5-Year-Old Shares Her Birthday with the Homeless

5-Year-Old Shares Her Birthday with the Homeless

Do you remember what you wanted to do for your 5th birthday party? Maybe you wanted a birthday party with all your friends from school and your family? I honestly don’t even remember my own 5th birthday, but I do know what young Mayla LaPerle wanted to do: invite the homeless to her birthday party.

Mayla LaPerle (Photo Courtesy of KOLD News)

Her family said that she was asking for months on end to have her birthday at their local park and invite the poor. Her mother Tauna said “She’s always been a caring person and if this is what she’s doing at 5, I can’t wait to see what she’s doing at 15!”

It’s amazing that Mayla already has such a heart for people that she’d be willing to spend her special day to make others happy. I’m immediately reminded of the scripture Acts 20:35 where it says “the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'” It looks like young Mayla has taken that to heart already and I’m sure her parents are incredibly proud of her generosity.

You can be generous too! It’s as easy as putting a smile on your face and sharing the Word of God with someone. This week, you have a special opportunity to do just that for a child in need alongside Compassion International, a non-profit organization that helps release children around the world from poverty in Jesus’ name.

For a little over a dollar a day, you’ll be able to sponsor a child in a third-world country providing things like food, safe drinking water, education, medical assistance, and the chance to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. In fact, just in the last year, over 100,000 kids who were sponsored gave their life to Christ through Compassion.

I sure hope Mayla’s story inspires you to pass the generosity on and let it spread. If you are interested in sponsoring a child through Compassion, check out our special link right here!

Also, if you want the full video of Mayla’s birthday party in action, click the link right here!

Thanks so much for reading and I look forward to seeing you all next week!

Alex, Producer and Resident Millennial of the Kankelfritz and Friends Morning Show

Dogs On Deployment

DOGS ON DEPLOYMENT COMES TO THE AID OF

OUR MILITARY’S CANINE COMPANIONS

You know how when we go away on vacation, we either leave our four-legged friends in a kennel, with a pet sitter, or maybe even the occasional family member? Well, when our military goes away on deployment, who takes care of them? Some may be able to leave them with family, but that’s not always the case. They often have to give their pets away. How sad is that?!

Cue “Dogs On Deployment”.

Dogs On Deployment is a non-profit organization that takes in the pets of those who and search for foster homes across the U.S. Dogs On Deployment allows those who participate to take care of the military’s canine companions for as long as the owner is away on deployment. Sometimes that relationship with a furry friend is all you need and Dogs On Deployment helps keep that relationship alive, one dog at a time.

If you are interested in fostering one of these dogs, check out Dogs On Deployment at their website https://www.dogsondeployment.org/

Not only would you be taking care of a new furry friend, you will also be serving those who have dedicated their lives to protect us by making sure that their dogs are healthy, safe, and loved until their return. With today being Veterans Day, maybe this is something you and your family can take part in together to serve our military who have given so much to our country.

“Camp Happy Tummies”

“Camp Happy Tummies” serving up fresh hot meals in the wake of Hurricane Michael

© Photo of “Killer Seafood” kindly provided courtesy of Coastal Living via TIME Inc.

So when your restaurant gets destroyed by a natural disaster, what do you think would be first on your to-do list? For restaurant “Killer Seafood”, that first thing is “FEED THE PEOPLE!”

The entire staff of “Killer Seafood” came together with the help of chef Dave Snyder of Halyards Restaurant to create “Camp Happy Tummies” which resides in front of Mexico Beach’s City Hall. With help from volunteers, “Happy Tummies” cook food for all of the first responders, volunteers, and anybody in need of a hot breakfast or dinner, free of charge.

I love seeing community like this, when God’s children take care of one another. Even in the aftermath of a hurricane! Their food may be “killer”, but the folks at “Killer Seafood” and all their volunteers are tremendously kind and generous for setting aside time for their fellow man.

If you want to read more, check out the article here

Pray for Peace

Sometimes it is hard to figure out whether God wants us to pray and act or if we are supposed to leave it up to others because getting involved would mean interfering. When I am not sure, I talk with God about the situation. I also pray for peace. His word can be used as life’s instruction manual, that is why I pray for peace.

“And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts…” Col 3:15 (AMPC)

When we are in God’s will, we will have a sense of peace.   That will help us realize when we’ve chosen God’s best for the situation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Teen is Dating!

How do you deal with your kids dating someone you don’t appreciate? My wife, Becky and I don’t know. We haven’t experienced this yet. Fortunately, Family Life Radio listener Darlene has “been there, done that, got the T-shirt” and has some pearls of wisdom. She knows at first, she and her husband looked like Mr. & Mrs. Judgmental.  She decided to give it up to God. I included these boys and girls in all the family activities. They were included in picnics, reunions, going to church, etc. What she found was, half the time, the boy or girl they didn’t appreciate “dumped” the family.

 

Tree Climbing: Adventurous or Dangerous?

With the kids out of school for the summer, we’ve got some help. There are some things your kids can do that doesn’t include a lot of supervision on your part. They can entertain themselves!  Since it’s summer, a lot of them include cooling off like running through the sprinklers, water balloons and the Slip N Slide.

Here’s one on the list that I used to do as a kid in the 70’s and 80’s that I don’t know if kids would be allowed to do now unsupervised, it’tree climbing. I will say there was one time I remember falling, hitting my head and next thing I knew my parents were looking down at me!

 

Work In Progress

I would love to get better at being romantic. I’m haphazard at it. I mean well. I’m trying to do the right thing. Here’s what I mean, we just closed on our house. We go over to the house. My wife Becky has been nervous in the process, is this the right house? Am I really going to like it? I don’t know the neighbors.

Becky loves everything space related,. She’d call herself a space geek. She likes NASA, the stars, all that stuff. We went out on the back patio at night to check out the stars. It got really dark. It was amazing. She says “You know what? I think I’m going to be happy here.” My response was “happiness is a choice.” My poor wife.

 

 

 

Grandma’s House is the Best!

Please pray for Family Life Radio member Heather’s little 5 year old Chance. He’s not feeling well. You know he’s not feeling well, when he has to leave grandma’s house early.

Grandma’s house is the best! I loved being at my ga ma’s house. It’s like Disney, the happiest place on earth. Not all grandma’s are the same. A lot of grandma’s are hospitable, fun and “lovey dovey”, that was my mom’s mother. Grandma’s house is the place for what your tummy is in the mood for. I would tell my grandma I was hungry and she’d bring out the sweet treats. She had ice cream, cookies and candy bars!

 

Mercy Extended

I’m thankful to God for extending mercy through people. I was in a big box home improvement store. A friends got me a gift card because we are getting ready to move into our house.  I knocked over a flower pot and it broke into several pieces. I was trying to clean it up. The store employee said it was ok. I offered to pay for it. They said don’t worry about it.

Not only that, but something similar happened recently when my son dropped his ice cream. The restaurant gave him some more and didn’t charge us! It’s ok now, wow!

Psychology of Social Media

Want to improve your self-image? Get off social media! One listener feels some of her friends use it to compensate for their insecurities. They post all the good stuff. They post about new toys and vacations. That friend wants people to like what they posted and their feelings of self-worth are wrapped up in whether someone likes their post. If someone likes their post, they feel good about themselves. As if this is a new way of “keeping up with the Jones'”.

 

 

It also has a psychological component for the friend scrolling through their feed. The reaction could be one of comparison and therefore feeling less than.

That’s why we find our identity in who we are in Christ!