That was such a blessing...

I know it sounds silly, but it took all of my courage to take the kids to the Assisted Living place here to visit the men and women there.  I think it was more of a stretching experience for me than for the kids.  I was looking for every possible excuse not to go, like "I can't go, Evelyn just fell asleep an hour ago".  God prodded my heart and said "then wake her up - she's not sick, she'll be fine".  "But I have so much housework to do"...that didn't work either - God just reminded me that that hasn't kept me from doing other things.  Okay, God, no excuses!  I even thought I could get myself out of it by saying "if I go into Evelyn's room and she wakes up, then it means I should go."  I went in and she was sleeping soundly, but I still didn't feel right NOT going to visit today. 

There is a home school mom that started going with her 4 young kids (all younger than mine!) and has done it faithfully ever other Tuesday, gently inviting anyone else to join her.  I'm ashamed to say, I was usually relieved when I had a "good" excuse not to go.  It's not that I didn't want to bless others, but more the fear of the unknown as well as selfishness of not wanting to feel out of my comfort zone and also, not knowing how the kids would react.  I even tried to get "out of it" in my mind and heart with, "I'll start once we move" or "I'll prepare better next time and go next Tuesday that they're going".  Oh, and another excuse I thought of this afternoon...the kids are dirty and they won't want to be around dirty kids.  All lame excuses.

I finally asked JB and Gloria if they wanted to go and they both were game.  Okay, God, it's just me and my selfishness hindering this mission...time to "just do it".  I'm soooo glad we went this afternoon.  I hope we blessed the people there and there was a couple of them that said they hoped we come back.  I hope so too.  Please help me like you did today, Lord, get over my fears and step out of my comfort zone.  I know, it sounds so lame of me, but I'm pretty shy, and would be perfectly happy to stay in my shell, except that God didn't let me today.

All the kids were great there - eight kids in all with Kerri's four and my four, seven men and women who live there, and two moms.  Gloria read to a lady, who seemed perfectly happy to just sit there and, even though I don't think she could hear her, seemed to enjoy it anyway.  Gloria didn't seem to have any fear or hesitation in talking to the older ladies.  JB was very good at teaching one of the younger boys as well as an older man how to play Othello.  JB was very patient with the man and the man very patient and grateful to JB.  It was really a sweet scene that melted my heart as a mom, who loves the fact that my kids are so much braver than I am.  Benaiah seemed to just fit right in.  He was happy just to mingle in with everyone like it was normal (which I hope it is with our kids...in the right setting).  I sat next to a lady with Evelyn in my lap and we read "Go, Dog, Go" and "Fox in Socks".  The lady told me the same story about her two boys three times and she delighted in Evelyn, who had a pink frilly skirt on.  This particular lady said "oh, she's so sweet" every time Evelyn would say a word.  I hope we were a blessing to the men and women whom we visited at the Assisted Living place because I know they were a blessing to us today.

Lord, please give me the strength to step out of my shell again and give the kids wonderful experiences to love and serve others without my own selfishness getting in the way.