jamal, kellis, and jameel

"break my heart for what breaks yours ... everything i am for your kingdoms cause ..."

not only do i love this song ... but these lines speak my heart. i want my heart to be broken ... i want to be stirred ... i want to be challenged ... i want to respond.

number 21 on my list of twenty-five things to do while twenty-five reads:

21. shop for a christmas angel child

i added this to my list not because it's something i've never done but because it's something i've always done that "breaks my heart." it puts me in check. it breaks my heart ... it stirs me ... it challenges me ... and i can respond. when i see the salvation army trees set up in stores this time each year my heart becomes heavy. in my case i encountered the tree at wal-mart over thanksgiving break. my brother was home and we had made a trip to wal-mart to buy who knows what. on the way in i noticed the tree and on the way out i spent at least 20 minutes trying to decide whose wish-list i should take. i can never walk away with just one child ... this year it was 3.

i selected jamal who is 3. he wanted a little tikes basketball goal. i always like to pick a little one! kellis who is 5 wanted sheets/blanket and a doll. love to pick a girl too! :) and last but not least was jameel who is 17 and he wanted a MP3 player and basketball.

mom and i went shopping last thursday and we had such a good time! we bought purple sheets and a blanket ... an MP3 player ... basketball ... and clothes ... clothes ... and more clothes! we were able to buy kellis a bratz doll and jamal his little tikes basketball goal too!

i helped mom take all the goodies home and we organized this into piles. she had to write a code on each item. see the pictures below to see all the goodies!

kellis and jameel's goodies!

jamal's goodies!

when i made it home late thursday night ... once again my heart was heavy. i prayed that these kids would be blessed and that these kids would be made whole and would know howmuch they are loved! i thought about the students i taught last year and the students i have this year. i thought about their stories and prayed that they would know how much they are loved. once again ... i was broken ... i was stirred ... i was challenged ... and the only way i knew how to respond was with prayer.

so the goodies have been dropped by the salvation army and i hope and pray that these 3 precious kids know how much they are loved. i will probably never meet these kids but they will always be with me. they were part OF MY story. one thing down on my list 24 more to go but what a blessing number 21 has been and always will be. :)

"break my heart for what breaks yours ... everything i am for your kingsdoms cause. as i go from nothing to ... eternity."