April

What a busy month it has been for us around here!!! Noah is in a big boy bed and working on potty training (hooray!). Isaac is done nursing and got a real crib, and he is turning one year old! We celebrated Isaac's first birthday and Easter this past weekend with our families, and Jason and I are continuing to train for the mini marathon that is taking place in less than two weeks. This past month we finished up our marriage class at church (wonderful!) and have increased our service involvement with The O'Connor House. Jason continues to tutor one of the moms in math for her GED test. Next weekend it will be time for Jason's youth group retreat. We have a list of house and yard projects we're chipping away at (slowly!), and honestly, I'd love to post more about each one of these things.

But right now I am behind on just posting pictures of the boys. And taking pictures, for that matter!! April is nearly over and I have yet to post even once! But alas, the laundry buzzer beckons me once again...

To be continued. Someday! :)

How Noah Packed a Shoebox

This week Noah packed a shoebox with gifts and toys for Operation Christmas Child. The host organization Samaritan's Purse distributes Christmas boxes to needy children around the world, sharing the love of Jesus with them and their families.

Noah started with an empty, wrapped shoebox. Mommy helped with the wrapping part.

Next, he colored some pictures and answered some questions about himself to mail to the child. He told me that his favorite color is blue, his favorite food is noodles, and his favorite drink is water.

He picked out a couple of pictures of himself to add with the letter for his shoebox.

Then Noah found special toys and gifts that Mommy collected for this project. Many things were free or very inexpensive using coupons and deals throughout the past year. We also added some special toys that he had gotten in kids' meals from restaurants.

We put toys, games, balls, pens, pencils, notebook, crayons, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, playdough, bandaids, and more in our box along with our letter and pictures.

Finally we closed the lid and prayed for the little boy who will receive this special gift. We prayed that he would know how much Jesus loves him.

Noah was very enthusiastic about putting together this box for our special friend. It's exciting to find ways to begin teaching Noah (even at 2 1/2 years old) about ways we can help others.

We will take our shoebox with us to drop off next week at the church where we go to MOPS. Next week is Operation Christmas Child collection week across the entire country.

Donating Expired Coupons to the Military Overseas

Having lived overseas myself for five years, I have learned from real-life experience it is much harder to find sales, bargains, deals, discounts, etc. at the grocery store in other countries. So when I found out about this program I was excited to start helping out.

My sister and I have been collecting coupons for the past several months, and those that we decide we don't need to use we donate to military families overseas. These military bases can accept coupons expired up to 6 months at their commissary (grocery) stores and PX (department) stores. For the small price of international Parcel Post postage ($5 ish depending on weight), I can mail thousands of dollars of coupons to these military families.

My sister and I have "adopted" the U.S. Naval military base of Rota, Spain. There are about 8,000 Americans living in Rota, most of whom are military members and their families. Just from the past 2 months of saving unused coupons, we are sending $1300 of coupons to Spain.

Here is the link where you can find out more information http://www.ocpnet.org/

If you want to help out but don't have the time or energy to clip and mail your own coupons, I would love to send your coupons along with mine too! Send me an e-mail or leave me a message to let me know you want to send your coupons too, and I will try to get something worked out. :)

Good Neighbors

This weekend we had the opportunity to participate in our church's Good Neighbor weekend, where all services were suspended and all church attenders sent out in groups to serve the local community.

This is our Life Group:

Our Life Group served out in a town called Fortville. There was a farm there that needed some repair work done. Jason helped to build a goat cage as well as fixing part of a barn. Some girls in the group and I went to work with a single mom who needed some things fixed and painted in her house. She had thrown out her back and was unable to complete the work herself. We sanded walls by hand and painted her kitchen. It was a good experience being Jesus' hands and feet to serve others.