my collection of stuff keeps growing

This morning I was at the store to buy school supplies. I bought a shopping cart full of crayons, water colors, clay, and colored pencils. I got the funniest looks (most Germans only have one child). 3 people even stopped me and asked if I was a teacher or something? I told them it was for the orphanage in Thailand. Everyday I find something new to add to my collection of stuff I plan to take. And each day my joy grows too. Some people think It's such a noble thing we are doing...giving to orphans. Perhaps that is true, but it's also an amazing gift I'm giving myself and my children. You see you never discover true happiness until you learn to give. Generous people are happy people. The last time I took the boys to Thailand it was to teach Thomas an important lesson. The lesson was he would never be given back to the orphanage...he would be ours forever. When he went there he was not thinking about what he could give them, he was trying not to lose what he had gained. This fear of losing what we have keeps so many people from giving today. This time I hope he will have grown some more. I hope he will feel so secure, he can even learn to be generous. I want my children to be happy...and generosity is one of the keys to happiness. Each day I am thanking God for more surprises for these kids in Bangkok...I love these children deeply. I hope others were kind to my kids when they were there. I hope they knew the joy of a balloon, or some candy. I hope there were good people who came and held them, hugged them, and played ball with them. I actually know that not enough people came…not enough people gave (that’s a whole other story). All I can tell you is I don’t feel like I have to do this, I want to do this. It is a joy! I wish I could do so much more. But I’ll just focus on what I can do, and It is not just for them. I am the winner and so are my children. You are only happy when you learn to give.