Light 'Em Up

This year, we did things a little differently for Christmas.  Last year we did a big 25 day countdown where we did some kind of activity every day up until Christmas.  Logan enjoyed it, but there was definitely something missing.  When asking some other moms about ideas for our daily activities, someone suggested I check out www.lillightomine.com and consider doing the "Light Em Up" challenge this season.  It took all of 5 minutes of reading to realize that it's exactly what I was hoping to find to do with the kiddos.  It helped put the focus of the season on loving others the way that Jesus did when he came into the world.  This year we only did a couple of projects, next year I'd like to add a few more and eventually get to the point where we're serving others in some capacity at least once a day until Christmas.  What a fun way to share Jesus with others!

Our first mission was to tag a bunch of candy canes and keep them with us to give away.  We gave them to people who served us-- waiters/waitresses, cashiers, etc.  It was so fun to watch people light up in smiles as we encouraged them that, yes, it really was for them!

We also arranged to have a big cookie exchange as part of our service projects.  Everyone brought 4 dozen cookies and while we ate and enjoyed company, the kids loaded up 13 buckets, filled to the brim, with all kinds of cookies to take around town to local members of the community who serve. 

Here are the kiddos ready to head out!

We delivered the cookies over the course of three days.  The first day we hit the post office!  There is usually one postal worker who I always hope I don't end up with.  She's curt, never smiles and is generally unfriendly.  On this particular day, Logan and I prayed before we went in that we'd end up with her, and we did!  We waited in line just to give her cookies and the smile on her face and the amount of people she told about "the little girl with the cookies" was enough to make us want to go back over and over again.

Day two we headed out with friends and took cookies to the ladies at the library.  

And day three we tried to deliver some cookies to the firemen.  It was the place the kids were most excited to go and we even called early to confirm it was ok.  But, no one was there when we stopped by.  We did see them out doing a training exercise as we drove around trying to find somewhere else to deliver cookies!

We also bought $5 Starbucks gift cards to give out.  We gave one to our postman and had plans to give them to all of our Sunday School teachers, but we haven't seen them since before Christmas, so they'll get theirs on Sunday!  

This was such a great exercise for us and for our hearts.  It's especially hard for me because it does push me out of my comfort zone, but I felt like the Lord grew us through it.  We've decided to also be more intentional throughout the year about doing things like this.