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?!
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.
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 know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but bear with me for just a moment...
I've been wishing for a kid-friendly advent calendar for a few years now, but have never found one that I just fell in love with. Growing up, we made a countdown chain out of construction paper every year. Here's the chain we made last year, but with preschoolers, it usually end's up being Mom's chain. Making it & tearing off just one loop every day didn't seem to hold their attention.
This year, all these great homemade ideas have just fallen into my lap... so I may start thinking about making one! Not sure when I'll do that with boxes to unpack, Christmas presents & curtains still needing to be made, decorating & baking to be done! Here's a few links for those of you that may be wondering what you're going to do for yours:
Kids Craft Weekly has ideas for advent calendars you can make with little ones.
The Crafty Crow shows a sample & links to 17 beautiful calendars, most obviously mom-made, but kid-friendly.
My sister made a cute one last year using matchboxes & family photos. I keep thinking maybe she'll post a tutorial... hint, hint... Hers was published in Somerset's Holidays & Celebrations magazine this year! Here's a picture of it with my niece pointing to Elizabeth & me on one of the matchboxes!
So what does your family do for advent / countdown to Christmas?
It's all Yours God, Yours God, everything is Yours. From the stars in the sky to the depths of the ocean floor. It's all Yours God, Yours God, everything is Yours. You're the maker and keeper, Father and ruler of everything. It's all Yours.
