A Day of Helping.

This past Saturday,
Matt, me and Allikaye
volunteered to help out at an
Angel Tree Party.

Angel Tree is a ministry that provides
gifts for children that have
one or both of their parents incarcerated.

We have taken the tag off of the tree at church for years...
since I was little -
and brought a wrapped gift back to church
the next week.

But this time we took it a step further and
volunteered to be there to hand out the gifts
to the kids.

I was praying that the time
there would be good for Allikaye.
That she would see the joy in giving to others
and to show them God's Love - which we talk about A LOT!

The turn out was huge.
25 families were served:
40 adults and 80 children!


While Matt did the heavy lifting
and moving of the supplies, etc,
Allikaye and me were able to spend lots of
one on one time with most of the kids there.

We showed them the amazing cake,
that one of the women at our church made...

And just talked and made them smile!
The kids were all so great and smiley and sweet.

Allikaye was able to meet Kiana...
the little girl that she bought presents for.
She was almost 5,
loved princesses and learning...
just like my Allikaye.

Allikaye really loved her.
She kept asking if she could go play at her house.
That very thing is what affected me the most
from our time there that day.
Kiana and her brother and sister are
actually in foster care right now,
since their mom is in prison.
They were so clingy and just wanted me to hold them.

They just simply needed some more love.
And I am so thankful that Allikaye
was able to see how important it is
to show people love.

God's love.

She even told them
"Jesus loves you,"
As they were leaving.
Precious.

Women like this are in my prayers...
as I am in this Christmas season.
This is grandma to that little baby boy, Jaelen.
His mom had him while in jail,
and she is still there.
So Jaelen is cared for by grandma.

The love and light of God is everywhere.
I am thankful that He gives us the ability to share that
love and light.

And I will leave you with this...

I pray that I can lead Allikaye
in choosing the things in life that
matter the most.


xoxo