More than words...

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words,
but to live by them."

~ John F. Kennedy

I told my family about a book drive we're having at work to stock the shelves of a local school's library. The school serves special needs children with reading levels ranging from Kindergarten and up. We work with them through a special outreach program that allows them to come to the Nature Center at least once each month. Our programming assistant recently toured the school and noticed that their "library" consists of a bookshelf of donated books, with no money available to expand it.

For a special Thanksgiving project, my gents sorted through all of their books and identified all they were willing to give away. If even one of them wanted to keep the book for any reason, it went back on the shelf. They shared a lot of great memories as they looked at each title. It was also fun to see the inscriptions in some of the books -- from favorite teachers, for example. When they were finished, they selected one book for Mom to read to them.

The books selected to give away had not been read in a very long time. They will do so much more good for these students. The gents also helped Opa with a project to fill a hole with sand (which they shoveled by hand into the back of Chad's truck -- twice) and straighten his garage.

This is such a great way to live the gratitude that we talk about at this time of year. My gents are such a tremendous blessing in my life! I'm thankful for their hearts full of compassion and service.

Happy Thanksgiving!