25 Days Of Service

Weeks ago, someone mentioned it in passing and I couldn't get the thought out of my head. She said she and her kids were doing 25 days of service during the month of December. That sounded way better to me than the dinky little calendar I used to get growing up with the stale chocolate inside. (No offense, Mom. I appreciate the gesture.) I decided then and there that our family would also participate in this "25 days of service" thing, even though I wasn't quite sure at the time what exactly that would mean.

We stress our children's character over any other "accomplishment" in our home, so I thought this would be a perfect addition (and possibly tradition) to our family. I made a list of ideas for service projects we could do together and left room for improvement and changes.

Today marks the 1st day of December and therefore our 1st service project. When this afternoon rolled around, I explained the concept to the kids. They seemed to get it. We made a calendar and stuck it on our fridge so we can keep track of our services to others. We talked about how Christmas is about giving to others, just like Christ gave us the gift of eternal life when he came to earth. We brainstormed ideas of things we could do that would be a service to others. We discussed all sorts of things. It was pretty fun.

Then I told the kids that today's service project would be helping decorate for Christmas at church tonight. They seemed excited about that (since the sentence included Christmas, I'm sure) and they talked about it the rest of the afternoon. When 4 o'clock rolled around, my husband called and said he would be working late and would just meet us at the church. I decided it was acceptable to perform two special acts of service today, so the kids and I took out the trash for my husband. The kids like to do this anyway, so why not make it a weekly chore? I'm sure my husband would go for that!

When we arrived at the church, there was LOTS to do. I know my kids didn't really help much, but the point is that we were serving as a family. They saw us doing our service joyfully and hopefully that will encourage them to enjoy doing services for others.

I wanted to take pictures of our service projects for you, but I forgot to take my camera to church and...well, I just didn't think you'd appreciate a picture of our trash sitting out by the curb. So instead of either of those things, you get to see a picture of my now 2-month old little Savannah. Don't they grow up so fast?!

(I apologize for the flashy look. I took this using only my external flash late in the evening and I took it ONLY because my mom said she need a recent picture of Savannah. As if 6 weeks ago wasn't recent enough!) :)