Advent Day 6- Who is Saint Nicholas?!

I am so glad his mercies are new every morning!  Children are quick to forgive and forget....making it a bit easier for mommy to forget too;)  A good night's sleep and a new morning brought completely different children, who just happened to look exactly like yesterday's kids.  Their behavior was night and day different.  It was a LOVELY day here.  Who knows exactly why; I'd like to think my bold move of taking away Window Clinging changed my children forever, but I have been a mom too long to take credit.  Some days are just better than others and today was just a BLESSING!

Advent Message Day 6 Reads:
Today is December 6.  It is Saint Nicholas Day. We will read about Saint Nicholas today and then we will do a secret act of kindness for someone else, just like Saint Nicholas did.

We read two different books on the life and story of St. Nicholas and we watched the Veggie Tales Saint Nicholas movie.  Then I asked my kids if they had an idea of a person or family who really needed something that we could secretly do or provide for them.  I actually already had a idea in mind; I have to admit, I thought my children might be too young to come up with much on their own.  Ava thought for about 20 seconds and then she said, "I'd like to so something for that teenager who has a baby and no money or husband."  I had NO idea what she was talking about so I probed further.

She reminded me of a conversation we had about a month ago.  I had gotten a call from the head of our Baby Care ministry asking me if I had an extra diaper bag or if I could ask the mom's group if anyone had an extra diaper bag.  I was picking up the diaper bag from a mom in my group, along with some other baby things.  Ava asked what I was doing and who the things were to be given to.  I said, 'They are for a teenage mom."  I immediately regretted telling her because she was stunned!  "A Teenager has a baby?! Does she have a husband?"  I tried to answer her question honestly but avoid having to have a sex conversation!  I said, "you know honey, I don't know the specifics of the situation, but a teenager shouldn't be having a baby.  She probably didn't listen to things her mom and dad told her and now it's going to be very hard for her.  But everyone makes mistakes Ava and so we are going to try to help this girl and show her God's love."  I forgot about this conversation, probably because I didn't want to think about how inadequately I'd answered her question, but this talk obviously had a big effect on Ava; a month later she clearly remembered.

I called Marge, the head of Baby Care, right away and asked if there was a way we could help this girl again. Would you believe that very day Marge had been looking for a bassinet for another girl.  A young girl didn't have enough room in her bedroom for a pack n play so the baby was either sleeping with mom in bed or on the floor; neither of those option were okay with the social worker involved and so something needed to be changed.

Tonight we went and Ava picked out a bassinet.  We'll never meet this young lady, but we dropped it off to Marge and Ava was deeply touched when Marge told her the baby didn't have a bed and wouldn't have to sleep on the floor anymore.  It was such a small thing.  There are so many needs and we did so little.  It's effects on Ava are probably far more profound than the bassinet will be to this mom.

Blogging about it, in itself, kind of negates the secret thing, though I suppose this girl will never know who gave it to her.  The only reason I am blogging is because this day was so very special to me.  I can do all I can to talk to my kids and try to point them to Christ, but only God can work in their hearts.  Today I felt like I was witnessing an amazing work in my daughters hearts.  She expressed care for another and experienced
 joy at tangibly being able to help meet a REAL need- a need she could never imagine in her own life.  Today brought to life the principle that it really is more "blessed to give than to recieve" and I saw my daughter touched in the very depth of her soul.