My daughters new ministry...

Its amazing to watch your children grow into their gifts and use them to build the kingdom.  As I have mentioned before, I feel our call as a family comes out of Is 61.  We are to rebuild the ruined city.  Chicago has been devastated by sin and the vulnerable children get the worst of it.  As a Safe Family, we are partnered with other families who are meeting this need right now.

Many families are biracial temporarily and need help with the hair of the child they are caring for, bu t have no family connections to do it cheaply. Abigail has developed a plan to meet this need.  See her blog post for Safe Families.  She is offering her services!  Yes!  I love that heart...it is one of my home school goals to see my kids use their gifts to bless a hurting world.

Fighting to remember the poor....

Bethan made this bracelet made from my bulging craft room.

Bethan takes a photo--a "leftover" camera was her Christmas gift last year.

Its that time of year when the catalogues & mailers fill the mailbox--where the inundation of toy ads begins to slog my mind.  The culture of materialism and  myopic self interest pushes me.  My self interest includes my kids.  I want--for them more than for myself.

The hardest part of teaching my kids to love the poor, is to give up giving them the idyllic childhood.

This year the children will give their Christmas money to Compassion and Samaritan's Purse.  Each week one child will pick out what they want to give--a chicken for a needy family.... an emergency medical kit etc.  I have already made a few recycled gifts/handcrafts for my 4 instead of spending money.  The overflow of my craft room will supply enough for them.  A few toys given to us will be cleaned and squirreled away.

We can't FORGET the poor.  But I forget when I see the hinged limb Barbie and want it for my kids, or the Jonathan Park adventure audios....  And we all get caught up in Ipods and Iphone's for preschoolers because we are inundated by ads, mailers, friends who miss His heart. ...Help us Lord.  Forgive us Lord.  Help us in this season to remember those that have no phones... no digital photos of their most loved ones, no clean clothes, no security for when storms blow.

This week my children and I are praying for our shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse children.  We get to track our boxes this year and see where they go: Mongolia, the Phillipines, Guatemala...who knows?  But we are praying for one girl and one boy.