Season of Giving

Adeline's first time in the big girl cart at the store

A couple weeks ago after the cashier at Albertson's finished ringing up the last of my grocery items, he explained that I had spent enough money to receive a free 24 lb. turkey. Yay! I didn't plan on cooking it, but immediately thought about giving it to a needy family. I tried to scope out people in the parking lot, but didn't felt led to give it away quite yet. 

Yesterday, I called our church to see if they could use the turkey for the Thanksgiving meals they are providing to people in the community. Nope! I then asked God to guide me in giving it away to the right person. I posted an ad on Craig's List offering the turkey to someone in need. Within minutes several people were interested. I promised the turkey to the first person who requested it who planned to take it over to Juarez, Mexico with his church. Before I had a chance to delete the post a couple more wrote inquiring about the bird. One lady said she was a single mom with three kids and really interested. Unfortunately, I had already given the turkey to someone else, but how could I say no to her? I quickly called Tim and asked him if we could provide her family with a Thanksgiving meal and he gave me the go.

I asked her for a complete list of everything they desired for their meal, and all she wanted was a Turkey and stuffing for her ten family members. She was extremely grateful! That afternoon, Tim, Adeline, and I went to the grocery store to purchase her Thanksgiving dinner. We bought a turkey (of course), gravy, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, yams, cranberries, pumpkin pie, carmel pumpkin cake mix, and drinks. 

We drove for about 30 minutes to reach her house near the border. She met us outside with several kids following behind her. We all introduced ourselves and carried in her groceries. The woman was overly thankful and the kids were excited, too. As we were leaving she told us that God would bless us, and I explained to her that He already had and we were happy to bless them. She said He would bless us abundantly more now and that she would be praying for our family. After we left she sent me a text message full of thanks explaining that if it weren't for us her children would have gone without Thanksgiving dinner.

Thank you, Lord, for putting this family in our path! Help us to always remember how blessed we are, especially during the holidays, and give us the desire to share all you've provided for us. We praise you for guiding us in starting this new family tradition with our Adeline! To many more Thanksgiving meals to come! 

What are some of the ways you've given or plan to give this holiday season?

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