Sharing a Little Love

Hey look!  Our kids can share!  But this post isn't about sharing french fries. Well, maybe a little bit.

Every Monday night we have "Family Home Evening" at our house. We might have treats, a lesson, games, songs, whatever. It's a way to show our kids that they are a priority, and a way that we can all learn together. Occasionally we go out to serve for our family night. For example, our kids know that about twice a year we will take them to the Parke View Care Center. It's a really neat experience. But it can be a little scary for kids if they've never been in that atmosphere before. So we bribe them with Dairy Queen (hehe) and off we go.

The tenants who were interested in the program all met at a certain time in the group room. (Other families do it other weeks, so it's standard procedure for them.)  When we walked into the room, the kids instantly seemed really shy. I felt really shy. So we broke the ice by walking around and shaking hands. The kids said hello to everyone, and their new friends asked them questions like how old they are and their favorite things to do. They seemed to love the little kids and their silly answers.

After we got to know each other a bit, we started the "program" with a prayer by Zach and a song by the kids. Jonathan played "Angels We Have Heard on High" on the piano (they didn't mind that it was out of season), while the three younger ones sang along. Well, most of it. Greg quit after he realized that he didn't get to hold the microphone.  But the others continued and did a wonderful job.

The audience seemed to love it and we were super proud of the kids for doing their best.

Next, Ben taught the lesson. He did a great job of course, and received a lot of comments afterward.  The only person who fell asleep was himself. (Just kidding! I had bad timing with the camera.) I'm always impressed that Ben can teach a lesson that applies to people of all ages. Even Josh sat nicely through the lesson.

After the lesson, Nicole helped hand out napkins and the boys handed out cookies. They were so cute. Greg kept giving them more and more cookies.

Babies. The older people LOVE babies. I noticed that a few of the women stared at Josh the entire night. I let them hold him for a few seconds but he was too wiggly to give them much of a chance. But Josh did smile and laugh for them as Daddy carried him around to each person.

 Nicole's favorite part was the lady doing a puzzle. She was so sweet. Nicole loves puzzles and they talked about them for several minutes. Nicole told me that the lady got this puzzle for Christmas and has been working on it every day since then. "Maybe someday I can do a puzzle that big!"

We helped clean up and then our evening at Parke View was over. We will definitely be going back again!  I'd like to think that we did a huge service to the people at the care center, but I'm pretty sure that we always get more out of it than they do.  I grew up around my great-grandparents, and my mom was also good about visiting friends and neighbors that couldn't get out. I got to tag along with her too so I have a deep love for "older people." Just think of all the stories they could tell!  It makes me happy to see my kids getting more comfortable around them. That's important to me. The older generations have so much to share. And of course if I'm lucky, I'll get to be one of them someday! And my kids won't be afraid of ME.   Right?