3. Feed or prepare meals for the homeless

While I am very excited to cross another 40x40 off the list, this one makes me particularly happy. I don't think it's any secret I love our church. We went to just about every church in Oklahoma City when we moved here trying to find our church home. I wanted small and traditional. We ended up with HUGE and forward thinking yet rooted in the traditional. It's a great church for our kids to grow up in - on any given day you can hear children's laughter echoing up and down the hallways - The Holy Spirit is so present it's practically palpable! So when our church decided to be part of the Stop Hunger Mission, Jay and I knew we wanted to be a part of it. The plan was to raise enough money to assemble meals for 50,000 people. Financially, the last couple of months have been rough on us, we weren't sure how to increase our giving but figured our time was just as valuable. But then, the youth of our church had a great idea, one Sunday they handed out tubes of mini M&M's - a quarter, coincedentally fits perfect in one. Our task was to enjoy the M&M's and return the tube filled with quarters. Each tube held $14.00 worth of quarters, or the equivalent of 56 meals! It was actually pretty easy and much more fun than just writing a check. I cleaned out purses and cars and coin jars until each of us had filled a mini M&M tube of quarters! We were not alone. As a church we raised enough to assemble 176,000 meals!! They had quite the system, there was an assembly line rivaling anything i have seen! I took on the role of weigher. Each bag filled with rice, veggies, seasonings and a vitamin pack had to weigh between 380-385 grams. It was my job to add or subtract ingredients based on that goal. Brooke and Jay both served as runners although we did try and alternate roles some! During our shift alone, we assembled, packaged and prepared for shipping 25,000 meals! These meals will be making their way to Africa where they will be prepared and served as school lunches. I hope that these children are atleast half as Blessed to receive the meals as we were preparing them!

SO yes, I cross another thing off my list today but really, this was about so much more. About spending time as a family and imagining other families, much like ours, miles away with worries much different than ours. I am really enjoying my Meditations for a Busy mom, just yesterday I bookmarked a verse I plan to visit often, Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you. Psalm 55:22. I wish I could share His word and His message with our brothers and sisters in Africa, maybe in some way today, I did.


ps. How cool would it be if the school these meals were going to was one that Oprah built? I'm just sayin.....