Yes Santa, there is a Bethany Rose

Well, ... it has been awhile... I've been rather ill. But, yesterday had the great pleasure to show the meetinghouse to a passing group of young Friends from Alexandria Indiana. Must try and put the house back together, as the band is coming over for a rehearsal ... and this...



Yes Santa Claus, there is a Virginia

Or should I say, a Bethany Rose Gareis. On March 22, a birthday cake arrived at the Friends (Quaker) shelter which read, "Bethany's Birthday Wish for You." Bethany lives in North Carolina, and has just turned nine.

Her family, like many in America, struggles against sometimes overwhelming financial hardship. Her father was outsourced years ago, and has been working night and day, buying and selling surplus items to sell to keep his family of fourteen afloat. Several weeks ago, someone used a stolen credit card to purchase goods from him. That night he found a five dollar in his pocket, placed there by little Bethany, to help make up the loss.

So, it was hardly a surprise when her mother, Christi read her birthday wish. The children in the family post what they want for their birthday on the refrigerator. In these days of constant advertising to children -- you must have this or that toy... Bethany's birthday wish was simple, "All I want for my birthday is for peapil [sic] to be Happy. And I'll be Thankfull."

Christi is a blogger,(Mum2twelve see links) and people have been pledging to make Bethany's birthday wish happen, for strangers she may never meet.

The small simple wishes of children can have profound results when we take them seriously. We plant seeds. Perhaps it would be a wonderful spring growth of this little seed if we, go out and do simple, unexpected, random acts of kindness, and for Bethany the stories here, to send the lesson to our children that little wishes can come true.