Noah is a lifesaver

Last Monday on our way home from school Noah said "You know what would make my heart feel happy?  To have a lemonade stand and give the money to poor kids".  Not sure what even prompted this, but after prior experience I headed straight to the grocery store to buy my first ever can of powdered lemonade mix.  I'm a fresh squeezed kinda gal, but I know I couldn't keep the pitcher full fast enough that way.  By the time we got home, his buddy was wanting to ride bikes, play ball, etc and Noah got distracted.  It was about 7:00 when he decided we needed to set it up.  NOW!  I told him it was too late, but said we could do it Tuesday after school.  He held me to it.  As soon as we got home, we set it up and had some friends come join us.  I was thinking about how he could help poor kids and gave him two choices.  We could donate the money to Operation Breakthrough, or we could sponsor a child for swim lessons at our YMCA.  Our YMCA is currently doing a campaign to get pledges for this.  They turn no one away, regardless of ability to pay. Every summer I hear about kids drowning (older kids like teenagers) and it amazes me how many people can't even doggie paddle to save their life.  I explained that to Noah & he quickly decided he wanted to sponsor a kid for swim lessons.  

I went to workout Thursday morning and signed up to sponsor our child in Noah's name.  After school we all headed up there for a swim.  Noah was so delighted when he saw this hanging up.  While we were swimming, Beth (his old swim instructor and the employee that helped me sign up) came up to him to tell him how proud she was of him.  He was shy about it, but I know it made him feel good.  I love that it didn't cross his mind to use the money for himself.  It really bothers him that some kids' parents can't afford all the things he sees as a given for a 5 year old boy.  I've really been trying to teach him that sports, private schools, vacations, etc are a privilege and something he needs to be grateful for.  I think it's starting to work.

Lemonade Stand for Joplin

Sunday night after celebrating my mom's birthday at my sister, Sarah's house, my nephew, Charlie came home with us.  He spent the night and the day with us on Monday.  It was raining in the morning so we headed to Pump it Up for some jumping fun.  It was sunny and clear by the time we got home.  I put Elliot down for a nap and Hudson, Addison & Claire (she babysits for them sometimes, too) came by to see if the kids wanted to help with the Lemonade Stand.  Why, of course!  They had already made signs up last week and done a stand for Joplin after the devastating tornadoes last month.  I was thrilled for Noah & Charlie to be a part of it!  And they had a lot of fun!  We had a lot of customers and the boys really enjoyed it.

I put a little shout out on Facebook to come by our stand for any local friends.  It caught the eye of John Holt, a Fox 4 news anchor and FB friend of mine.  We became friends because He is a prostate cancer survivor and advocate in Kansas City.  He actually had the same doctor that Paul is going to and has been so nice and supportive to us.  He sent me a message asking if he could send someone by to do a story on our stand!  Too fun!  The kids were very excited.  By this time Elliot was up and joined in on the fun.  We were out for about 3 hours.  I made one pitcher of fresh squeezed lemonade form the lemons I had in the house.  The neighbors made 3-4 pitchers from the powder they had.  And we made about $40 before we were all out of lemonade.

I'm proud of our kids!  Here is the story that aired on Fox 4 news last night.


And here are some pictures: