Why I didn't buy my kids anything for Valentine's

Yes, you heard that right.  I did not buy my kids anything for Valentine's Day.  "How terrible" you might be thinking.  The bible study I'm currently in the middle of has really been challenging the way I look at a lot of areas of life.  One of them being just the vast excess we have in our country and our lives and how we casually spend money.  So to challenge my kids to think about ways to show love to others we did something totally out of the norm this year.  On Monday I gave Aaron & Rachel each $10, told them they couldn't spend it on anyone in the family.  I didn't tell them what to do with it, but wanted them to think about how to bless someone else.  I had a few suggestions ready for them however if they needed a little help.  So for this Valentine's Day we started out with our traditional heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's

The we loaded up and headed to Wal-mart.  Aaron & Rachel decided to spend their money on donations for two worthwhile organizations.  They bought baby supplies that we will donate to Lifecenters Indiana.

And we also bought household supplies that will be donated to Exodus Refugee services.  I recently learned that Indianapolis is home to one of the largest settlements of Burmese refugees in the nation.  Exodus sets up 5-10 apartments a week for incoming refugees.  They also help with transportation, English classes, job placement, and cultural acclimation among other things. 

Take these purchases along with 2 clearance hats for our Operation Christmas Child boxes and this is what their $20 bought.

We finished up the evening with carmel sundaes for everyone!

...including the teenager who seems to have developed a distaste for my camera!

Now lest you think my kids were somehow deprived, they received gifts from both sets of grandparents and come home from school with candy.  What we lost was another round of candy to add to the pile.  What we gained was an evening spent together thinking about how we can use the vast amount of resources that God has somehow seen fit to give us.  I'll take that trade-off any day    Happy Valentines!

What a difference a year makes!

Last year in February we began sponsoring Wannaporn from Thailand through Compassion International.  This was the photo that we received of Wannaporn or Fai as she is called.

We received an updated photograph of Fai recently.  I could not believe how much she has grown!

She will be 8 years old this May (Same birthday as Rachel)
Perhaps you've been thinking of sponsoring a child.  There's no better time than right now.  Visit www.compassion.com for more information about sponsorship or to search for a child.  As always, if you have any questions feel free to shoot me a message.

Artsy

Rachel and I had a fun girls morning out today.  I decided to surprise her with a fun activity.  First up however....a quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts to get to morning going.

Then it was off to Pottery-By-You.  They have a Family Fun class once a month and this month it was using clay to make an owl.

It was a fun activity and easy to do.  We shaped up our clay and then decided on our colors.  We were also told we needed to name our owl so here is Rachel with Lillian the Owl. :)

And this is my creation....Brutus!  It will take 2 weeks for them to dry and be fired.  Can't wait to see what the finished product looks like! 

Lest you think Aaron got left out he did enjoy breakfast out with Dusty.  And then they went to the church to move the drum set off the stage for an event tonight and take out the recycling from the office.  I wonder why they didn't take pictures of it too?? :)

Time to Race

Time once again for the Awana Grand Prix....and time once again for the Hackney car to finish in the middle of the pack.  That seems where we are destined to run.  Oh well, there was still plenty of fun to be had.

Ringing it in!

We brought in 2013 in traditional Hackney style.  Dusty brought me flowers for our anniversary...we made plans to go out and celebrate another evening...then we got everything fired up for the New Year's party.  Our 18th anniversary and we had the house packed with 18 people. :)  My Pinterest find along with my anniversary roses.

There was a massive nighttime snowball fight in the back yard - made even more massive with the snowball makers bought by the Painters.  

There was plenty of dressing up and fanciness in the back bedroom

After plenty of food and games it was midnight and "go" time for the confetti poppers and balloons.  We even had some guests from Colorado via FaceTime. :)

After plenty of noise, confetti, and punch the impromptu dance party broke out.  We even got Dusty to do it "Gangam Style"!

Ryan after his attempt at the worm!

Have a wonderful 2013!

Christmas in Illinois

Even though we had to come home a day early to avoid driving in a snowstorm we had a wonderful Christmas in Illinois.  First Santa came early to our house. (To avoid the Christmas Eve rush I'm sure!)

Some top rate gifts were to be had.  I mean you can't go wrong with a calendar with a different Chuck Norris-ism for each day of 2013....because you know..Chuck Norris can taste lies! :)

The winner for Aaron......ANIMAL!!!!

We headed off to Illinois where we got to see most of Dusty's extended family and had a nice visit with my Grandpa Lusk

Rachel with the thing that was at the top of her list.  A digital camera.  (Wonder where she gets that interest.) 

Then off to Peter & Mychele's new house on Christmas Eve.  For Levi's 1st Christmas he had his own group of paparazzi!

Time for nap time with Aunt Heidi.  This is where I discovered the magical power of "Let It Be" by the Beatles.  Put the kiddo right to sleep!

A full couch of grandkids!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

You've been "RACK'ed"!

What?? Sounds painful!  Not really.  Our Wednesday morning bible study finished up for the year last week.  Today we decided to meet for lunch together.  But first we decided to go out and do some random acts of kindness...or in this case Random Acts of Christmas Kindness.  Get it?  :)  Heather whipped up some yummy hot cocoa and cider.  The plan was to hand it out to the Salvation Army bell ringers.

I also made up some cards with a couple of verses on it and Christmas greetings.

We stuffed these in ziploc bags with $1 or $1.25.  We planned to tape these to vending machines.  So we loaded up our loot and headed out in Stevie the Dodge Journey.  (Car's name courtesy of Lisa Herrera.  Bonus points if you can make the connection)

Our plans hit a minor snag when we realized that there were NO bell ringers out at 10 am on a Wednesday morning.  So our 1st stop was at Wal-mart.   Carol and I taped some baggies to the vending machines and also left a hand written post-it note on the mirror in the ladies restroom that said, "You are special....You are beautiful!  Merry Christmas!"  While out in the parking lot Sarah & Heather left notes on car windows with Christmas greetings and a candy cane.

 Next stop...Meijer (still trying to find bell ringers....our hot cocoa is not so hot anymore!)  We ended up stopping a cart boy and offering him cider.  He looked at us funny and said that he was good.  We explained what we were out doing and that we couldn't find any bell ringers.  We changed our offer to some cocoa and that did the trick.  We left him sipping some lukewarm cocoa looking slightly bewildered!   Who knows where we would end up!

We spent the next hour trekking around Avon.  We left notes with money tucked into the toy bins at the dollar store for a kiddo to find.  We handed out quarters to Aldi's shoppers for their carts.  I left one of our baggies with the cashier at McDonald's with the instructions to give it to the next person who came in an ordered a coke or coffee.  (More slightly confused looks!)  We pulled up to a construction worker handed him a note and told him to have a soda on us.  We held doors open for people, returned carts, and had a wonderful time zipping around the town with Christmas songs playing on the radio.

A soda, a candy cane, a quarter, a smile.....it may not seem like a lot.  But to a world where evil and senseless violence exist (as we have so painfully been reminded this past week) that's full of people who need to know there is a God who loves them it may be just what they needed.  God's word says that we are to be a light in a dark world.  It's not hard...it just requires that you go. :)  Merry Christmas!