Thursday, December 17, 2009

The Rest of the Story

Sorry to have left you hanging, but I wanted to show you pictures. Hey, I'm a scrapbooker. I love pictures!!!

Here's Mr. Charlie and Ilaria.

Aren't they just beautiful?

The notebook Ilaria is holding is the special gift Mr. Charlie gave Ilaria today. I think Mr. Charlie is a scrapbooker at heart because he took the time to make copies of the card Ilaria made to thank Mr. Charlie and the letter I wrote him to give back to Ilaria. Isn't that cool?

Yet, that's not the best part. The best part is that Mr. Charlie volunteers one night a week at our county jail. He teaches a Christian class to offenders who are between the ages of 13 and 17. He was so touched by our gratitude that he took both Ilaria's card and my letter into the jail with him and used them in his class.

They "talked about how nice it is to be good to other people. I (he) told them in order for them to find Jesus Christ in their lives, they must start to show kindness like yours (Ilaria's), to other people." (from Mr. Charlie's letter to Ilaria)

Well, they decided to start with Ilaria. They jumped at the chance to draw something for her. The notebook is filled with the beautiful drawings of these teenagers. Here's just one of them.
Ilaria is so excited and happy. She got to meet her kind stranger, Mr. Charlie and she was blessed with some gorgeous artwork. She has been praying for Mr. Charlie. I know she'll include his students now too. Most importantly, she knows the best part of it all: kindness definitely makes a positive impact and its infectious too. Who knows who might catch it next?!!!

Until next time, Happy Creative Time!

7 comments:

Renae said...

That's a wonderful story! It gave me goosebumps. Thanks for sharing!

Sue aka barracudasue said...

What a neat story! I'm so happy that Mr. Charlie got to share with the inmates and they shared with you daughter. SO COOL! He looks like a very gentle man and your daughter is just gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful teaching tool that you used with your daughter. I'm sure it's one she'll never forget.
jlwclanfam (Jan W.)

Caroline said...

what a wonderful experience this has been for your family and Mr Charlie. Just go to prove the "ripple effect"... start something good and you never know where it will end up, and whose lives you may affect :)

Lisa Avolio said...

What a blessing to all involved. So touching.

Anonymous said...

That gave me the chills, and besides illnesses it has been a while... Thank you for sharing this wonderful story with us, what a blessing for your family.

Trisha said...

And a little child shall lead...beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it. God bless you and your family. Thank you for your continuing kindness to all of us.