My Heart is Full of Thanksgiving

My feet are on the ground, but my heart and mind are not. It is always so amazing to share with you after my MSI trips. How can I begin to thank you for your support? I'll start by sharing a few photos. I hope you can spot a little dress you made and sent to me to hand out!

Here is the director of an orphanage. I gave her a handful of dresses to give out to the little girls who weren't able to make it to our presentation. (Thanks for the bag, Carol Fox! I left it with her!)

 This stop was not even on our schedule, but as we waited for the 15-20 minutes for the school to open up a woman asked if we could come to the preschool, which was in the same building we were going to, but it had an outside entrance. I'm so glad one woman on our team made the decision to go! (Love you Chris!)

  We had beanie babies too! Whoop! Whoop! Bonnie Hunter asked what we could do for the boys. Maybe I can bring t-shirts next year for them. Most of our groups are so large it is hard to find an opportunity to pass these out, but God manages to get us in the right places so we can be a bit more personal.

 Lee from Two Thimbles Quilt Shop sent me this quilt her mom made years ago to give out. I brought it with me on every single outing looking for the right person with a baby. (I felt like I could only give it out when there was ONE baby so as not to upset another mother)

 I cannot remember the child's name but she was 4 1/2 months old. Despite the pretty sweater, this was another poor area of the city we served. Thank you again, Lee!!

 I had a handful of dresses left so I presented them to the pastors wife of the church we attended on Sunday. She said they have a compassion ministry so they would be sure to use them for people that needed them.

Here was our amazing van driver, Alfredo. Driving a van in the city is a brave job! He kept us all safe and blessed me personally with his smile and story. He has one 16 year old daughter and a wife, so I found what I could left from our stash of goodies and gave him my suitcase that had been full of toys and dresses. (I had previously asked if he wanted it and he said yes) Thank you Randy for the suitcase!

While chatting with an interpreter I asked about a large scar on his arm and he said he had been shot while in the military. He was very proud of that and showed me his ID. As a driver of tourists (I'm assuming mostly) he probably doesn't get people asking about him personally.  In the past I've been challenged to reach out to see the "invisible" people. I encourage you to do that every day. Smile at the mom who is struggling to find her payment with 3 kids at the grocery store and is holding up the line.  What about that man or woman on the street with a sign. You may not give them money but what about a smile or a wave? We have so much to be grateful for on a daily basis. 

And this one is just because.... We were handing out flyers in the city square but they were also having a parade! They were celebrating an anniversary of the school system. These little girls in their bright red uniforms drew me right in!
Thank you all so much for sharing and being a part of my little world. May God bless you greatly! You all make the place a bit brighter!!

Love to you all.