Nestled Snug in Their Beds                                                                              Sun, 16th December, 2012

​Last week, my daughter came to me and said she was interested in adopting a family for the holidays through the 100 Neediest Cases program. There's nothing more gratifying than when your children spontaneously and unexpectedly demonstrate that, yes, our values have actually taken root. But even better than that, she was acting on these values rather than just paying them lip service.

So this week we embark on a new journey - adopting a family in North St. Louis County. We received several cases to look over in choosing our family. The act of reading through all the descriptions of great need was sobering. And these were not just 100 neediest cases - the 100 are simply the ones that get published to the Post Dispatch. No, there are not 100 families in need, nor are there hundreds. There are thousands.

What caught our attention about this case was the plea from the 29-year-old mother Latasha: "I am a single parent of 3. I start to breakdown every other day when I realize my kids are sleeping on the floor. We do not have any beds or dressers. I have no family support and do not receive child support from their fathers. I try to work but the income is not enough."

It was the beds the really got me. As someone who's never been without a bed in his life, other than for camping, this plea opened my eyes and opened our hearts. We resolved that these children will wake up on Christmas morning in their own beds.

The next realization was that, in addition to the clothing and other needs of this family, it was going to be a very tall order to come up four sets of new bedding. We have spare bed frames, but we need the mattresses and box springs. So we reached out to our family of church friends and the response was amazing. So far we have pledges of almost $500 to help this family nestle snug in their beds at Christmas time. It's very true that generosity inspires more generosity. So I will share the development of this story in this space as it unfolds.

I can't help but think of all the families this year that will not be chosen this Christmas. But we can make a difference in the life of this one family. And it won't even be a permanent difference. Sharing our good fortune may not change the world, but it will without a doubt change us.