Monday, April 18, 2011

Therefore, as God's chosen people...





.. holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Colossians 3:12

Learning about compassion last month, we decided to do a relay race to practice "clothing ourselves". We used the illustration to show how important it is that you not just grab your clothes in the morning, or throw them over your shoulder, or even lay them on top of you... but PUT THEM ON.

Of course, Megan and I also used it as an opportunity to dress our kids in our respective favorite colors. :)

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Giving Back






A week ago a tragic accident happened to a 6 year old boy, Jostyn... he's the best friend of Mami Ines' grandson. He and his cousin found dynamite in the house and somehow ignited it... it blew both his hands off, made him blind in at least one eye, collapsed a lung, cut open his throat, and burned his face. Miraculously he is still alive and after many surgeries already ..finally stable. So in math class I was passing out their allowance for the week ($1.25) and we were adding up how much tithe they should've saved up in the 5 weeks they've been getting allowance. They decided to give their tithe money to Jostyn to help pay his hospital bill (their family has no money). They get out their 10% and I pass around a brown paper bag. Then Gabriela raises her hand and says " can we give more, Miss Alison?" Of course I said "of course!" so without hesitation she dumps everything in her wallet into the bag... and the trend continues. We end up with a grand total of $22.50. HUGE. I had to read them the parable of the widow's offering to explain to them just how much of a difference they were making and how happy they were making God by giving everything they had. Not only that but then they went around challenging the teachers and staff to match what they had donated as a class. At the end of the day, we had raised $180 for Jostyn. $180. Now here's the kicker... when Mami Ines came to get the money from me to take to the hospital we counted it up and in that little brown bag there was $303. God saw their $22.50 and took care of the rest.