thirty thankful days-day 21-christmas project

Every day in November I am posting something I'm thankful for, and I would love to have you join me!  Link to your thankful post below, or write about it in the comments.  Let's be thankful together!


Posting this a day late...but a splitting headache took me down yesterday.  Oh well, two thankful posts today!

I'm thankful for the Christmas Project our kids at church are doing this year.  Through partnering with a local elementary school, we learned of 32 children from that school who will not be getting Christmas presents this year, due to financial hardships.  That's not okay, and we needed to do something about it.

Now, let me tell you that one of the things we do with the kids on Sunday mornings is reward them for learning their remember-verse, bringing their Bibles, etc.  What the kids earn are little glass marbles--we call them mementos.  The kids place the mementos in a jar--working together to fill it up.  The deal is when the jar is full, they earn the chance to do something as a group for someone else.  As they do things to build their faith, they not only are blessed themselves, but they become a blessing to others.

The jar is full.  We gathered the kids and parents together this past Sunday, to reveal what project they have earned.  Each family was able to choose a envelope from our wrapped package--and inside the envelope was information on one of the kids in need, and cash with which to go shopping for that child!  They were very excited!   The kids have been instructed to use half of the money to buy them something really fun, and half of the money to buy them something practical.

I'm so thankful for this project--that we get to show kids that God sees them and God loves them.  That our kids get to experience participating in something so close to God's heart.  Our kids will be able to engage their hearts and minds as they think about what this other child needs and would want, and how to best bless them.  It's all pretty stinkin' cool...and I'm thankful.

What are you thankful for today?  Link up or comment!  Let's fill up blogland with thankfulness!

A few simple instructions for the link up:

-please link to your specific thankful post--not just your blog

-please link back to theGoodlife in your post so others can join the fun!
-feel free to grab the 30 thankful days graphic--I haven't figured out how to make it a button yet.  I'm such a techy, huh?