A Thanks to my Parents

I really need to thank my parents for teaching me by example to be compassionate to people in a time of need. I am now seeing that not everyone was shown or taught that. My Dad taught me alot. Right now I am trying to lead by example to my own children. Ashley & I are volunteering at the United Way 2-1-1 call center during this Hurricane Crisis time. The call center gets around 11,000 calls per day and helps lead people to shelter, food, medical help, etc. Ashley is not able to answers these calls due to the stressful nature of them and possiblilty of getting calls seeking mental help needs. She is the best errand office helper. I am extremely proud of her I didn't even have to make her help she wanted to all by herself. She didn't hesitate for a minute. My Dad was the one in my life who would work nonstop during an emergency on no sleep and no pay just to help people. I think of him in every emergency I volunteer during and I always will. My mom taught me that if someone has a death or crisis in their family you provide food and whatever material possessions they need. At this moment I wish I had all the money in the world so I could provide very child in the shelter with toys to play with to keep there mind off of the weather. Since I don't have all the money in the world I have to settle for volunteering my time and cheerfulness as I help direct people to the needs. I pray that God allows me to use myself to calm frightened people down and to not get emotional with them. (I'm scared of that being a problem for me.) They said last year they spoke with people on their roofs and tried to direct rescue to them. They also spoke with people who had lost family members and needed help. I can only pray that Hurricane Gustav doesn't affect us in that way. Please pray for all of the evacuees, all Louisiana residents, the weather to only bring a small amount of rain, & all of the volunteers helping in many different ways.

On a lighter note..... Can you believe my child who used to cry in class up until 3rd grade when the weather was bad is going to be a Meterologist in the future? I did only b/c she would watch the weather channell 24/7. I did wonder why she would rather watch the weather channel instead of cartoons at age 3. Now I know why.

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