Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Service projects for kids

Just so you know, no pictures in this post..
After reading the book Radical, Troy and I have had our eyes and hearts opened to the importance of serving others. But we are constantly wondering what can we do with all these kids?
In the last few weeks, God has dropped opportunities in our laps.
The preschool decided to do a holiday service project this year, packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child. I was excited to get my boys involved and decided that Reef would also do a box of his own. They were so funny at the store picking out gifts for the child who would receive their box. All 3 were also very good about understanding that the toys were NOT for us. Reef and I packed our box while the brothers were at school. He also wrote his child a note. After we packed the box,I said, "Oh I wanted to include stickers." Reef said, "I have some," and ran off to his room. Now, if you know Reef, you know he has a stash of beloved things on his bookshelf that are not to be touched, moved, or played with. He came back with stickers from that stash! It brought tears to my eyes to see him so willingly give away something that was so important to him.
Another opportunity we had was for the Urban Connection Thanksgiving meal. I signed up to prepare food, and Troy decided to take Reef with him to serve the food. At first, Reef was pretty timid, but after a bit of serving alongside his dad, Reef was off and running. He really enjoyed serving the food, handing out silverware, serving desserts, and picking up trash. It's an experience he is still talking about today.
Other things we have in the works are Christmas gifts for our neighbors, caroling at a nursing home, the Angel Tree at our church, and possibly serving breakfast at Fisher House.

I'd love to hear your ideas on service projects for kids!

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