Presents for Jesus

We hope your Christmas is filled with reflections on the birth of a babe who came to take away the sins of the world! With hands that spread His love around to others, and hearts that never forget the sacrifice He made so that all may know Him!  Jesus truly is the reason for this Season! What gifts will you be giving to Jesus this year? We would love to hear your ideas as we look for more ways to give to Him instead of ourselves. 

Some of our thoughts: 

 Heifer International - giving bees so an impoverished family can be trained in a skill to make an income. 

My friend Casey is raising money for bunk beds for the orphanage she just adopted from in the Congo - you can give so that kids don't have to sleep on the ground! 

Give to Okoa Refuge where you can feed the hungry in Uganda, supply clean water, sponsor a child...oh so many options, check it out!!!

 Earthquake Relief in Van, Turkey, If you live in the US you can text the word AIDE to 85944 to donate $10 text as many times as you want!

Send us your ideas!

A Child's Christmas Wreath

We were able to spend a few days of vacation hanging out with some sweet friends and during that time, my friend Lisa told me of this idea for a Christmas wreath.  I have had a time trying to make a wreath this year since I can't find a straw wreath to start from.  I attempted rolling rags and tying them together to wrap in yarn for my desired yarn wreath but that was a FAIL although a creative idea if it would have worked.  So while with our friends we traced all the kiddos hands (all six kids) and this wreath is the result of two families who love and serve Jesus and want all the world to know Him too!

Merry Christmas!!!

Queen Mother

Fall Craft for Kids: Painted leaf wreath

While our friends were out with Mr. Fabulous looking for a home, Shannon and I supervised the kids on this craft. 

Step 1: Give each child orange paper, three paintbrushes and yellow, red and brown paint

Step 2: Make sure they only paint the paper :)

Step 3:  Let it dry

Step 4.  Cut the paper into leave shapes

Step 5: Glue leave shapes in a circle on a piece of construction paper

Step 6. Cut a circle out of the middle of the construction paper and tie it on your door with string.

Simple fun craft to do with kids....especially if you don't have access to wreaths where you live!

Recycled Owl Tutorial

So I believe I found this tutorial on the Craftberry Bush blog via The Crafty Cow blog...check it out for pictures on how to cut your 2 liter bottle to make the owl.  Once I cut the bottle, I taped it together with clear tape then I drew lines on the owl for the different parts then told my kids which part to paint what color, for the smaller sections I helped hold their hand.  As you can see Tarzan has scratched off some of the paint since they have been put on display.  Nevertheless it was a fun recycled craft for this bird-loving family!

Painting pumpkins with Kids

Step 1.  Lay down a cloth you can get paint on

Step 2. wash and dry pumpkins

Step 3. Pick three different colors of paint and put on a plate (we chose turquoise, brown and cream)

Step 4. Hand each child a paint brush and let them have at it

We enjoyed this activity with our friends who just moved to our city.  After our pumpkins dried we decorated the house with them.  The one in the picture above is Tarzan's pumpkin - didn't he do a great job?!