This is how the journey began, thought I would share.....
To My friends and family, (this is a sweet email Leslie wrote) I will admit. I am very timid in writing this email. So here it goes. This email is lengthy. You might want to read it on your coffee break at work or send it to your personal account for after hours viewing. Either way, I feel I need to write this. A little background on the situation: Recently, my cousin's wife Hollie has had the chance to get to know her neighbors. No, they are not the most attractive neighbors you would ever wish for in your neighborhood but nonetheless, they are her neighbors. For months, Hollie has watched these two Hispanic families stuff their 8 bodies ( 2 wives, 2 husbands, 4 children) into this 3 bedroom rental home right next to her house. Paul and Hollie have been very blessed to have a beautiful home in the middle of Old Town Lewisville where neighbors can be millionaires or poverty. Everything happens for a reason, right? I will admit, I have made several negative comments regarding them as i watched them hang their clothes on the clothes line, let their children run around half dressed in the same yard, and come over to Hollie's house trying to see if they could take her to the store with their food stamps. Yes i was the one who stuck my nose up at them. If it wasn't for Hollie's conviction and her amazing heart, this story would never be. Hollie was digging deep trying to find out what God wanted her to see in her life. She felt she needed to purge some unwanted feelings but couldn't find exactly what it was that she needed to do. One day, she was washing her car in her driveway and she saw one of the women outside on the back porch, washing her clothes in a bucket. Can you imagine if we had to wash our children's clothes for in a bucket? Hollie found herself saying in her head "What are they doing? Why can't they just go inside like everyone else and wash their clothes?" She said she felt God saying to her "Who are you to judge them? They are my children and I love them as much as I love you." Go ask them if they need help. She walked over and asked if she could wash their clothes for them. The mother started crying when she picked up the clean clothes. To this day, Hollie has been washing the family of 8's clothes without judging or griping about them. Hollie called me upset to let me know the condition of these children's clothes. She told me how pitiful they were and that the little girls and boys were wearing sizes way too small for them and the 2 year old little girl was sometimes in her 4 year old brother's clothes. That night, I went thru all Ally's and my clothes. We purged our closets and gave this family everything we could for a little girl age 2T to 4T including dress up clothes, baby stroller, named brand clothes ( that i was desperately holding on to for no reason) I knocked on their door the next day and gave them everything hoping i would help a little. They cannot speak English very well but showed me how they were forever grateful. They even brought as a thank you gift a carton of milk, cereal, baby formula and grape juice they had gotten from the store. Wow. Every day the little girl is wearing one of Ally's outfits. I will admit, I am selfish as they come but Hollie is an amazing woman of God who i am forever grateful to have in my life. I am writing this email to ask that you will all come to a baby shower Hollie is hosting for the woman next door One of the two ladies is pregnant with her third child. Best decision given their situation? No, but who I am to judge on what they do?? Regardless, these are children and they need to be loved and cared for just like our own children. She is in need of clothes for a boy, diapers and formula, crib, blankets, etc. They need a baby swing, high chair, anything you can think of for their 12 month old baby girl now and the future baby boy. Think what you might have in your attic or what you friends or family's might not need anymore.They have nothing. You walk in the house and it is bare. They have no couch. They have a TV on the floor. They have no kitchen table for the kids to sit and eat dinner. But what they do have are very sweet and loving hearts and a need for others to reach out for them and love them unconditionally, regardless of what path they have battled. They don't even have a refrigerator. They put their food in a cooler every day. Yes she has food stamps but this precious baby boy needs more than those can offer. The two husbands work like crazy but given this economy, we are not the only ones struggling. Can you imagine? I will be the first to admit; my family (Ally and myself) are fattened or engorged with way to much "stuff". We could use a little more purging and realization that we don't "NEED" everything we stuff our lives with. That is why I am willing to dig in my closets some more and offer them toys ally doesn't even realize she has (due to the plethora of toys she has) Hollie and I see this lady wearing the same maternity dress every day. We have decided to get her a pretty new maternity dress, corsage and invite tons of people that she doesn't know to her baby shower. What kind of impression do you think this will make on her? We have no idea but this will be amazing. Please come and bring anything you desire for a baby boy. New or used, just wrap it up. Also, if you are interested please bring clothes that you have in storage or ready to give away to charity for the other children. Anything you can find that you are not using, please email me and let me know. I will come and pick it up from you. Sizes are as follows: They need future sizes as well as winter clothes. Little Girl- 6 to 12 monthsLittle Girl- 2TLittle Boy- 4TLittle Boy - 6T If you could come, even for 30 minutes, I believe the impact of people caring for this family would be amazing. If you can't come, please bring me anything you want to donate and I will gladly give to them. They can't speak a lick of English so if you know some Spanish, bring it on! We are communicating with them right now thru letters we are translating from English to Spanish. Thank God for the internet!
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