Considered a BLESSING?

There are SO many 'little' things that we SO take for granted.

I know we hear that all the time, and preach it to our own kids

but... 

I experienced it, first hand...

On Tuesday night, 3 of the girls from our team had the PRIVILEGE of going on a 'mission' with Mama Rebeka to the older girl's room.  Mama Rebeka has quite a sense of ADVENTURE and HUMOR and was armed with her 'secret pillowcase'.

We entered their room to the sounds of cheering and applause.  They were excited and had been waiting for us to arrive.  Their 'auntie' greeted us and told us we were 'most welcome'.  All the girls (22 in total) took a seat on the cement floor with eager anticipation.

You see, the previous evening Mama Rebeka along with one of the girls from our team, Stephanie, had visited with the girls to bring them each a re-usable sanitary pad and a new pair of panties.  Stephanie was part of a group in the states that had sewn these pads for the specific use of girls in Africa.  She had brought enough along to give to the older girls at Canaan's and had spent time explaining to them how to use them.  That night when they were handing out the panties... several of the pairs were not the correct size, 

and therefore THAT was WHY we were returning the next evening...

to bring the panties for the 9 or so that had received the wrong size.

Now you ask... 

seriously?

The girls welcomed you with excitement because you were bringing 9 pairs of panties

to replace the ones from the night before??... 

YES

And so... our 'mission' began.

The girls cheered and clapped as Mama Rebeka pulled each pair out and delivered them to the specific 9.  When she was finished she quieted the girls and said to them.... 

"the Mama's (referring to the three of us girls from our team) have said that I may BLESS each of you AGAIN!" and she proceeded to pull out a pile of panties...

The girls went crazy.. they cheered and cheered. 

Joyful smiles spread across each face as they laughed and clapped!

AMAZING....

Speechless...

TEARS formed in my eyes.... 

(and are again now as I type this)

as I stood there watching the excitement on each face

as Mama Rebeka handed out a second pair of panties to each girl.

not a whole new wardrobe...

not a $100 bill...

not a new iPod...

or an 'old' one for that matter...

...just a pair of PANTIES

but you would have thought we had given them the MOON!

... a BLESSING they said

really??

REALLY!

now...stop and think of HOW many pairs of panties/underwear YOU have in your drawer...

does that cause you to cheer and clap with excitement over being so BLESSED?

it should STOP each one of us and cause us to be beyond THANKFUL for all the God has BLESSED us with... SO many things we don't even give a second thought to... are the very things that have SUCH meaning to those who have so LITTLE.

those girls jumped up and HUGGED each one of us 'Mamas'...

THANKING us for blessing them with another pair

they wanted us to sit with them on the floor and take a picture

showing off their NEW panties!

Honored...

I have to say, I am still rather SPEECHLESS... as I think about the emotion in that room that night.

I am SO thankful that God let me SEE ...

please Lord, don't let me ever FORGET to be truly THANKFUL!