since my dad cannot sit still long enough to plan his retirement, we willingly accepted the challenge of assisting in the new venture he has embarked upon. numana. it is simply an organization born in the small town of el dorado, kansas, with a mission to accomplish great things. our family was fortunate enough to assist in one of the first food packaging events, with the benefits of our labor sent to starving children in haiti. together with the salvation army, numana is helping to provide at least one healthy meal to each child who attends school...this, with the hopes that their parents will send them (if for that reason alone). wOw...what a blessing the evening was! after coleman poured a carefully measured cup of rice into the bag (which was filled with soy, vegetables, and a vitamin tablet by me ma, evan and jessica), austin and alexis carefully measured the weight of the bags, before passing them to me or jessica for sealing. following the sealing process, hampton and evie carefully patted the bags down flat for easier packaging. garry, then placed the bags of food in a numana box before sealing them for delivery! our family alone packaged 2,000 meals in about two hours. while we were there, over 30,000 meals were packaged. in the two day event, nearly 300,000 meals were packaged! what a great feeling to do something so simple, yet so wonderful, to benefit children who are literally fighting for life daily. the kids had an absolute blast (hampton repeatedly said, "this is so fun, mom!") i must also admit that there have been a few tears shed as well. at bedtime, they remember what we did and why we did it. coleman, through tears, said, "i just feel so bad that they don't have food and water!" a humbling, yet magnificent opportunity to do something good! coleman even asked to take a bag of food home, to see if it tasted ok! so thankful to have been a part of something of this nature! thanks, dad! you do many great things!
we celebrated the first birthday of our sweet dodger doodle today! what a treat! he feasted upon doggie "frosty paws" ice cream, and the kids shared a sundae with him! hampton dressed up in her party dress and heels for the occasion, and austin and coleman were on hand to help feed dodger his treat, and blow out his one, sparkly candle. oh yes, and hampton helped with that, too! what joy he has brought to our lives! we brought him home nearly three months after his birth...a small pup, and he has grown, and grown, and grown to be quite a large pup, weighing in at a mere 80 pounds-ish! and yes, it is my fault, that i trusted the breeder, who said he would be around 50-55 pounds. all in all, we love him just as he is, all 80 pounds of fluff! he is honestly the perfect dog...he smells good, he doesn't shed, and he LOVES to be around people...which means he is ALWAYS right in the wrong place (in a good way, of course!) happy birthday, dodger doodle!
