Sophia's African Adventure...In Minnesota Part 1

My daughter Sophia is an amazing little girl.  When she was 8 years old, back in 2010, she told me she wanted to have a lemonade stand to raise money for charity after hearing some friends of ours, The Prince Family, share at Wednesday night church about the move they were about to make to Swaziland, Africa to work with Children's Cup.

Now, it was the middle of winter.....in Minnesota....so I told her a hot cocoa stand would be a better choice, but that if she really wanted to do it, we needed to plan ahead and do it right.

So in January 2011, Sophia had her first hot cocoa stand, in our garage and we made delicious, milk based, made from scratch hot cocoa complete with lots and lots of marshmallows!   I sent out e-mails and posted the information for Sophia on my Facebook page and not knowing how it would go, we were blown away by how many people showed up.  One of the very special moments of the day is when the Prince family stop by to enjoy some of the cocoa and share some wonderful hugs on that cold January afternoon. 

 That day Sophia raised $300.00 for the Prince family to take with them to Swaziland.  Several months later Stephen and Krista sent me a message and shared some incredible photos with me of a house and a beautiful family in front of it.

With the photo they explained that this house was under construction, but that they were short on the funds needed to complete the house and that the $300.00 Sophia raised was put towards the completion of the house.

 I cannot tell you how much it meant for Sophia to see this photo.  She realized that her little idea to have a hot cocoa stand, the $300.00 she raised and was able to give to Stephen & Krista, meant that this family's house was able to be completed.

In our 'world' we tend to take things for granted and this photo for Sophia, made her realize that she's incredibly blessed and doesn't have to worry about not having a roof over her head.

In fact, it made such a difference in her life, that all year she'd say how blessed she is and would remember this family in Swaziland.

However, the biggest moment of 2011 for her was on a Saturday morning in November, right before Christmas.  Now I don't know about your kids, but when my kids wake up on a Saturday morning all they think about is cartoons.

Well on this particular Saturday morning, Sophia came down the stairs, tears flowing from her eyes, her chin was quivering and she said "Mom, I want an orphan for Christmas, we have so much and they don't have anything!"

My heart at that moment went out to her and I pulled her in my arms and just held her.  I explained that adoption is a big decision, one that is not to be taken lightly and not something we could just do in a few weeks time.

Instead I suggested that if she really wanted to help the orphans she could host another hot cocoa stand to help Children's Cup and the orphaned kids of Swaziland, Africa.  She agreed and we began planning the logistics of her 2nd Annual Hot Cocoa Stand for January 2012.

 
I'll share more about that next week, but for now, head on over to The Cocoa Girl on Facebook, like her page and share her story with your friends.

From my heart to yours,
Kirsten
www.dishinupsomelove.org