It has been quite an amazing day! We started the day off with numerous baggies of money and butterflies coming into the room. The kids were so excited as they shared how much money they had collected from the market days. We excitedly did another "happy dance" and thanked God for another wheelchair.
During our "Circle Time" I shared with the kids about blindness. They had numerous questions as they thought about what it would be like to be blind. I shared with them about a precious friend of mine that was born without eyes and how he gets to know people by feeling their faces. They were all gracious enough to line up and let me feel their faces to see if I could figure out who they were. I didn't do as well as last year (too many boys with short hair cuts :). We started talking about Braille and I gave each of them a card with the Braille alphabet on it. Then I showed them one book of the Bible in Braille which is quite impressive. They loved closing their eyes and feeling the pages. We talked about all of the places you can find Braille now, such as on signs, bandage boxes, and even some Starbucks cards.
This morning we listened to a clip from Joni Eareckson Tada. She shared about how the wheelchairs are picked up and taken to correctional facilities and rebuilt. My favorite story is hearing about the inmates working on the wheelchairs and hoping not to be released until they finish rebuilding them. What a powerful story!
We hung hundreds of butterflies down the hallway today. I love hearing the younger kids as they look down the hallway and gasp at the number of butterflies on the walls. I am excited because our director asked if my class would lead a chapel time and share with the younger children about what we are doing. I can't wait to tell my kids tomorrow. They will be so excited!
Tonight I can't stop thinking about my sweet Jack. He has worked so hard raising money for the wheelchairs and with such excitement and compassion. He has raised over $500 so far and I know he has another large sum coming in. Jack has worked hard by selling coffee, juice, and muffins, but he has also been diligent to share with people about "Wheels for the World." Jack has a wonderful circle of family and friends that are jumping in to support both Jack and this wonderful cause. This is how the butterfly effect works. A butterfly flaps its wings which move molecules. Those molecules then bump into other molecules which bump into other molecules and the effect gets bigger and bigger. I bumped into my students by telling them about people with disabilities and the kids that need wheelchairs. They were touched and raised money and they shared with other people and they were touched and donated money and the effect continues on as more and more people get involved and effect change. The effect and possibilities are endless! In addition, there is a long line of people before me that started the butterfly effect. It would almost be impossible to determine where the effect started. As Andy Andrews said in his book, The Butterfly Effect, "what we do matters."
Right now we are halfway through our unit and the kids have raised enough money for 10 wheelchairs!! I can hardly believe it! The butterfly effect is growing by the minute and 10 precious children will be able to have the gift of mobility because of what 15 kids have done.
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