A New Holiday Tradition and 25 Ways to Love on Others

I cannot believe the holiday season is already upon us!  The "ber" months are my absolute favorite.  And yes, I am that person whose tree has been up for a week already.  Don't judge.  I promise it doesn't mean that I am not grateful or do not love Thanksgiving.  I am just really, really, thankful for Christmas! ;)

I am so excited to share with you a new tradition we are starting with our family this year...The Giving Manger.  This product was created to promote the true meaning of Christmas.  It encourages acts of service and spreading kindness.

Included in the set is:

*A Book- We will read this heartwarming story together to get us all excited about starting this new tradition.

*A Wooden Manger-We will place this somewhere visible in our home.

*A Bundle of Straw-With each act of service, we will place a piece of straw in the manger.

*A Baby Jesus-On Christmas Day, we will place this in the manger full of service and love.

If you would like to order one of these sets and start this tradition with your family, just visit www.thegivingmanger.com.

Also, I have compiled a list of ideas on how to love on and serve others as a family this Christmas season.

1.  Provide baked goods for someone who services you and your community. Think firefighters, policemen, medical staff, postmen, etc.  I know I will be hitting Amazon pretty hard this holiday season, so I plan to do something for the UPS/Fedex drivers who will be working overtime to make all of the special deliveries.

2.  Reach out to the special needs community.  If your area has an organization that services individuals with special needs, donate your time to them.  Or maybe you know a family who has a child with special needs.  Let them know they are seen, heard, and cared for.  It can be as simple as just spending time with them.  Or offer to babysit while the parents go Christmas shopping or just have a break.  There are also great organizations you could donate to.  Ruby's Rainbow is one of my favorites.  They help make people with Down Syndrome's dreams of higher education come true by providing scholarships. 

3.  Support a foster family.  If you know a foster family personally, reach out to them and find out how you can help meet their needs.  If not, you could check out my friend's Foster Joy Project.  Or Together We Rise is a great organization that helps enhance the lives of foster children all across America.

4. Visit a nursing home.  Take a group and go caroling.  Make the residents cards/gifts or take a craft to do with them.  You may be the only guest for some of them.

5.  Volunteer in your community.  Look for local organizations where you can donate your time or money.  If you are near the Shreveport/Bossier area, The Hub Urban Ministries is a great place to start.  The opportunities to serve there are endless and year round.

6.  Offer to help someone wrap presents.

7.  Invite someone you don't know well over for dinner.

8.  Send a thoughtful/just because text message.  This can be done daily.  Just letting someone know that you are thinking about them can brighten their day.

9.   Support an orphan.  Maybe you know someone who is in the process of adopting, make a donation towards their adoption fund.  Or there are amazing organizations like Reece's Rainbow. Go to their site, select a child, and donate to their adoption grant.

10.  Pray for people in need.   Think about our soldiers and their families as they are away from each other.  Or the person who is grieving the loss of a loved one and finds the holiday season to be hard.  Maybe it's someone who has lost their job and is worried about how they will provide for their family, much less buy Christmas gifts. Serving others can be as simple as stopping to say a prayer for them.

11.  Prepare a meal for someone. Maybe it's a pregnant mom or someone who is sick.  Find someone in need, fix them a meal, and drop it off.

12.  Donate to a local food pantry.

13.  Donate to a local homeless shelter or organization. Collect socks, hats, blankets, coats, etc. and drop them off to your local organization.

14. Offer to do yard work for an elderly person.

15. Host a hot chocolate or apple cider stand and donate the proceeds to a charitable organization.  I'll insert a couple of suggestions here.  Numana, Inc is a wonderful organization that helps empower people to serve the hungry all over the world.  I have personally been a part of their events.  Just $9 feeds a child for a month! Another great organization is Compassion International.   They are a child advocacy agency that connects people with compassion to those who suffer from poverty.

16.  Offer to babysit for free.  This is a great way for teenagers to volunteer their time or you could do this as a family.  It could be especially helpful for a single parent.

17.  Participate in a fundraising walk.  Check to see if your area has any walks that support a great cause and do them as a family.

18.  Put money in the Salvation Army bucket when you pass by or volunteer to ring the bell.

19. Call a friend you haven't talked to in a while. It will make them feel special to know you were thinking about them, and you will both enjoy getting caught up.

20.  Visit a children's hospital.  Take Christmas books to read to the patients.  Take gifts or bring a craft to do with them.  Maybe you don't have a children's hospital in your area, you can still visit the children's ward at a regular hospital.  Call ahead to make arrangements.

21.  Offer to run an errand for someone. Check with an elderly neighbor, someone who is sick, a single parent, etc. and see if you can help them by picking up groceries or Christmas shopping for them.

22.  Leave a very generous tip for your server.

23.  Send a handwritten or homemade Christmas card.  There is nothing like a handwritten note or card. Make someone's day by sending them one unexpectedly.

24.  Donate to a local toy drive.

25.  Random acts of kindness.  Smile at and compliment a stranger.  Hold the door open for someone you don't know or let them go in front of you in a store line.  Pay the tab for someone behind you in a drive through line.  Choose a table at a restaurant and anonymously pick up their tab. Or purchase gift cards and have the cashier/waiter hand them out. 

Do you have any more great service ideas or organizations to support?  I would love for you to share them in the comments below!

