Sorin Helps to Tell the Schiefelbein Story

As the Schiefelbein Family continues to establish itself, we are still trying to tell a good story.  Katie and I were very inspired by Donald Miller's book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years which we both read last year.  Miller's premise is that what makes a good book or a good movie is also what makes a good life, and thus a good story.  There are essential elements to a good story, which Miller describes, such as the main character overcoming significant challenges on his way to reaching his goal. 

Katie and I want to tell a story of purpose.  Neither of us are wired to just do things for the sake of doing them.  We thrive on living meaningful lives, though this is a daily challenge.  Still, we look for opportunities to tell a better story and move towards lives of purpose.  We do these not in an attempt to bring any praise to our family, but to become a family that stands for justice and goodwill.  We're not doing anything that hundreds of families aren't already doing.

We attend Blackhawk Church which is once again providing school supplies for nine area schools.  I remember being very excited this time of year because I loved to buy new school supplies.  Notebooks in every color, new pens and pencils, and of course the first gear bag I ever had - a backpack to hold all my supplies.  It was a great time of year.  And now I realize not every kid had the same experience I did.  It's hard to imagine kids not having these basic tools for learning.

A couple weeks ago Sorin and I went out to get the school supplies for a child who otherwise wouldn't have them on his first day of school.  Sorin is old enough to walk around with me and when I realized he could reach over the top of the cart, I decided he would help me with each and (literally) every item we bought.

 As Sorin gets older and we prepare to send him off to school, he probably won't remember this trip to the store when we bought school supplies for a young student we don't even know.  But Katie and I will subtly remind him of what we did that Saturday afternoon.  We'll say it very matter-of-factly.  We'll discuss it in the context of our blessings and the blessings we're able to share with others.