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!

Cooking with Archie and Deacon

One of my favorite parts of this journey is the friends that we've made along the way!  The connections we have developed in the Down Syndrome community through social media have been incredible!  The Eicher's are one of those families that we've grown close to.  Their visit for the weekend resulted in "The Archie and Deacon Cooking Show".  I had to share it with you!! I'm just sad they don't live closer so this could be a regular thing.  Enjoy!!

DIY Homemade Lip Balm

When it is summertime here, I have zero desire to go outside unless I am near a pool, lake, or ocean.  Being stuck indoors puts me in the mood to craft, and lately I have been wanting to make all the things with my Young Living oils.  I decided to start with lip balm.  I love a good chapstick and wanted to make one that was all natural.  I searched around, got an idea of what to use, and kinda mixed up a few recipes.

Here's what I used...

Ingredients:
2 TBSP African Shea Butter
2 TBSP Organic Beeswax 
2 TBSP Organic Coconut Oil
6-10 drops of Young Living essential oils (I used Peppermint)
Small syringe (I used one of my kids' medicine droppers.)

Tools:
12 Lip Balm tubes
Glass measuring cup (Heavy duty and able to be heated like Pyrex or Anchor)
Egg carton
Frying Pan


I ordered almost all of my ingredients online except for the coconut oil.  You can click on each item and it will take you to exactly what I used.

First, I put some water in a frying pan and set the glass measuring cup in the center of it as I brought it to a boil.  Then I added the beeswax and waited for it to melt.

While waiting for that to melt, I poked holes in my egg carton, opened all of my tubes, and made sure they were rolled all the way down.  Then I stuck each tube into the carton to hold it into place so it wouldn't fall over as I added the mixture.

After the beeswax melted, I added the shea butter and coconut oil, let it melt, and then stirred it all together. Once it was completely smooth, I added my oils.  I used 6 drops of Peppermint oil for my first batch and wished I had added a little bit more.

Then, I turned the burner off and used a medicine dropper to slowly add the mixture to each tube.  You want to do this pretty quickly because it does not take long before it starts to harden.  It also sinks down quickly, so I went back and topped it off with the leftover mixture. 


I let it sit on the counter to cool for about 20-30 minutes, then I wiped off any excess mixture that dripped down the side with a paper towel.  Next, I put the caps back on and stuck them in the fridge for another 30 minutes or so.  I was able to get 13 tubes out of my first batch and had enough ingredients left over to do it again at least 4 or more times. 

Y'all....this is the smoothest stuff I have ever put on my lips!  I can't stop putting it on! I love it so much, and so does every one that I have given it to.


In fact, we like it so much that we made some more again today.  I let my daughter and nieces help, and they were so excited!  This time we added about 5 drops of lavender to the mix. 

To make them pretty, I let the girls decorate them with washi tape.  They were having a contest to see whose was the cutest.  I think they are all adorable. 

So there ya go...super simple lip balm!  If not, I would not have done it. :)  I figured I would share it with you incase you had the itch to make some too.  And speaking of itch, you could also use the lavender one as a stick to put on bug bites.  (We used some of the left overs on my husband's arm, because it is covered in poison ivy.)  Let me know if you'd like more information on Young Living oils.  Happy Saturday, Friends!

The Last 356 Days

I have to apologize.  It's been almost a year since my last blog post.  You probably thought I gave it up.  I have thought about it a lot over the past 356 days, but just haven't made the time.  For one thing we moved to the middle of no where and bless our Netflix-loving hearts no longer have wifi.  I know some of you can't even fathom this scenario.  I couldn't have either a year ago.  It takes all the patience I have in me to use my phone as a hot spot to fill orders for my online business.  Please pray that AT&T will put us on the map soon and provide us with that fiber optic internet that almost makes it to us.  It reaches just a quarter mile short of here. :(

Aside from no internet, we have become farmers and gardeners and can things.  And by we, I mean my husband, because all I do is reap the benefit of all his hard work.  Thanks, babe!  We went from having only a fish to now owning chickens, a dog, a cat, and a rabbit.  The other morning I looked out my kitchen window, and my yard was filled with cows.  They belong to my brother in law and had gotten loose.  I say all this to tell you that I don't even know who we are anymore, but I do love it! (Minus the whole wifi thing.)

My last post was all about how much I was over summer, which still stands true, but I have to say that I have enjoyed this one much more than last.  We are finally feeling somewhat settled and have gotten used to being a family of six.

I have recently become one of those crazy oil ladies and a distributor for Young Living.  I ordered a starter kit years ago, and have used them periodically but have just started really learning about them and pursuing the business side of it so that I can help others.  I love all of the products that I have used so far and really believe in them!  I am taking baby steps towards leading my family into a journey of wellness and am slowly replacing products that we use daily in our home with ones that are free of toxins.  I will share more about that and other fun things I am doing on here soon. (Like the recipe for the homemade chapstick I made the other day...it truly is the best stuff ever, and I can't stop putting it on.)  Holler at me if you would like to learn too!!

Since I have been MIA the past year, I just wanted to hop on and play catch up.  I plan to be more active.  Especially once the kids start school.  I'm gonna leave you with a peek into what we've been up to this summer. 

Catching tadpoles, swimming in tubs, & playing in the mud.  Incase you can't tell, they have really embraced country living...

 Picking berries...

Snuggling on rainy days, striking a pose, and chasing rainbows...

 Exploring Arkansas and enjoying a family reunion...

 Being all patriotic and stuff...

Spending the weekend with friends from our adoption/Down Syndrome community that we met on Instagram.  I truly love it when this happens! It's the coolest thing...every time we have done this we feel instantly connected and like we have been friends forever! Also, it's so fun to go out into public with a messload of kids like this. :)  Man, this journey is the best!!!

Killin' those beignets at Cafe' DuMonde in New Orleans and strolling through Jackson Square. Or sleeping through it all...

We were in NOLA because Sister had to be at a dermatology appointment.  We decided since we were half way there that we would surprise the kids and take them on to the beach in Florida.  We told them we were headed home after we toured the square.  A couple of hours into the trip, I get a text from Noah...

Clearly I didn't think through the whole modern technology thing. Oh well...I was doing good to have kept it a surprise for as long as I did.  I usually can't stand it and have to tell them.


I have a thing for colored walls and made Dustin pull over so we could risk our lives in a very sketchy area for these pics on the way to the beach.  Totally worth it!

We made it to the beach, and it pretty much rained the whole time we were there.  But it was nice to be lazy and catch up with my cousin who was awesome enough to let her crash at her gorgeous place for a few days.  And we did get 15 lovely seconds before the bottom fell out one day and then an entire glorious evening the next where we pretty much had the beach to ourselves.  I've never been to Seaside before, but we will definitely be going back...it was beautiful!  This was Little Sis' first time at the beach.  She is a huge fan.  And y'all...she was killing me in that little mermaid suit!!!

It's been a busy, but really good summer with lots of fun adventures at our new homestead and all around.  I am not ready for them to go back to school, but I am always ready for cooler temps and fall.  Bye for now.  I promise to be back soon, but you should know that it took me an entire day to upload this post with all the pics. (Sigh.)  Now you know why it's been a while!