Boys with BIG hearts...

Tonight after the boys basketball practice we decided to take the kids to Fantasy Lights (an amazing Christmas lights display in a nearby park). While we were stuck in traffic (for a good hour) Konner spotted a man on the sidewalk in a sleeping bag. I heard him tell Kaleb about it and then the questions started coming. Why is he outside? Doesn't he have a family? Where does he live? This led to a conversation, that we have had before...but actually seeing this man made it more real for them. Konner said "we should get him some food." Kaleb said "why can't we let him come to our house?" We told the boys that if he was still there when we were done at Fantasy Lights that we could go to the store to get him some things.
Well, when were done, it was the first thing Konner mentioned and sure enough the man was still there. So we went to the dollar store and picked up a few things for him (pretzels, popcorn, trail mix, Gatorade, hand warmers, gloves, socks, hand sanitizer, wet wipes and a word search book and pen). While we were checking out Kaleb said to the clerk "we are buying this for a man that doesn't have a house or a family...and it is Christmas." The clerk asked a few questions (and almost started to cry) and told the boys they were her heroes for the day. It was so sweet to listen to their concern for this man and their excitement to help him.
From there we headed to take it all to this man and we prepped the boys that he might be sleeping. If he was a awake we would give it to him and say "Merry Christmas" and if he was asleep we would just leave it there to surprise him when he woke up. When we pulled up the man woke up and Kevin and the boys gave him the bag of stuff and said "Merry Christmas." The man said "thank you" and started digging through the bag and we went on our way. While it was a brief encounter with this homeless man, I think it really touched our boys. I know without a doubt that it touched Kevin and I to see our boys have such BIG hearts for someone in need.
We prayed for this man (I wish I knew his name) at bedtime tonight and I promised the boys that we could take another trip to the dollar store to make a few "treat" bags to keep in our car for the homeless.
So although I am exhausted by a day that turned out longer than planned, I am grateful that God can use children to open our eyes and hearts to something that we might not have thought twice (or even once) about...what a gift.