Happy Birthday, Jesus: The Party

Our homeschool co-op's elementary age party was a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" party.  They played some birthday party games.

The blindfold/mask broke right before David's turn.

The birthday cake and kids waiting patiently for it...

My kids loved the cake and the balloons all over the place

and declared the party great fun!

Afterwards, we went Angel Tree shopping and got  a wonderful stash of presents for 3-year-old Gilbert.  He will now have warm clothes, PJ's, shoes, and several farm animals toys & books to enjoy!  We love doing Angel Tree!

Do what you can for Haiti...

I don't watch TV. Someone asked me at our home school group how I know what's going on in the world. Either my husband (he watches news at work and reads the newspaper online) or other sources online. So I haven't seen the pictures or the news stories. I found out about the tragedy in Haiti on Facebook. One of my friends, who's also in my class at church, was in Haiti on a Mission Trip the week of Thanksgiving, so it holds a special place in her heart. I'm also friends with Compassion International, who we have supported for 11 years. (Fan Compassion on Facebook.) I also read blogs, and when a crisis happens, bloggers spring into action.

Money Saving Mom is one of my favorite blogs. She and her husband have graciously offered to donate $10 to Compassion International for every blogger who blogs what they're doing to help the relief efforts and links to her website. Last time I checked, she's up to donating $3280! And that was before I linked up! She's got it open through January 21. I'd say she's been a good steward of her resources to be able to leave an open-ended donation going like that. Her blog is well worth your time.

You can also make a donation directly to Compassion International's Disaster Relief Fund. Compassion was already in Haiti. Casualties could have included some of their staff, volunteers, and definitely the children and families they were already ministering to every day. Compassion has been keeping us up-to-date on their ministries on their blog and on Facebook.

The cloth diapering world is also getting involved. Kelly's Closet is doing a raffle fundraiser, with 100% of the proceeds going to the American Red Cross International Response Fund. For a $10 donation, you are entered into a drawing for an awesome diaper bundle or gift certificate! The last update they posted on facebook, was that the fundraiser had already brought in $2580 for donation. You can also donate online directly to the American Red Cross. And the easiest way to donate that I've seen - by text. I don't have texting, but you can donate $10 by texting "HAITI" to 90999.

My friend from church also tells us that our church will be sending disaster relief through the organization, New Missions, who is already positioned in Haiti. Our church has gone with New Missions to Haiti for a few years now. The photo above is from this year's trip. That's Jessica in the foreground. You can read more about the work in Haiti on their website, where I learned that Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Contributions can be made directly to New Missions on their donations page.

So what am I doing to help? In addition to our contribution to Compassion International, I'm spreading the word. You can also help other bloggers give, too! At the bottom of Money Saving Mom's post, you will also find a list of other bloggers who have committed to donate to Haiti in some form based on comments they receive. Your clicks & comments will help the donations grow without even coming out of your own pocket!!!

So get out there! Get involved! Make a donation! Comment on a blog! Make a difference!

Making Christmas, Part 3

By the time this posts, my family will have finished (or is probably still be in the middle of!) opening Christmas presents! Now I can show the rest of our creations!

David & Elizabeth got in on the act this year & helped make ornaments for MawMaw & Grandma! These are Elizabeth's drawings:

And these are David's - a blue Christmas tree for Grandma and a purple Christmas tree for MawMaw:


Food gifts were also given this year. You've already seen many of them, but here are the drink mixes I made:

Included are English Breakfast Tea, Hot Cocoa (regular and sugar free), and several flavors of coffee: Bavarian Mint, Swiss Mocha, and French Vanilla (decaff).

More aprons were created for my family, but with some special meaning, too. My Grandmama had scads of clothing. We gave away tons of stuff after she died, but I kept several items with the intent to make something that might last a bit longer. This year, I came up with an idea. The floral fabric used for this apron I made for my sister was one of Grandmama's house coats. (click photo for a larger picture) The denim and embroidered design on the pocket was from one of Grandmama's many denim shirts.

Getting the fabric from a house coat into an apron was a little more challenging than I expected, so for my sister-in-law's apron, I used one of Grandmama's broomstick skirts for the dark fabric and the pink accents came from one of her shirts.


