Better Things

Welcome to Friday night at my house.
You don't need to go farther than the front yard to see what happens here.
This is the shot of 9 boys, 3 more came later.
I want to point out my new favorite kid on the far right; not only is he decked out in Red Sox gear, he also has the Boston accent that reminds me of "home." Two burgers and unlimited sodas for this kid!!
So with a household full of kids, and their parents too,
a really cool thing happened.

Let me back up..last night we had originally planned to go to see the band Skillet in concert. With our great planning and superb last minute RSVPing skills, we were too late and the concert was sold out!

I was ticked off to say the least; mainly because I was planning on NOT going to the concert and having a time to myself at this here house.
Big plans I had: to finally get my bedroom back in order, to mop my floors and maybe even watch some kind of non-action, no shooting, something with pink in it movie. Not a relaxing evening for some of you but for me it was my sanity for this last week.
I couldn't believe how ticked I was over something so trivial and something involving money spending- you'd think I'd be thrilled that our family alone would save over $100.

I did a little figuring and the cost for the whole gang to go to that concert would have been over $250.

So,
as this troop ate their way through my kitchen I made a proposition for them:

"What would you think of buying a goat, and chickens for a family in need?"
Was all I asked.

For a small fraction of the cost of the concert we could collectively purchase a goat and chickens for a family in another country through World Vision. You'll hear a lot from me here on this blog about Compassion International, an organization I really have a heart for and our family has sponsored a child through them for as long as we've known of them. World Vision is a similar organization that not only has child sponsorships but has a gift buying catalog. I love to shop there because I can purchase things like goats, chickens, cows, mosquito nets, water filters... great things that have everlasting value.

Great things that will impact lives, show some love and build self-worth.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." -Matthew 6:19

So I put it out there to these students, young men, 2, 7-year olds and 10, 6-10th graders; would THEY be willing to give even a portion of what they would have spent on the concert to buy something through World Vision.

What do you think think they said?
How would you have responded?
How would you respond to that today?

Do you really need those shoes on sale or the new DVD or curtain?
How many nights at the moves would you have to forgo to really make a difference?
Trips? Cars? Candy? We think we need it, but do we?
Where are there greater needs? In your back yard, down the street, across the ocean?

When I stop and think about it I see that even in tight times I perhaps don't spend where I should.
Where it matters.

Back to the 12 boys at my house:
they all said yes.
Y-E-S!
So I get the fun job of purchasing a goat and 6 chickens,

all because we delayed our ticket buying! How rockin' awesome is that! (can I even say that Dani or does that really push me into the "old lady is weird" category?)

Peace, love and type-B personalities,
-Michelle