God's Children

This past weekend was pretty busy for us. On Saturday we went and helped a couple clean up their yard. The husband is terminally ill and the wife has to care for him 24/7. They really can't afford to pay anyone to come and do their yard for them. I signed us all up. I think it is important for Claire to learn to help people out. That kinda stuff starts when they are young. We had an awesome time helping. Claire helped clean the Koi pond and she helped pick up trash. She kept asking "What can I do? I wanna help.". She was so sweet.

Sunday Mike and I volunteered to keep one of the Sunday school classes during the church service. The people who orginally were to take care of it has had family issues. Their dad is real sick and has been in the hospital. Anyway, the class just happened to be small. There were only 2 boys in there when we first went in. The Sunday school teacher told us that we may have one more child come in. He told us the little boy had a tumor on his brain and that they had to go in and operate and ever since then he has had speech problems and delays. I told him that it was ok and we would be just fine. The little boys dad brought him in and began to try and explain him. I cut him off and told him that it was ok and that we would take care of him. Here were two people trying to explain this wonderful little boy. We have a nephew with autism. He is an absolute joy and amazing. Not saying they were anything similar but we love them all regardless.

The other two boys started right off the bat. "He yells." "We don't like him." I told them "He is ok. We all yell. We love him regardless." They quieted down for the time being. I could tell the young boy was nervous. He was doing repetitve things, alone. He would watch the clock and look outside. He was incredible to watch. He was so sweet. Meanwhile the other two were loud, running and playing. They wanted to play the airplane game. The little boy came over and wanted to play. They quit playing so the little boy walked off. The other boys went over and were playing in the kitchen area like they were in a restaurant. Boy C came over and wanted to play. Boy B pushed him a little, grabbed what Boy C had in his hand and said "Go away. We don't like you.", he turned to me and said "Make him leave us alone. We want him to go over there." I then said "Ok, listen he can play with you if he likes. Be nice. He is just like you. He is brave. He is love. He is amazing like you are. We are all God's children." He then turned around and said nothing else. Boy C kept repeating "Be nice. Be nice. Be nice." The other 2 said "Ok see we can't understand him." Mike said "He is saying Be nice."

I thought alot about that little boy. What a struggle it is for him. He has to go about his daily life without being able to communicate like he wants to. How frustrating! He just kept saying 'be nice'. His older siblings came and got him early. I know they worry about him so much. My heart breaks for him. There is a lesson to be learned through the kids. We as adults need to quit the fussing, bullying and name calling. Our children learn from us. We should all learn to love all of God's people not just the ones that are like us or look like us. We are all different but we are all perfect in our own right. The world would be so boring if we all were the same, acted the same, looked the same and thought the same. We need to learn acceptance. I will be the first to say, I have a long way to go. Someone upsets me and I go off. I have to learn to do better.

*Disclaimer:: My child is NOT perfect. Matter of fact I heard her crying in the next room over. I went to see and she was upset because someone took a toy she either had or wanted so the teacher took the toy. I didn't go in, I just looked. She can have a massive attitude. But one thing we are working on and one thing I know is she doesn't judge on color or how smart they are. She has a lot of love. She is a work in progress. I know I am gonna be a better example. :)