Christmas at New Hope Church

We took a Saturday this December and joined our church in their inner city outreach, which was a Christmas party CovCom threw for the families at New Hope Church. I'm trying to take a cue from some mommy's I admire and really try to involve our kids from an early age in our giving to other's less fortunate. I took the boys shopping for the special gifts for the kids we "adopted" and we also went to the Dollar Store and let them each pick out ten special presents to wrap up for other kids.

The boys ready to head out to the party with

their little backpacks full of goodies to share.

Tim on the "bounce house duty".

All the kids listening to a short message
and waiting for their presents.


Every kid that registered got a gift.

Here is Will handing out some of his gifts. It took the boys a minute to get the hang of it, but then they really got into it - and actually wished they had more to hand out. Jared, especially was a little shy at first. It worked out well, too, for them to have their own gifts to give because there were a lot of kids from the neighborhood that weren't part of the ministry that just came to the party. It was nice for all of them to get a little something.

Jared commented when we left that he really thought someone was going to give him a gift. Its rare for them to go anywhere there is gifts and not walk away with something. Think about it. Even at birthday parties there is almost always the goody bag everyone leaves with.

Now that Christmas has come and gone and I am taking a little time to reflect, its truly amazing and a little overwhelming to think about just how blessed we are. This was such a small thing truthfully, but I hope that it made a little impact on their hearts.

I'm praying for more opportunities to teach us all how to give...