across the street & around the world

You know the old saying, “when life hands you a lemon…make some lemonade”? 

Well, today I made some lemonade.

However, it is important to note that life has not handed me sour yellow lemons.  In fact, it is the exact opposite.  My life has been truly blessed by three sweet, little girls.  These little girls are: Spongile Sbo Khumalo, Isabelle Smith and Kindra Smith.

Here is how my day of lemonade making went:

Isabelle and Kindra set out to sale some lemonade.  This was their first experience making a lemonade stand.  They were full of excitement!

First, we made the lemonade and got our supplies together.  We cheated by using kool-aid rather than squeezing a bunch of lemons.

Then, we set up the stand on the corner street.

In the end, we had a pretty successful business going on.  I believe that these little girls are going to be quite the entrepreneurs one day. They really had a booming business developing.  The girls quickly learned how to play to their strengths (which, is simply their adorable selves) and work the crowds. 

Our total profit was $5.25.

Now, this is when the story gets good:

Remember the other girl I mentioned at the beginning of this post?  Spongile Sbo Khumalo? Well, let me tell you a little about Spongile.

I sponsor this little girl through World Vision.  She is from South Africa and has had some difficult circumstances in her life.  Both her parents have died after being diagnosed with HIV.  Her grandmother is raising her and her siblings.  Spongile is living in poverty. 

Isabelle and Kindra learned that this little girl in Africa didn’t have as much food or as many toys as they have.  So, today after working hard at their lemonade stand, Isabella and Kindra are not going to use the money to purchase themselves toys.  These young girls are going to spend their hard-earned lemonade money to buy Spongile simple little gifts.  Isabella and Kindra have plans to put together a package full of headbands, jewelry and little toys for Spongile to enjoy.

It was such a beautiful day.

I once heard someone say that we need to share Jesus to world…both “across the street and around the world”.  Isabelle and Kindra did just that through their lemonade stand.  These little girls reflected Jesus to each customer that they interacted with today.  And then, they are happy to use every cent of what they earned on a young girl in Africa whom they have never met. We can learn so much from these little kiddos.

If you are ever contemplating sponsoring a child…DO!  Your sponsorship money goes to assist with their medical care, education, food and clean water. As you are providing for their physical needs the spiritual needs of the children are addressed as well. We can help the suffering in this world….one child at a time.

If you would like to consider sponsoring a child, here is the link to World Vision’s Child Sponsorship site:  http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/pages/sponsor-a-child