“Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart.

To a customer, service.

To all, charity.

To every child, a good example.

To yourself, respect.”

Oren Arnold

I have a story to share. We sent a huge box of toys and clothes to Mexico to our two "adopted" children and to five other children in the village. We knew what the children wanted and our "daughter" asked for a bear that glows in the dark. We searched during black Friday and for three days afterward, looking for her bear, but we never found it. Finally, a friend told me about Ebay. I had used it years ago, but I really hadn't thought of it in a while. So I went on Ebay and ordered a bear that glows in the dark and changes colors. A week went by with no bear. Two weeks went by, still no bear. I finally went to Amazon and ordered another bear and before the second bear reached us, we received the first, and that's the bear that we shipped to Mexico with the package of toys. 

On our trips to Mexico, I tried to purchase dolls for our "daughter" but she was never interested in dolls. In the package we sent to the children, the only toy we sent to her was the bear that she wanted more than anything, and we shipped Barbies and other miniature dolls for the other girls.

After the children received their gifts, my husband got a call from our somewhat spoiled "daughter" who was upset that all of the girls received "a big doll and a little doll" but she only got a bear. My husband reminded her of the clothes, pajamas, two pairs of shoes, and candy we had sent her and she thanked him and said she liked them, but she still wanted a doll. He reminded her that she had been asking for a bear for months and that she had said the only toy she wanted was a glow in the dark bear. She agreed, but still wanted a doll. 

Children are honest and they tell you exactly what they want. They don't pretend to be content with something when there is more in life to be had. They are continually hoping and dreaming for something else, something bigger, something better than what they're given. Our "daughter" is a perfect example of someone who refuses to settle. She is in a school that only goes to the sixth grade, in a village with no other school and no opportunity to further her education, in a region where the only future for women is to become a wife and mother. But she still wants something more. 

Don't settle for what you're given. Ask and you shall receive. 

Thank you for reading my blog. May you have a blessed day.