The day after chaperoning a youth group trip to the amusement park 1 1/2 hours away, I was tired. Actually, tired doesn't really begin to describe it.
Wiped out might be better.
I didn't even have enough energy to sit alongside the pool, because that would require driving to our community pool, and I was pretty sure I didn't have that kind of stamina.
Reading my email, I was reminded of a friend's mission trip to Guatemala in four weeks. She was trying to collect items to take along. Things like bandages, school supplies, and shoes.
I sighed, shoes.
We'd just given our last outgrown, but still usable shoes to Shoes 2 Share when my nieces' school had a shoe drive. We had no more shoes to give.
Interrupting my thoughts, my youngest son
"What?" My exhausted brain tried to comprehend the request.
"Lincoln Logs. Are they in the attic? They aren't in my room."
Slowly, I reply, "I can check, but I'm not sure we still have them."
Pulling down the attic step ladder, I remember the light one daughter recently broke. "Can you get me a flashlight?" I call down to my boy, who promptly tears down the steps, knocks open a cabinet, grabs a flashlight, and rips up the steps. Does he do anything in slow motion?
"Here ya go!"
I click it on. Dead. "Can you get another one?"
"Nah, ya just gotta bang it."
"Ah, no thanks. Can you get another one?" I repeat.
Again, he treads down a flight of steps and whips back, returning with another flashlight. I depress the button. A dying dim light glows. I sigh. Batteries, why are we always out of batteries? I ascend the steps. The attic is dark and stuffy.
Glancing around, I look for the Lincoln Logs. There's only one area they could be. I check it.
Moving aside labeled boxes, I peer into a plastic container. Haphazardly packed with plastic bags full of stuff, I shuffle through it. I see what looks like old shoes, still in good shape. Shoes that were saved long ago to give away, but were forgotten.
The dim glow makes it hard to see them. I carry these found shoes down to the living room and count. There are seven pairs. Each in great condition.
Just when I thought I had nothing left to give, God showed me there's always more to give.
~ Dorie
P.S. Lincoln Logs were found and one little boy happily built buildings with his sisters all morning long.
