Quotes I Love!

Evangelism is what happens when your life with God flows over into the lives of those around you.  Allan Walshe - Professor at Andrews seminary

Community Service

Nathan’s community service project for grade 2 is collecting newspapers from our neighbors and taking them to the Greenville Humane Society.  In January we saved our own papers and Nathan made up a flyer that he printed and added stickers to.  We took the papers to the Humane Society on Feb 2.  They were very thankful and we enjoyed looking around at all the cute animals.  He also passed out 4 of his flyers by himself on Feb 2.  

On Feb 28th he went back to our neighbors homes and picked up the papers.  It was interesting to hear peoples responses.  One lady said she didn’t have them together.  Another had 2 large bags that we hauled back to the house.  Yet another told him to go get a wagon because they had too many to carry.  He was elated to have to go get a wagon and literally fell over while running to fast to get back to their house.  He was so cute pulling that wagon loaded down with papers.  Then our whole family got to go to the Humane Society the next day and they were very grateful for our donation of so many papers.  We really enjoyed going around and looking at all the animals together and were relieved to see only a handful still there from last month.

Faith, Hope, and Love

Ahh, Valentines Day is a time to celebrate our love for one another.  I made crocheted envelopes for the boys complete with hearts to adorn them and heart crochet cards to boot.  They fulfilled my every hope as the boys loved them! I can honestly say Nathan adored it.  I had hoped he would since I put quite a bit of time into it.  I figured he could continue to use it for little treasures and such and if nothing else, I could reuse it for their Valentines next year.  They both told me happy Valentines Day several times and doted me with hugs and kisses.  I felt both loved and appreciated.  They also enjoyed their heart shaped PB&J sandwiches and heart shaped strawberries.  I enjoyed surprising Lee with his card tucked into his lap top to be found by him in the morning which worked well.  He was surprised and loved.   He also enjoyed gluten free chocolate chip cookies that I found in the Trader Joe's flyer.  He actually purchased them during his weekly shopping but it's the thought that counts right?  I hope.
His gift to me started early as he came home with not 1 but 2 dozens roses on Fri last week.   We had a scrumptious dinner of one of my favorite things Lee makes up these days, homemade mushroom soup over rice, a side of veggies and a chocolate mouse pie, also a Trader Joe's special.   I also enjoyed some tasty pre-made smores and an orange chocolate bar both from TJ's :) and a lovely card with red foxes in love of course.
God has shared so much with us this past year.  Lee has gotten an awesome job and in turn got to leave a not so awesome job.  He doesn't just want us to share love with our immediate family but also with His other children.  You know love isn't love until you give it away.  For me to really give it away, I have to give not expecting anything in return.  All the things I gave my family, I did because I love them but subconsciously it was also to get a response from them.  Giving love without expecting a response is so awesome.
We started our sponsorship of David from Ecuador and it just feels so right.  It was the perfect thing to do on Valentines Day.  I felt lead by God to pick someone in Ecuador and to pick a child that had been waiting for a long time so I narrowed the selection to that and also to an age range of my own children.  There were 8 choices but only 1 for us. The boys and I prayed that God would lead us to the child He had picked for us and He did.  I read each description to Nathan and he connecting with this one or that that liked playing with marbles or shared his birthday month but the one that was different than the others, lived with his mother and 3 siblings.  That's when it hit him, Momma we need to help that boy and his family.  That is a lot of people in that family and they don't have a Daddy.
Isn't that what it's really all about, needing a Father.  A Father to love us. Lord please use us to show David Your love, the love of a Father. Thank you for this Valentines Day, so different from all the rest.  Not just a time to shower love on our own family but a little boy a thousand miles away and his family.
And the greatest of these is love.