I think they'll like them. I wish I could have made them full aprons, but the fabric I was using was limiting. This was an emotional project for me. I've washed the clothing numerous times & it still smelled like Grandmama. I hope I was able to create something that she'd have been proud of.

Making Christmas, Part 2

Merry Christmas to all!

I have been so eager to post pictures of things I've been making this Christmas, but I was afraid that the recipient would see it! MawMaw has no Internet at her house, so I know I'm safe now! These gifts will go to Dad's family on Christmas Day. Here's the apron I made for MawMaw:

This pattern was so easy! Here's the one for Aunt Jana - same pattern, but completely different look:

And I made a little tag blanket for my new nephew, Mason:

The back is made out of that super soft minkie stuff!

There are a couple of other things that will be given on Christmas Day, but I can't show them yet, because my family will be getting similar items a few days later! (and I know they'll see this before then!) Hopefully I will get pictures of everyone with their gifts, too!

Don't have a cow... Give One!

Several of the kids craft blogs I regularly read have mentioned the organization, Heifer International, and I hadn't really paid much attention to it. Until now.

Most recently, it was Kiddio, who's 6-year-old daughter has decided to give a gift of bunnies and chicks to an impoverished family. With this gift, the family will be given not only a food source, but also a source of income. And the girl came up with a fundraising project to raise the $50 needed for this gift - She's making & selling Christmas gift tags.

Visit Kiddio to read more about her fundraiser and a link to make an online donation. In the mean time, here's another video you can watch to learn about Heifer... and don't you just love that name?!

Prison Fellowship Angel Tree

Saturday morning, I went with my Mom shopping for our Angel Tree kids. It's something I look forward to doing every year. We like to do that together & I think it helps her keep all the kids & gifts in order. She was shopping for 5 kids that her Sunday School class had adopted & I took the baby in a family of 6 kids.

I specifically wanted to do Angel Tree from Prison Fellowship this year. These are local children who have one or more parent in prison. The family we were shopping for with 6 kids, who are now living with an aunt & uncle while Mom is in prison. I don't know her crime and I don't know where their Dad is. But that doesn't matter. Think about how it would feel to be a child, not able to spend Christmas with your parents, but then not have any gifts from them either. That has always been my motivation for participating in Angel Tree - the children.

As I was looking for a video clip to use on this post, I came across the one below. For the first time, I realized that Angel Tree is not just taking care of the kids, it's also ministering to the parents who are in prison. Now imagine being the parent and you can't go Christmas shopping; you can't bake cookies together; you can't take your kids to see Santa or go to Christmas parties. Then Angel Tree comes in and connects you with people who are willing to do the shopping & add beautiful gift wrapping with bows & everything. The parent in prison gets to write a note to put on the gifts (toys & needed clothes) and now they have gifts to send to their children.

'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'Matthew 25:40

While the deadline for getting presents for in is tomorrow for us, Angel Tree can still accept donations online that benefit the Christmas Angel program, as well as their camping programs and mentoring programs. Click to make an Online Donation to Angel Tree. Share the love this Christmas.

Another Place to Give

In addition to Child Sponsorship, Compassion International also has various relief funds you can specify for one-time gifts. These include: disaster relief, AIDS initiative, unsponsored children, leadership development, medical assistance, malaria intervention, global food crisis, hurricane relief and more.

I have been blessed with water...

For weeks now, we've been living with this yucky, undrinkable water. I've been driving over to my parents' house to fill gallon jugs with their tasty, soft water. I had to clean my dishes after running them through the dishwasher due to the calcium in the water. The smell of metal (iron in the water) almost made me sick at times. I smelled it when washing clothes, showering & bathing the kids. The tub full of water was yellow from it.

Then Dad, my hero, installed our new water softener! The difference is amazing! It's clear, it doesn't stink, and while it doesn't taste as good as Momma & Daddy's it is now drinkable. My dishes are clean and I'm not worried about what long term exposure to the hard water will do to our clothes when they're washed.

But now I've been reminded that people all over the world would have been happy with what I called undrinkable. How spoiled we are to be so blessed.

A lot of people give this time of year because it's Christmas or because it's your last chance to get a tax deduction. Whatever your reason, think about giving more this year. Not because it's the thing to do, or for the deduction, but because even in hard times, we have been blessed. Pause the music & watch...

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded...

Watch the Advent Conspiracy video, too.

Welcome to Advent