McDonald's Coupon

Response #2 to a challenge Johanna gave to Mothers of Preschoolers Each family was given a McDonald's gift certificate and challenged to find a way to reach out and serve their community together as a family.

Hello Johanna,

We actually haven't given our coupon away but here was our first service idea together.
After getting the McDonald's coupon, Katie and I discussed why we had it and prayed about who we could give it to. A couple days later, I took the kids on
a bike ride to the regional park. As we approached the playground, we saw a man sleeping with all his stuff about 50 yards away. I pointed him out to Katie and asked her what she thought he was doing. She said he was sleeping. I asked her why and she said, "not sure" We talked about the possibility of him being homeless and not having food, a place to sleep, a shower, among other things. She paused for a minute and then very excitedly said, "Mom, he needs the coupon!" Unfortunately, the coupon was in my car and we had the bike and child trailer. We did pack lunch and I remembered keeping a plastic bag with about $4 in change in the bike trailer. I asked Katie if we should give him something from our lunch and she agreed. She picked out the banana (she wasn't willing to part with the PB and J) and when she saw the bag of money she said she would give it to him. After we finished playing, we approached the sleeping man. I didn't want to scare him so I called out and let him know what we were doing. He just grunted and didn't pick up his head. Later I explained to Katie that even when someone doesn't say thank you or look at you, we still can help them.
Since your talk at MOPS, Katie and I have done a few service things. The first thing we did was purchase toiletries for a women's shelter. Katie had a blast picking out shampoo, lotion, brushes, and other needed items. She really took ownership of this one (do I have a beauty queen on my hands??) We also have a scheduled date to visit a local convalescent home this Friday Sept. 25th. When I called to set a time for the convalescent home, the lady was dumbfounded. She kept saying, "Well I don't really get why you are bringing your kids here?" She kept asking me why I was doing this. I'm not sure if she thinks I'm critiquing the place or what. I just explained to her that I am trying to give my kids lots of opportunities to serve other people and thought the elderly people would love seeing my sweet kiddos. I also want my kids to be comfortable around the elderly and practice serving with their time.
We already have a routine down for serving our neighbors, but I had never really thought of praying for them before we deliver the meals with Katie. Now we pray and talk about how God has called us to serve people, and how good it feels to help other people. Katie is digging this and I LOVE serving with her.