We are the World

Living in LA, you can imagine that there are a lot of people on street corners asking for money. Last month, as we were stopped at an intersection, Joey noticed a man holding a sign walking down the divider. She asked what he was doing. I explained to her that he didn't have a home and he was asking for money. Then I went on to remind the kids that we should be grateful for all that we have and not be greedy or materialistic. That night Joey wanted to pray for that man during our nightly prayers. I thought it was so sweet of her, so we talked about things that we could do to help people less fortunate than we are. We made a plan to break open the girls' piggy banks and donate 10% of their money to help homeless kids. I told her that it is nice that she was so concerned. As I kissed them good night, I felt secretly proud to be raising such good-hearted, generous girls.

After we put the kids to bed, Joey came out crying because she couldn't stop thinking about the man. "You better get back into bed or we won't be helping the homeless people anymore!" So Joey reluctantly went back into her room.

Yesterday, after hanging out at the LA County Art Museum, we saw another panhandler. Joey asked about this man also and asked why we weren't giving him money if he needed it. Chang was about to pull out some loose change to give to him, and I told him not to. He said, "I just don't want her staying awake again because of this!"

I tried to explain to Joey that it is good to donate to organizations to help people in need. "Mommy and Daddy give money to places like that so that they can help others. Like we have two children from Africa..."
Joey: Mommy, we're not African!
Chang just started laughing so hard and so did I. I couldn't finish my explanation that we support two girls who live in Africa through World Vision. It was just too funny. Then Joey started to laugh too, but for different reasons.
Joey: Mommy, we're not from Africa. We're Korean!