drove down there in the storm. On the freeway the kids asked why it was taking so long to get there. They also wondered if these homeless people lived on the freeway.
When we got there, the Brighton HS football team was all there volunteering and taking in the donations. That was cool. They noticed by Bengal paw on the van and were excited that a fellow Bengal was down there. I wish I could have taken Jared and Kamryn in the shelter but it wasn't the right time for that. On the way home FM 100 was talking again about the shelter and saying how many people were in the shelter just last night - 95 families with over 150 children, hundreds of women and men. The needs are so great and we just did a little but it was something.