November 29 – “A Tushka Tag”

I was tagged on a FaceBook post last night.  Oh, it’s happened before, but this one was really sweet.  It was posted by Mrs. Cox, the teacher of the third graders in Tushka, Oklahoma, who were involved in sending us hurricane relief supplies along with some great words of kindness in their own handwriting on index cards.  We just sent them a return gift to express our thanks.  Each of the students received a beach bucket with Galveston salt water taffy and a homemade Christmas tree ornament filled with Galveston beach sand and shells.  Let me share Mrs. Cox’s post with you.

My students and I received the sweetest gifts yesterday from Seaside Church in Galveston, Tx. (The church that received the donations my class collected for Hurricane Harvey).  They were so surprised by the sand buckets, ornaments with Galveston sand, shells, and saltwater taffy from the island.  They were even more surprised that each bucket contained a handwritten note from church members and children thanking them for their donations and prayers.  We spent the last part of our afternoon reading each one out loud for everyone to hear.  My heart melted as I watched the excitement in their eyes as they read each note.  Especially, my little boy who read his note from Pastor Kelley Vaughan, I could tell how special he felt because he jumped up while I was showing the class pictures of Seaside Church and said, “Hey, that’s the person that wrote my note!”  This outreach experience has turned into a blessing not only for the hurricane survivors, but also for my students.  They’re wanting to write back and have pen pals now.

Those little guys and the notes they sent were a breath of fresh air in the beginning stages of hurricane relief around here.  We were sorry to have missed seeing them on our way back from Branson, Missouri back in October.  For some reason they weren’t at the school when we stopped by.  Something about not having school on Saturdays …

Psalms 8:1-2 says, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  You have set your glory above the heavens.  From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.”

Father, once again, would you bless those youngsters and their families.  And bless Mrs. Cox for including us as the “middle man” for this project.  Amen.