relief efforts | Monkeys in My Bag

I thought you might like to see some of the pictures from this week. When Naomi’s house burned to the ground, they lost everything. Well, not quite. They found their family Bible, with all its names and dates carefully recorded from generation to generation. The Bible survived the fire with only singed edges. They have their family and they have their history in Jesus. How sweet is that?!

A room full of donations for the families who lost everything.

Anyhow, we took up a collection among some of my missionary friends in San Jose. We sent clothes, toys, food, kitchen items, and shoes.

One of the team members from Dothan, Alabama that is here to do construction for us brought an entire suit case full of mens’ clothes just to give away. None of us knew how necessary those clothes would be to the father and grandfather of one of the families who lost everything. You should have seen that father pick up the entire suitcase and toss it on his back with such enthusiasm that you would think it was full of nothing but feathers! He didn’t mind the weight one bit! The women were even excited about that old suitcase. I heard them say to each other, “Something to put our clothes it!”

New Clothes for Dad and Grandpa plus a suit case for storage!

But my favorite part of the story involves 6 year-old Naomi. When we asked her about the fire a few days ago she said, “Me queda sin muñecas.” It left me without dolls. Then suddenly something clicked in my memory. At Christmas we went home to Minnesota for a visit. A friend of ours at our home church was selling some very lovely china dolls in period piece clothing. I originally planned to buy two, one for each of my daughters. But my husband said, buy them all and give them to some girls in Costa Rica. When our friend heard what we wanted to do with the dolls, she said she wanted to GIVE them to us! We were touched.

So we came home with 4 extra dolls in our suit cases. And I waited for the Lord to show me who to give them to. When Naomi lamented the loss of her dolls, I knew what to do. There are 2 older girls in family who also lost their precious keep sakes and stuffed animals. The girls should get all of the dolls, I decided. Naomi’s mother later told me that she had been saving a very special doll from HER mother for the last 15 years. She had planned to give it to Naomi someday, but now it was gone. It was touching to her that Naomi once again had a special doll. The mother vowed that they would all take care of the dolls. I just hope Naomi gets to play with it! 🙂

Naomi and her new dollies

Finally, my little 5 year-old decided all on her own that she wanted to give those girls something special too. She selected 3 of her own beloved Barbies, a few outfits each, and a Cinderella princess costume for dress-up. Lucy wanted to give generously, and I didn’t stop her. I think not only did she learn a valuable lesson about sharing our possessions, but I think she earned herself a reward in Heaven. I was so proud of her thoughtful kindness. Naomi jumped up and down squealing with excitement. Apparently she loves everything Princess. We were all happy.