Another Year, Another Birthday!

I'm a little behind on my blogging.  A home remodel project will do that to you!  But it's so worth it in the end!  

Anna turned seven on February 13th.  SEVEN?  Not sure how time is flying by so quickly, but it is.  Here are a few pictures from her birthday party.  Her favorite color is blue so we had a blue polka-dot party.   

Yes, the cake is totally lopsided.  But, I decided I'm perfectly okay with that because the cake pops and cupcakes looked pretty!  Plus, the inside of the cake was checkerboard blue and white so the outside wasn't as important!

And here are pictures of my sweet Anna.  God blessed you with such a tender, nurturing heart and we are just constantly amazed at what a loving girl you are.  You've always been my shy, sensitive little girl with a big heart and I love you so much! 

  

Numana food packaging event

Our church recently hosted a food packaging event with Numana.  I can't say enough good things about this organization - mainly because they are organized!  They bring everything to your location and you just join in the assembly line somewhere and prepare meals. 

What's really neat about this particular event is it was inspired by our youngest members of our church.  Our Wee Worship class  (ages 2-5) collect offering for very specific purposes.  A year ago, they started collecting money to host a packaging event and send the food to Haiti.  Each week they talked about it and learned more about why Haiti needed their help.  After a year of collecting coins, they decided they needed the help of the rest of the congregation.  Together, we met and exceeded their goal!  During the two hour packaging event, we put together over 11,000 meals. WOW!

Sometimes we get in the mindset that we are a small church from a small town in the middle of Kansas.  We get accustomed to writing checks and sending money do various groups that do amazing things to grow God's Kingdom. But we don't always do the best job of "getting our hands dirty" and really serving right where we are.  Not everyone can take a week off and go to Mexico to build a house or Africa to serve in an orphanage, but everyone can give up an hour to pour rice into a bag.  This packaging event allowed us the best of both worlds. We were able to contribute financially and help with the actual pouring of rice and beans and other important stuff into bags, weighing them, sealing them, flattening them out and boxing them up.  There was something for everyone to do.  My 3 year-old might have had the best time of anyone in the room!  His bags were not only flattened, they were karate-chopped, spun, shaken and thoroughly tested for sturdiness.  Every single one of them held up. 

Below are a few pictures from the event. I'm hoping this is the start of many opportunities to teach our children that they can serve with their own hands.  If a 3 year-old can do something -  the rest of us don't have any more excuses! 

Between a bed and a hard place.

Sometimes you're really tired.  Like, so tired you just have to fall asleep right where you are.  Sometimes, you even fall asleep in the crack between your bed and a wall because you're just that tired.  Ever feel that way too?