Ring-a-ding-ding.......

Last night the kids and I spent 3 hours at Winn Dixie bell ringing for the Salvation Army.

This was our second year trying our hand at this particular service.

Ethan avoided all but the last 20 minutes or so due to a baseball obligation and to Kevin dragging his feet in getting there.

Last year was at Publix and was very close to miserable.

I think it was closer to a 5 or 6 hour stint and it was FREEZING COLD!

I know this is Florida, but it was miserably cold that night.

Rainy, windy, the whole bit.

Tonight was at a much better location, bell ringing wise, didn't feel like we were in the way at all, but I was a little nervous about the weather again.

On the way over it was starting to rain, and blow a lot harder....I was getting ready to dread the next three hours.

Instead....keeping a good attitude as an example to my kids....I suggested we say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to stave off the rain for a few hours so we wouldn't have to be miserable while attempting to do a good deed.

Ryker said that it was not right to pray for Heavenly Father to hold off the rain...it would never work.

It is not a big deal and he does not care, besides, there are probably many other people 

that are praying for rain.

Well, come on Ryk...could you just lend me your faith on this one??

We can't worry about what other people are praying for....this is worth while to ask for.

Would you mind getting on board?

Ok....so we did.

The rain stopped.

It was a little blustery and a little nippy....but a pleasant spring day compared to last year.

Overall it was a successful night.

Many generous people.

Many people who would not even make eye contact or acknowledge our presence as well,

 but they were the minority for sure.

Several people driving by just stopped to run over and drop in money saying they loved the team effort, and thanks so much for being out there.

That was a thrill.

But the very best was seeing our little friends stop by to drop their own money in the red kettle.

This is William....Tina's little guy.

He dug deep into his wallet (several times) to give all that he had.

He was a fine example of generosity.

 Vanessa dropped by with a few of her kids.

She had not told them that we were out there....it was fun to watch their reactions when they realized....

that wait a minute....that's McCauley, Lawson and Ryker out there!!!!

They helped us bell ring for a bit and put on a little show.

Here is a little snippet.

This is blurry...but Kev finally manned up and showed up with Ethan.

They did not have the best attitude for the service at hand.

Especially Ethan was a disappointment.

Come on...one half hour of your time!

Please tell me you've got it in you.

When Kev arrived at 7:30ish...I turned over the apron to him and the boys.

M and I ran inside to get milk and Eggnog.

When I came to check out the boys come bumbling into the store like buffalo...all crazy and wild.

This was NOT what I was hoping to encounter at all.

Why the heck were they not out with Kevin finishing their service?

I got in a ticked off disappointed mood very quickly and ground my teeth down a notch or two in the process of trying to get out of the store and to control and demand my kids act like 

decent bell ringers for crying out loud. 

Kev said, just go....I will finish....take them home and get them in bed.

My PLEASURE.

Please guard the kettle with your life...return the sign, stand, apron, kettle to the service desk.

The night was good.

The kids were kids and were basically good.

I just want them to have opportunities to give a little.

Is it too much to ask for a measly 3 hours of your time w/out whining, and complaining to go?

I did present the kids with a major talking to on the way home.

I want them to actually do something hard sometime.

I want them to see something hard.

They do not understand all that we have.

Neither do I....

we have no clue what it would be like to actually be in a position to be a recipient of these kettle funds. 

I pray that we never know first hand what it would be like.

But I also pray that we can figure out how to have compassion for those that do.

The rain started up once we were back inside our warm home.