We hereby pledge:
- To spend intimate, quantity time with our family.
- To actively help the poor, the sick, the lonely, and the helpless.
- To value, protect, and advocate for children.
- To de-emphasize the importance of “stuff” in our lives.
- To bring publicity to good causes and good people.
- To live with intentionality, as if this year was our very last.
- To observe the needs in our country/community – and then do something about them.
- To give – every day.
We don't have any loved ones directly affected by the storms. Over the course of the year my girls' Girl Scout Troop has been collecting loose change. This past week each of the older girls picked a charity to donate the money to. My daughter gave a presentation on the Red Cross and why they need the money given the tornado, flooding and fires that have been widespread throughout our country. The troop of 25 voted and chose her charity! They have not counted the change yet but I predict it will be close to $200 that they raised.
Great job Girl Scouts!
How long has your daughter been a scout?
We have some friends who escaped the destruction in Joplin, MO simply by the grace of God - they were driving through and their car was hit by flying debris and other people were pulling over and stopping but the man felt that he had to keep pressing on and not stop so they did just that. Afterwards they realized that if they had stopped they would have been directly in the path of the tornado with only their car for protection.
We are thankful for the internal nudging that kept him driving and kept he and his family safe.
In other parts of the country we have friends who have lost family members, friends, belongings, homes and their livelihood due to the storms this spring, but it hasn't directly touched anyone really close to us yet.