Light Em Up 2013

The kids and I, once again, participated in the Light Em Up challenge this year during the month of December.  We've decided that we want to focus all of our time and energy leading up to Christmas loving and serving others.  We want to make sure that the Christmas season doesn't end up being one of, "me, me, me" but one that shows what Christ did for us and commands us to do: love.  

We started with our candy canes!  We cut labels, taped and got them all ready together.

Logan got very into it.  She always wanted to have candy canes on hand to give to others!

We gave them out to grocery store workers, workers at department stores, we even taped them to shopping carts for the next patrons to discover.

It's always fun to give these out and enjoy the reactions when the servers realize we are trying to serve THEM in this way!

Brody was a little more hesitant to hand them out, but always made sure our stash in the diaper bag was replenished if it ran low!

Here the kids are doing our Jesse tree, this year.  It's another Christmas tradition that we have.  It essentially allows us to see the thread of Jesus throughout the entire Bible leading up to his birth.  It's a fantastic way to focus us on the real reason we celebrate and also allows us to tie in our Light Em Up activities by relating some of the things we do to the stories.

 We love the Jesse Tree tradition so much that one of our LEU projects this year was to make a few of them for other families!

The kids' favorite project this year, though, was coloring a big card and putting together a big candy box for our garbage collectors.  Every week Brody stands by the window or door and watches the truck roll by, so when I suggested we do something for them, he was more than thrilled!

We got up and got dressed at about 6 that morning to put our stuff out for them so that we didn't miss them.  It was a little cold!  We actually were able to park the car down the street when the garbage collectors arrived and the kids were able to see the laughs and smiles that erupted when they realized that the sign and candy was for them.

Our next project was hot chocolate jars.  We made these for all of the teachers in our lives!  So, Logan's ballet teacher got one, we made them for MOPS teachers and Sunday School teachers.

 It was kind of a mess, but I was glad I relinquished control and allowed them to put them together.

Logan and I also spent an afternoon baking goodies for our pediatric office and for the employees at Mike's store!

Here she is getting ready to deliver at the Dr.'s office....

It was such a fantastic way to celebrate what Christ did for us.  We were so thankful to be able to participate and I was so blessed every time either kid said, "What about doing ........... for a light em up!"  They have become such givers, it amazes me to see their selflessness.  I feel so blessed at the opportunity the Lord has given me to shepherd their little hearts.  We've decided to find small LEU projects to do throughout the year, because it's just too much fun to only do in December!!