Operation Christmas Child

As a Mom, it is my prayer that my kids will grow up to love and follow Christ. I want them to grow up with an attitude of gratitude and a heart that wants to help others. As I've been thinking about Christmas and the season ahead of us, I want to shift our focus to helping others rather than getting gifts. I have grand ideas of fancy advent calendars and countdown crafts for Hope to do each day but reality is that there just isn't time (or energy) to do it this year. However, I do think it is very do-able and realistic to find 1 project that we can do together each weekend that will somehow bless someone else!

A few weeks ago we took Hope to Target and helped her fill a "shoebox" (she picked a pretty pink flowered plastic box) with things for another little girl who is 4, just like her! I loved watching her look at all the things around her and carefully choose exactly what she wanted in her box! She picked socks of her favorite characters, rainbow gloves, a stuffed polar bear AND a baby doll, My Little Pony toothbrush/paste plus extra Monsters Inc toothpaste, and other fun items! She kept talking about how much the little 4 year old girl was going to love her box that she was making and she is absolutely right! She proudly delivered her shoebox to church so it could be sent to that perfect little girl that God has designated just for her box!

This past Saturday we went as a family to the Air1 Operation Christmas Child packing party. I had heard about it on the radio and thought it'd be a fun thing we could do together as a family. In order to go to the processing center for OCC, you have to be 13 so this seemed like a great opportunity for Hope to get involved. What a fun night we had! Hope would pick her box & the age of the child she was packing it for (always for a girl) and Jaye would pick a box too (always for a boy the same age as the one Hope was packing for). We'd then walk through the lines choosing items for inside each box. Hope carefully chose which toothbrush, notebook, coloring book, toys, soap, color of washcloth, type of candy, and stuffed animal would go inside each box. We ended up going through the process 6 times, making a total of 12 boxes! One round, we got to the toy table where they had little toys for boys and girls and although Hope was making a box for a girl, she decided that the box needed a matchbox car. The worker tried to convince her otherwise but she insisted the little girl would like a car...and so I let her choose the car. (I remember hearing stories of boxes that had specific seemingly random items and how those items were exactly what that child and his/her family needed.) Who knows, maybe that little girl has a brother who won't otherwise get a toy or maybe she has always wanted a car for herself! After each set of boxes was packed, we'd stop and squat down as a family and pray over our boxes. The best was the times Hope was the one praying over the boxes! I am so proud of my sweet girl and the wisdom she already has about how great our God is!

Not sure what our next few projects will be, but I am excited to continue to instill in my sweet girl a heart for others!

Five Minute Friday: Fly

"Mom, when I grow up, I want to fly. I'm not going to fly on an airplane, I want to fly with wings. I just really want to fly."

This is an ongoing conversation in our house. My sweet girl dreams of flying. As I kindly suggest maybe she could become a pilot or a astronaut, or go in a hot-air balloon, she just looks at me (as if she's humoring my suggestions) and then reminds me that she wants to fly on her own. Do I tell her its impossible? Do I tell her people can't fly? Do I dash her dream of flying? Nope, I just tell her, "maybe someday". Who am I to tell her she can't fly?! I want her to continue to dream big to shoot for the stars, to strive for something great. And so I encourage her to study hard, be a good listener, be a kind friend and dream big!! Who knows, maybe someday she really will fly!!

Five Minute Friday: Truth

"But the voice of truth tells me a different story. The voice of truth says 'Do not be afraid'. The voice of truth says this is for my glory. Out of all the voices calling out to me, I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth."

I probably butchered those lyrics, but this is what I immediately thought of when I saw the word "Truth". The other thought that comes to mind is how hard it can be to tell the truth. I am not a confrontational person. I am go-with-the-flow, don't-rock-the-boat, kind of person. I don't want to cause conflict, I don't want to hurt feelings. Wether it be big things or small things, I have a hard time speaking truth when it may cause some discomfort. So, rather than speak truth, I keep things to myself and assume others can read my  mind or that they should know that I am hurt or bothered or disappointed.

Five Minute Friday: Tree

Psalm 1 references how a man who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on His word will be like a TREE firmly planted. The thing with trees is there is way more than meets the eye. The whole support system of a tree is hidden from view, it stretches deep underground and spreads out in the form of roots. When the winds blow and the rain comes, the tree stands tall because it's roots are sprawled out, deep beneath the ground.

Our house is surrounded by trees. They are everywhere! Apparently, whoever lived here originally had quite the green thumb. Too bad the subsequent owner/owners let them go crazy! We have 4 trees on our patio and while they provide great shade for both us and our neighbors, they drop sooo many leaves! Our planter is probably covered with a least a foot of leaves and our cement is stained with the dark colored berries. Our front yard has some huge trees that also provide great shade but are growing out of control, towering high over our yard and house.

Both the unseen and seen parts of trees are cause for LOTS of work. Pruning, choppping, raking...it seems the work is never done. It seems to me that our lives are a lot like all these trees. We have unseen roots that have shaped us and made us who we are. Hopefully our "roots" keep us grounded and keep us from falling when storms come. What is visible to the outside world is sometimes messy and needs upkeep and often times, takes a lot of work! If we are firmly rooted in Christ, we can dig deep and grow tall.

How's that for random?!

Five Minute Friday: Grace

Undeserved, unsolicited, unending

The gift of a 2^nd chance. The slate wiped clean and the past forgotten. How often we take grace for granted and don’t recognize it’s value and importance in our lives. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes about “costly grace” in his book, The Cost of Discipleship. The idea is simple…so often we take advantage of God’s grace. We make poor choices, we choose the wrong, we deliberately sin, knowing that God’s grace has covered it all and that we can start anew. We cheapen His grace by our lack of gratitude and living as one SAVED by such grace. When we truly understand the cost of the grace offered to us, we choose to live differently. We remember His death, his suffering, his pain…and we choose to live in gratitude.

Grace. A favorite of one I hold dear. A gift freely given and undeserved, yet I can claim it as my own. Grace. A new beginning…the old has gone and the new has come and we never have to turn back to what once but instead look forward to the future filled with hope and excitement because His grace has saved us and has made whole what once was broken and incomplete.