As most of you already know, Ellie had a lemonade stand yesterday.
She raised a little over $1100.00 in one afternoon, and some money is still trickling in.
My heart is still pounding in amazement, so I thought I'd write the story of how this all came to be.
I'd been asking the Lord recently to break my heart for the things that are important to Him. If one reads the Bible one quickly realizes that His heart is completely for the broken, the hungry, the poor, the orphans, the widows...and more. Within a couple days of praying for this, the drought in Somalia was declared an all-out famine, and I could not get it off my heart. Looking at photos online would always bring me to tears as I felt some of the calluses from living in a wealthy country fall off my heart.
One night before bed I asked Ellie what she wanted to pray about. She gave me her usual answer, "I dunno."
So I decided to tell her a story instead. I told her - at her level - about the famine, and all the kids that were quickly becoming sick, and even dying. I told her about the crop failure and the death of animals and how without a miracle, this was not going to be a happy ending.
Ellie SHOT straight up in bed and said, "I know. I got it!" And with arms flailing in exclamation she told me of her plan. "Let's cook up all our food and send it to the kids so they won't be hungry anymore. Then let's gather all the toys that we don't use -but still like - and then they'll have things to play with again." Secretly amazed at how this sparked something inside of her, I hugged her and explained why that was a great idea but wouldn't work. And then I remembered Ellie's desire to have a lemonade stand one day. When I suggested we have one and give all the money to Somalia, she was ON BOARD.
The day of the lemonade stand could not come soon enough!
In the meantime, Ellie knew what to pray about. She prayed for manna to fall from heaven (like in the Bible) and for rain on their crops. She prayed for every miracle she could think of. And Josh prayed for 'chocolate milk, apple juice, orange juice and regular milk' for the kids. One day at breakfast he prayed, "I pray for Somalia that they wouldn't have fat tummies anymore (from malnutrition) and that they would have breakfast, dinner and lunch. Amen."
I was stunned and excited as I realized that telling my kids about some of the hard things in the world around them automatically caused SOMETHING to come to life inside of them because
I was telling them about the things that are
actually important to God.
(I wish I were a faster learner.)
So yesterday was the lemonade stand. I sent out a Facebook invitation to all the friends I had on my list that lived in or close to our town. Rob prayed with Ellie that Jesus would accomplish everything He wanted to and that we would end up making a SURPRISING amount of money to give to Somalia.
We were so blown away. Our first customer, a five year old boy from church, brought his entire piggy bank. He'd been asking God if he could help the poor and who should he give to? Then he heard about the lemonade stand and had his answer.
His dad sent $300 along with the family. He didn't even get a cup of lemonade.
Some brought 25 cents, some brought a loonie...most brought $5, $10, or $20 for one cup of lemonade.
One person quietly snuck in a $100 bill.
"The best lemonade in town", they called it.
Giving tastes so good. :)
Rob and I couldn't believe it when the margerine container was so full people were having trouble squishing their dollar bills in. Ellie kept telling me, "Somalia is going to be RICH, Mom!" And I thought, "I feel like the richest lady in town right now."
By the end of the day we were all suffering from lemonade comas and borderline heat stroke and were supremely thankful for God's faithfulness.
So last week Ellie woke up from a nightmare that "Indians" (whom she had seen on an old Mickey Mouse cartoon) had been attacking Rob. I told her that "Indians" were not called "Indians" anymore, but "Aboriginal people" or "First Nations people" and explained to her some of the oppression that many of them are still living under.
She SAT up in my lap and said, "I'm going to draw them some pictures. Can we go see them?"
We just might, Ellie! We just might!
In the meantime, we've got something worth praying about.
p.s. Please consider giving to a charity that is supporting the famine in Somalia if you haven't already. If in doubt, GOOGLE 'East Africa Crisis' and look at some of the pictures. :)
