FindingJoy4Eternity Blog

We decided to share cookies this holiday season!  So today for school we did home ec, math, and science mainly, with a break for PE.  The kids' Advent Calendar said "It's Baking Day...all day long!"  So that's what we did.   These will go to shut-ins, neighbors, our favorite business employees, committee members, friends, church members, club members, teachers, and our kids leaders!

We are taking 33 pair of fuzzy socks with us when we sing at the nursing home tomorrow.

What a fun time of year to share Jesus with others!   I ordered a bunch of Christmas Glow Tracts for our church and needed a way to inspire people to take them and hand them out to friends, neighbors, and family so these are the little packets we made up yesterday after church and potluck. "Have a holly, jolly Christmas!" "Jesus is the SWEETEST Gift ever given!"

We are on our way to Tennessee and just in case we see anyone looking for work or food on street corners we brought along some little bags to help them a little.  We don't give money anymore because we've seen people go right to the gas station for liquor. So this is our small way of caring for any real needs they have. 

There was a funeral in our church this past week for a very dear member and her husband brought many of the flower arrangements to us to use as an outreach. We divided them up into 51 vases for the 51 beds at the nursing home that we have adopted and the Pathfinders and Adventurers delivered them with love. We attached a note so they knew who the flowers were from and who they were in memory of. It was very meaningful for us and the residents!

These are just a little something to let my church ladies know that I wish I could be with them tomorrow night during women's ministry. :)

We needed a Bible labs project in Onaway AND we needed an idea to help grow health class. Here's what I came up with. "we're nuts about health" with a glow tract and health class invitation. Plus,  a peanut. :) The students walked all over Onaway (okay, it's not that big!) hand delivering these invitations to people in town this afternoon. We'll see in two days if this caught anyone's interest.

This year at the Alpena SDA School, our theme is "Shining the Light of God's Love."  This picture was taking in the hallway between the school and the church sanctuary and we plan on filling it with stars.  Every time we do an outreach individually or as a group we put a star up.   We want Alpena to shine with God's love!

Puns are my favorite.  :)  Maybe you can tell that from some of the other projects we have done.  A while back we handed out Extra brand gum attached to cute little papers and GLOW tracts.   Who wouldn't want to have an EXTRA special day?!

Who doesn't love to receive mail?!  Even more fun is to buy some candy or gum, leave it unwrapped and just put a label with the person's address on it.  It puts an immediate smile on their face upon arrival!  :)

On the last day of VBS we made little snack treats for anyone they wanted to give it to.  I had the kids think of someone they wanted to appreciate or say thank you to.  We tied up about 1/4 C of dried fruit mix in circular netting.  They also made a card to go with it.  Many of the kids gave the treat to a parent, some a grandparent, and some even to a VBS leader. I loved the idea behind this Care Center station in VBS this week.  There were a lot of good comments about it and it definitely fit in well with the purpose behind this ADRA VBS.

We made little collection containers that the kids can use for saving for others.  The container is a 15 oz can and we covered it with decorated duct tape.  Super simple.  Super cute and individualized.  Then I found the blank labels to print and they could entitle it with what they wanted.     

Today our activity was to color and embellish prayer pictures.  Once the kids got all done coloring and decorating, we said a prayer for each of the people they had chosen to give this picture to.  Then they wrote "We said a prayer for you" or something like it on the bottom of the page.  If they needed to mail it I had some stamped envelopes for them to take home for mailing.    5-6 year old love.  :) The "big" kids 

This was a little craft that we picked up at the campmeeting Children's Ministry display.  The kids made little flower gardens and they took them home to give to an elderly person in their life.  

Our VBS theme is ADRA Adventures.  If you are unfamiliar with ADRA, it stands for Adventist Disaster and Relief Agency.  It helps to bring relief in many forms to people around the world.  The kids will learn about countries (as well as what those counties might be lacking), a Bible lesson, sing songs, hear stories, eat a snack, and instead of a regular craft this year, we have the Care Center.  I'm in charge of that.  The goal is to make outreach and caring a reality in the lives of these children.  I looked for ideas that they could actually see the results of this week.  Here is the first of what the Lord gave me: A Caring Box. The kids were suppose to think of a friend who was not at VBS. Then they were to assemble this little box for that friend and take it to them tomorrow.  It shows friendship and encourages giving.  The box also has a VBS invitation so just maybe more kids will show up as a result of this outreach.  ...

Raisins.  Buckets filled with raisins packets.  There was also info about the school and VBS along with a health tract.  4800 of them.   We had a great group of walkers this year.  So many that even though we doubled our handouts for the parade this year, we still ran out before the end of the parade.    Our theme:  Raisin' Kids for Eternity One of the ways we raise kids for eternity is by teaching them SERVICE. Another way we raise kids for eternity is with strong ACADEMICS. Further, we raise kids for eternity by teaching them the value of WORK.  In the middle of the float on both sides was a very large handmade BIBLE, which is the core of how we as Christians raise kids for eternity.  These two ladies were busy filling buckets in the back of the truck!  Happy Independence Day! Happy raisins. :)