Having two children living with us, for my husband and I, mean that we are actively involved in their lives.  We also have a daughter living in Virgina that we do not get to see very often.  We want the kids to see that we have a great life here in America.  We want them to appreciate all they are privileged to have and know about many things, even if we aren't wealthy by teenagers opinions.  We also want them to know that with this appreciation come responsibility in giving back.

We show our children that giving back doesn't always mean monetary tithing.  We have a wonderful lady at church who in very involved with several organizations.  One of them is Kids Against Hunger from A Child's Hope International.  Here is the website...Kids Against Hunger.  Kids Against Hunger packages dried foods for those less fortunate and hands them out in third world countries.  People from our church have gone a couple of times to package food.  It takes very little time to make a lot of packages for a lot of kids. My children have even had the opportunity to do this at church camp and at other retreats. 

To see that God has had a hand in this is amazing.  I have a Daughter in the Navy.  She wants to go see other parts of the world and last March she got to go to Haiti (before the earthquake).  During this time, Kids Against Hunger was trying to figure out how to get this food into the country.  Through God's hand, our daughter's Naval Hospital boat was able to take the food that we had packed, and distribute it in a humanitarian effort.  It is pretty amazing how God did that!  Each of our family members, Mike, me, Jaci, Allie and Timm, as well as many others had a hand in packing, boxing and distributing the food to those millions of children.

John 21:15-17
¹⁵So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
 ¹⁶He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
 ¹⁷He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 

Three times Jesus commanded Simon Peter to feed his sheep.  He doesn't necessarily mean give them food, but that is the verse that came to mind when I was writing this.  We will never know who's life was saved because of the food we packed, and it doesn't matter.  We gave of ourselves just a bit to help those in need.  And having the extra aspect of Jaci being able to deliver the food, gave Allie and Timm a little extra push in being able to feel they helped out in a bigger way.