Summer of Service

I am excited because tomorrow starts our Summer Vacation and our Summer of Service. My children are wonderful and for the most part very caring and giving but any kid gets the "I wants". I've seen this more over the past couple of months, maybe because they are getting older and there is more that they want. John and I have been trying to stress the importance of being thankful for what we have. When they complain about food that is put in front of them, we tell them to be thankful because we are very fortunate to have food to eat at all. We started the commission chores to get them to see that they can earn money for things and that all things cost. Emily goes to children's church where she takes a percentage of the money that she has earned and gives it to the church. We try to stress caring for others and giving. We have talked about ministering and sharing and serving. I was looking at another churches website about a month ago and instead of doing VBS this summer they are doing what they are calling DIRT....Disciples Impacting and Reaching Tallahassee. The children come each week for a mission opportunity where they get to serve others. I thought this was so cool. I so want to teach my children to have a servant's heart! John Daniel has this in that he loves to help around the house. He will do most any chore you ask him to. He especially loves laundry and could really do a whole load by himself if I just tell him what color to do. Emily has a servant heart in that she cares about other people's feelings. She really reached out to a girl in her class this year. This girl was in a horrible car accident at age 3 and suffered brain injuries. She has remarkably recovered well but has some issues walking and is a little slower at things. Emily was her helper and really reached out to help her walk up stairs etc. She also is really great at getting along with others and can play with two girls at a time without hurting feelings. She has always been very compassionate. BUT as all children do they act greedy sometimes, get the "I wants" and hurt feelings all the same. So to guide them and get them to practice serving, I thought it might be good to pick some service projects to do as a family during the summer weeks. This will also give us some purpose this summer. Now I can be very over zealous about planning things and sometimes I do it out of feelings of not being the best mom and trying to compensate but all the same I think it is a great idea. So instead of DIRT, we are going to call our project S.O.S.....summer of service! Here are some of the ideas that the kids and I have come up with.....

1. Bake goodies for our neighbors on both sides of us. One family is new to the neighborhood and the other family helped us some during my pregnancy.

2. Bake goodies for the EMS day shift and night shift as a thank you for serving Leon County.

3. Shop for Manna..our food pantry at church.

4. Visit and take lunch to our three sets of Great Grandparents

5. Make treat bags and take them to TMH Pediatric floor

6. Wash and Detail Daddy's car

7. Write thank you cards and make yummy treats for the church pastors and staff

8. Write thank you cards and take yummy treats to our pediatrician's office for the staff

Looks like we will be doing a lot of baking!!!!!

If you have anymore ideas let us know.