Happy Sunday, Friends! I hope you all have a very blessed holiday season!

Playing a Little Catch-Up

So, I'm wondering where the heck September went?!  It's been way too long since my last post, and I've got some catching up to do, so here goes...

We started off this month slow enjoying our bonus days out of school with some balloon entertainment, a little costume action,  quality time with the fam, and of course some good grub.

(My mouth is watering just remembering how awesome that shrimp was. Have I mentioned that I love being married to a man that likes to cook?!)

For Labor Day we took a quick overnight trip to my brother-in-law's hog farm where we rode four-wheelers, shot guns at targets, searched for bugs, and witnessed the first signs of fall as we watched leaves fall to the ground while we sat on the porch drinking coffee. And even though it was 100 degrees outside, we built a fire, roasted marshmallows, and made s'mores, because no camping trip would be complete without a fire and s'mores.

I love making these kind of memories. I loved watching my boy be all-boy.

I loved watching my little man snuggle with his Poppa on his first camping trip.

And I loved watching my girly-girl still being girly only with a little dirt on her face.

The highlight of the trip for Noah was the new little friend that he found during his four-wheeler exploration with Poppa. He was so intrigued by this little guy. Sadly, the feelings were not reciprocated, because "Turtis" made an escape the moment he got a chance, and we weren't able to find him.

Sister's highlight was the moment she made her Pops extremely proud by shooting a 410 with the help of her Daddy.  The look of pride in her face puts a smile on mine.  I'm sure a lot of it was knowing that she did something her brother was scared to do.

And I'm pretty sure the lowlight was when she was bitten by the farm cat, Cowboy.

How did I not see that one coming????

Of course, the cat bite got infected, which resulted in a rabies scare and a Quickcare turned ER trip. This was only the beginning of a two week stretch of illnesses amongst all 3 of my kiddos. From pink eye to Hand/foot/mouth disease we spend quite a bit of time in and out of the Dr.'s office.

Aside from the Doc visits, we've had a lot going on...church, lots of catering, preaching, singing, photography, Kelly's Kids, Up With Downs Meetings and Buddy Walk planning, etc. We do a little bit of everything just so we can do our own thing.  And we try our best to do everything that we do in a way that glorifies God. It's so awesome to see how He can work in our lives and in the lives of others when we let him.  We've seen a lot of that this month.

Good example: Dustin starting a catering business led to him cooking for a prison in Minden every other Saturday.  Cooking for the prison led to the Warden asking him to preach in a revival there.  Preaching the 1st night of revival led to 18 prisoners getting saved and now knowing that whatever crimes they have committed, they have been forgiven and will spend their eternities in Heaven. How cool is that?!

Those lives being changed had nothing to do with Dustin and everything to do with how awesome God is! That being said, I must admit how glad I am that I married a good Christian man!  The Lord knew I would need him to help me stay straightened out!  I know he is going to read this and be shocked that I am bragging on him after the way I have been treating him the past few days, because I have been slightly irritated with him. BUT...he is a great Dad, and I love that he has a big heart and true concern for others. My world completely revolves around him and our three beautiful babies!

I have been feeling a little guilty lately about not getting to spend much quality time with the kids. The months of October-December are my all-time favorite months out of the year, but they are also our busiest months.  I cannot tell you how giddy I get when the weather starts to get cooler, the leaves start to change, and the holidays begin. Oh, how I love a Holiday! I was ready to spend some time with the kids and start celebrating, so I marked October 1st on my calendar as "Family Pumpkin Night"--only I couldn't wait til October 1st, so we had it last week. I know you are probably wondering what the heck is that, so I'll tell you.

Basically, it's just something I made up for a good excuse to purchase lots of the festive items on the dollar aisle at Target, to bust out Halloween decorations and pajamas, play Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin, make a pumpkin-shaped pizza, and whatever else we feel like doing that goes along with the theme. I decorated the house while the kids were at school, and as soon as they got home the festivities began!

Dustin and my friends make fun of me because I am such a holiday freak!

I had absolutely no clue when I bought the game of Halloween Truth or Dare that it would be so much fun...with dares such as run outside and cackle like a witch, do the hokey pokey, sing 'I'm a Little Teapot' while holding your tongue, call someone random and yell 'trick or treat', etc. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during that game...especially when my dare was to dramatically sing a love song to the person to your right, who just so happened to be Dustin.  I cannot sing...at all, but I attempted Unchained Melody and realized that I do not know the words to that song like I thought I did!

(Disclaimer-No, we did not allow Deacon to eat the toilet paper, and I do not allow Dustin to wear his 'Smooth Like Butta' shirt out of the house!)

We had so much fun with no computers, no DS, no Wii, no T.V., no phones--just the five of us hanging out together. We ended the night with some Halloween books and snuggles.

I am a sucker for family traditions...whether it's carrying on the ones my parents started or starting new ones that hopefully my children will pass on. I look forward to all of the other fun Holiday times that we will get to share together over the next few months and for years to come.

This year October starts another tradition for us from now on...celebrating Down Syndrome Awareness month.  We are so excited to be planning for our first Buddy Walk at the end of this month!  This time last year, we knew our life was about to change, but we had no clue how much. And this year I get to celebrate the life of the cutest, sweetest, most life-changing little pumpkin ever! :)

Happy Fall Y'all!