Touched By Angels

Saturday I volunteered with the Harvest House here in Burleson. They put together a really great Christmas Angel program at St. Matthew church. There were about 220 families that were expected to attend and about 900 children. A lot of the families have had a really rough year with losing jobs, sicknesses, etc that they weren't going to be able to give much to their children for Christmas. The Harvest House was able to raise enough donations to put together a full luncheon, a drama acted out by local churches, a visit by Santa Claus along with pictures, a room for the children to make ornaments, food baskets to take home, $50 gift cards for each child, and a huge toy store. My "job" was to assist the families with picking out gifts for their children in the toy store. We had everything... Dora, Cabbage Patches, big art sets, skate boards, curling irons, straighteners, makeup, action figures, books, games, cd's and cd players, dvd's, and on and on. It looked like a Wal Mart or Target store. Each family was able to pick a large and small item for each child plus a game, book, or stuffed animal for each child. Each child got a total of 3 items. There were probably 20 of us guides that were responsible for getting all 220 families through the store by 4 o'clock. It started at 11:30. It was a lot of work but well worth it. I came away with so much after meeting all my families. I heard so many stories and got so many hugs and thank you's. Every single one of the mom's, dad's, grandma's, grandpa's, aunts, uncles, and just close friends touched my heart in different ways. I wish all of them a very Merry Christmas and I will be saying an extra prayer for them every day.

It was extremely amazing to me how all of the churches in the Burleson area came together to volunteer and make this happen. It didn't matter your race, age, or religion of choice. I wish every day could be this good!!!