When I was in college I would drive home in the summers and work with my dad on his farm. One summer in particular was busy. I would drive the truck through the alfalfa fields and pick up bales of busted hay that had been missed by the bale-wagon, freeing my dad up to do the "important stuff". Then we would work on whatever projects he had going on at the time, a broken-down bale wagon, pouring a cement floor for a friend's shop, un-sticking the pivot sprinkler, branding and vaccinating cattle... Well you get the idea . My dad is one of the hardest workers I know. He had the job of keeping the farm going, I was just a helper. And I loved it. I loved the feeling at the end of the day of having my muscles stretched beyond what I thought were their limits, I loved the feeling of the dirt sticking to my hands, and most of all I loved sitting in the quiet evening hanging out with my dad watching the sunset. I could feel his approval in that quiet, I could feel his gratitude for the help I'd provided. Even though the things I was doing were minimal - they were helpful.

At times I get overwhelmed by all the hurting in the world. Children are starving to death not daily, or even hourly, but every minute, they are abandon by parents, or hurt by adults. And that is just scratching the surface. At times I feel like giving up on the small things because, is doing something as minimal as sponsoring one child or praying for each orphan even making a difference? And then I realize, I want my life to be like those summers. I want to labor each day of my life, I want to stretch myself to beyond what I thought were my limits. When I stand before my Heavenly Father I want to know that I did my best for Him, that even though the things I did felt "small",  they were helpful.

So we are going to keep doing the small things around here. We are going to pick out orphans and learn their names and pray for them at every meal and bedtime. My kids are going to bug people past the point of insanity by telling them about yet another little one in need of a family.  And then this Christmas we are going to do something BIG!! I'm so excited and I can't wait to talk more about it, but duty calls. Laundry, dishes, help with schoolwork, bills to pay...