We are not good at being quiet or sitting still.
We are not particularly fashionable.
We are horrible at yard work most of the time.
And have mercy, we can barely take a decent family photo to save our lives. (Right Aunt Jo Jo?)
But, there are few things we are pretty good at. One of them is being helpers. If I said "Humiston's are..." My kids would all jump in and say, "Helpers!" Unless that is I did it in front of you hoping to impress you, then they would look at me with blank stares like we don't repeat this phrase every other day in our home. Both Jeremy and I come from families that value hard work and loyal service and so its become one of our family mottos if you will.
Another value we are trying to impress upon our kids' hearts is being good stewards of the blessings the Lord give us. When you rub shoulders with people in your city and across the world who know hunger it changes your perspective on throwing away food. So we are trying not to waste things. One way this shows up is in a phrase we stole from Jeremy's childhood "Take all you want, but eat all you take." (I know some of you are quietly thinking we are sending them straight to a future weight loss support group. Don't worry our big kids are catching on quick to portion size and our littles don't get to choose how much they take anyway.)
I am all about letting my kids feed themselves. So Titus has been spooning his own nourishment into his little (okay maybe not so little ) mouth since before his first birthday. Out of this came something unexpected. When he would finish yogurt or applesauce I would then scrape up the last bit and say, "last bite." So we didn't waste the last bite or two he didn't have the fine motor skills yet to get. And somehow it just caught on. He is now 4 1/2 years old and he still says, "Mama, last bite!" He hands me his spoon and I scrape out hopefully a bite. I hadn't really caught on to how special this little ritual was until along came our 4th child.
When David came home and got a yogurt we didn't have to teach him to eat it all. His little survival skills told him that you eat yummy food to the last drop. When he handed the container back to me it literally looked like he had taken it to the sink...and washed it with soap and water. However, he caught on to the "last bite." And before long (and when he had a little English under his belt) he would smile and hand me his yogurt cup and say, "Last Bite!" In the beginning, I would pretend to scrape the sides and feed him a "bite." Because lets be honest there wan't anything there to make up a bite.
But, then something happened.
Watching a brother whole loved the mama giving the last bite over and over.
Time home.
A mama who always shared the last bite instead of eating it herself.
One day it turned into him intentionally leaving yogurt in his cup. He trusted me to share. He trusted that if he didn't lick the cup clean there would be more. And he knew what he needed wasn't just a last bite it was for it to come through the hands of his loving mama.
And at some point when I could string two thoughts together I realized God has been teaching me the same. As I mentioned last week I am generally a go getter. So if we need something my general approach is to take action. I prioritize city wide garage sales. I pursue the good will. I watch for bargains online. I post needed items on Facebook to see if someone had something to share. And there is nothing wrong with any of those things. However, God has shown me what I really need isn't a pair of boots for my daughter's horse back riding lessons or a microwave.
What I REALLY need is for them to come through the hands of my loving Father, because I trust him to always share.
And oh, the stories I can tell of his abundance to share. Another day.
