Seriously So Blessed....Seriously.

Tonight we went to the Ranch Market in Phoenix with Jenny, Cam & Oakley.

From what Jenny had found online it was supposed to be like the "Arizona Disneyland" with all its bright colors and music (even though grocery store).

But it is amazing.  Everything is so cheap and they have every authentic Mexican thing you could ever want, along with places to eat within the store and get authentic Mexican food.

It was delicious.

{Daves who knows what, he loved it and that whole thing ended up in his stomach}

{Oakley "eating" her burrito}

We all had dinner together & then went our separate ways so we could get some grocery shopping done.  I didn't bring a list with me, which is never a good thing, but we had fun wandering the store picking new things to try.

As we were leaving the store, it was dark and cold 

(cold meaning like 55 degrees...we have adjusted to Arizona weather quickly and even though we know we are warmer than most of the country, it's freezing to us!)

and we were rushing to put all of our groceries in our trunk.

As we were putting the last of our bags into our car, a man approached us asking if we spoke Spanish.  Dave told him he spoke a little, but not much.  

The man then asked in broken English if we had any food for him & his family. 

It kind of caught us off guard, and we looked down at our trunk full of groceries and then at each other.

It wasn't like someone asking for money, when it's easy to brush them off and say you don't have cash.
Kind of flustered, we looked through our bags for something we could give him.  

We pulled out a bag or oranges we had bought, and asked if he would like those. 

He was very kind and thanked us and went on his way.

As we were leaving the parking lot I told Dave to kind of follow him to see where he went.  I was curious, I had never had someone directly ask for just food, no money. 

We watched as he approached more people getting into their cars, but continued driving and headed home. 

As we were driving I couldn't help but feel so bad for him.  I felt bad that all we had given him was a few oranges.  I told Dave I wished we could go back and take him grocery shopping and let him pick out whatever food he wanted.

And Dave being the sweetheart he is said, "should we go back?"

I smiled and he turned the car around to head back to the store.

As we pulled back into the parking lot, we saw him still approaching car after car, and we thought for sure he would have quite the load of food by then.

 As we got closer to him though, we saw all he had in his hands was that bag of oranges we had given him.

It broke our hearts.  We had seen him approach at least 5 other families, and who knows how many more in the time we were headed home and then back to the store, and no one shared.

I completely understand people not wanting to give out money to someone you don't know, when you don't know what that money will be used for.

But food?  Food can only help someone.

We weaved our way through the parking lot to make our way to him, and when he saw us, he had a sense of relief in his eyes.  He didn't smile, but he looked relieved.

We got out of our car and Dave asked him if he needed more.

I wish I could say we took him on a grocery shopping spree and got him everything he wanted, but our finances don't really allow for that right now with me still looking for a job.

Dave asked him how many kids he had.  He said 2, a 6 year old and an 8 year old.

We got back in our trunk and filled a bag for him with cereal, oatmeal, bananas & apples.

Because of the language barrier, we weren't sure if he had a car or if he was going to be walking somewhere.  We didn't want to give him more than he could carry & didn't want to give him anything that could go bad quickly, so we gave him what we could, he thanked us again & we went on our separate ways.

It was such a small, seemingly insignificant thing, but it gave me a lump in my throat for the whole drive home...a good lump :).

I couldn't stop thinking about him.  

Dave and I talked about how that man must have felt tonight. 

How humiliating it would be to have to do something like that, talk about swallowing your pride.

How he was doing the job of a husband and father by trying to provide for his family, even if it wasn't in the most ideal way.

Leaving his family to go practically beg for food so he could feed them.

How sad it would have been if he went home at the end of the night with only a small bag of oranges.

And how even though he could likely be illegally living in the United States, he is still a person.

And no one deserves to go hungry.

And then we talked about how blessed we are.

How right now Dave is starting his dream career and we are planning on buying our first home soon.

And this man is worrying about how he will feed his family.

And we are all just people.

 {I know its blurry.  Trust me, tonight I look better blurry}

 It left me feeling blessed, and so thankful for Dave.  He is such a sweetheart and I love that he loves to help people.  I have always had a soft spot for people in need, but I am always cautious about it which I know holds me back from lots of opportunities like this.  I am so thankful that Dave doesn't even hesitate, and will help anyone with anything, allowing me to be part of experiences like tonight :)