Clean Water

Emily from Chatting at The Sky asks what moment are you waiting to live to the hilt. This photo represents one of the best moments of my life...only it goes on for about 20 years. This photo is of a woman in the Dominican Republic. My cousin Myles took this photo last year when he went on a missions trip with local churches from our area. He sent me the photo for one particular reason. My family bought this water filter last year during a fundraiser for the trip. It cost $50. It's priceless though. This water filter will give a family of 18 people 90% clean water for 20 years. This organization, brought these filters to the D.R. in pieces, put them together, and then, painted my name on it. That was an unexpected gift to me. I had no idea they were doing this with each filter. The MOMENT I saw this picture, was a very special moment.
This past year my boys earned 10 cents per sticker for various actions. We put each sticker they earned on a calendar. By the time the D.R. fundraiser came around, they had earned $40 worth of stickers and put that towards a purchase of one of these filters. We put in the rest and purchased a second one as well.
The moment I'm waiting for--I probably won't even experience it. But, it's happening some time this week. The missions' team is in the D.R. as I write this. They may be installing our filters this very second. They may paint our names on the filters again. They may not. But, sometime this week a very deserving family will be drinking clean water and we helped with that. What a blessing and moment it is for my family. I'm not proud of us...I'm so thankful to God that we can somehow do something in His name. Is it a lot? No, but it is a very special moment that I'm privileged to share.