NEW YORK

The best part of our trip to NYC for me was watching Addison take it all in and seeing her heart and soul revealed right before my eyes. I know what she is made of, and I have seen it many many times before....but to see her in this environment made my insides turn to mush. Since she was very little, she has wanted to go to NYC and see a show on Broadway....that is basically all there is on her bucket list. I have tried to make it happen in the past, but I just couldn't for one reason or another. As we walked around each day, hot and sweaty and tired, not once did she complain....she would smile and say something like "I love it here!" or "It's exactly what I pictured!" She was like a little girl with her big bright smile and glowing eyes. Experiencing it through her eyes made the trip the perfect trip for me....even though I did complain about hot, sweaty and tired....I rolled with it and did whatever she wanted. Once we had seen WICKED, she said...."My bucket list is complete!"... and everything else was just a bonus to her. The one thing I have always known about her is how sweet and caring she is, but it was reiterated time and time again on this trip. We would see someone begging for money, and she would look at me with those big beautiful pleading eyes; and I would tell her to give them some money if she felt led to do so. And she did, every time. It was her money after all, and she could spend it how she wanted. Homelessness in NYC is so in your face, and it is something we don't visually experience everywhere we go in Grapevine. I mean, she knows there are homeless people everywhere, but we don't see them come into the place we are eating, dig through the trash can that is right next to us, take out half eaten hotdogs and engulf them right before your eyes. We don't see people begging on the street for food in Grapevine. It was something she couldn't ignore, and something I would never encourage her to ignore. She learned, a long time ago, that the money is not ours anyway....it belongs to God. What we are called to do is be good stewards of it, and if you feel led to give it away; then give it away. Sure there are times when discernment might kick in, and you think it might not be a good idea. But if your heart says, give it; then give it. Once it is given, what is done with the money is out of our control; and it is not our place to judge how it is spent. That is between God and that person! I read one of Addi's tweets yesterday that said something like....If I lived in NY, I would never have any money; because I would give it all away! And again, my insides turned to mush! God has blessed me with Addi...a girl with such a sweet spirit, and I hope to be just like her when I grow up! Thank you Pastor Ken for teaching this great lesson about stewardship! She and her heart were listening.