Bag Assembly

Today was the day to assemble the bags!  Thank you so much to so many of you that donated to help this cause!  I want you to know that when you did, you did more than just help a homeless person.  This was a great learning experience for ALL of us.

First of all, logistically, a month is not a lot of time to assemble the items we had hoped to receive and given the time frame we had I think we did pretty well.  We were able to assemble 100 bags with a variety of things.  Things that are both useful and a treat. We will definitely be partnering up with the Holland family this next year to get a head start on collecting items!  We are all excited at the prospect of starting in January and featuring an item every month so we are more prepared come December 2013!

Going into this, I was really concerned about the boys losing focus on why they were doing it and getting caught up in a lot of the praise they might receive.  And, of course, so many people have been very encouraging to them, and that's great.  It would be hard for a mature person not to get caught up in the praise.  (And, to be clear, we are very proud of them and have been encouraging them for following through on their idea and helping others). But, in the middle of all of it we had a teaching opportunity with one of the boys to remind him that we aren't doing it so people will recognize us.  We do it because God has burdened our hearts for it.  We do it because people are hurting and the more important thing is spreading some love to them whether we are praised for it or not.  Ultimately I hope the praise and glory will be given to God.  We prayed over those bags as we filled them - for the individual people that would have them in their hands tomorrow.  My prayer tonight is that (if they haven't already) they will find the same hope for this life that we have.  That they will feel the unconditional love, acceptance and grace that can only come from knowing Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ has changed my life.  It's that simple.  I am so grateful for all He has done for me and I feel so incredibly blessed this Christmas in the ways He has shown Himself to me and the MANY blessings He has showered on me and my family.

So, with that.  Here's some pics from today:

Tomorrow morning a reporter from the Tri-City Herald is coming over to interview the boys.  I have no idea what will come of it, but would love your prayers that it is a positive experience for them and hopefully an opportunity to share what Christmas means to us!   

THANKS FRIENDS!!!

Donations for Homeless People

{Our 2 oldest boys}

******12/19 update - If anyone is interested in helping assemble the bags on the 23rd or distribute them with us on the 24th please let me know!!

Thank you for your continued support and donations!  It's been really fun to be a part of and there are more lessons being learned in this fun adventure than I had anticipated!
Hello friends!  A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to have a date with my son Everett.  On our date we were talking about his future and things he would like to do as an adult.  One of those things was to help homeless people.  Our family has long been passionate about helping those without homes and had ample opportunities to do so in some of the other communities we've lived in.  Since moving to the Tri-cities 2.5 years ago we have had a hard time really finding our groove again.  Recently our pastor's daughter shared her passion for adoption at church (thanks Jenise!!) and my heart was challenged to help my kids live out the burdens God has laid on their hearts.  God has given our kids a burden for those who are hungry and in need of physical help.  I was encouraged to help them fufill this calling on their own hearts!  I'm excited to see how God is going to use them this way - to His glory!  Everett and I sat and he wrote out a plan of action on what he can do now, at 9, to help the homeless people in our community.  His goal was clear - he wanted to give them a Christmas gift.  Something useful but also some things that are fun.  When we got home he shared his idea with his older brother Lincoln (10).  They quickly went to work on creating a flier.  Tonight they will share their vision and burden with the youth group at our church and hopefully other people will answer the call with them! We invite you to answer this call.  Help them see that God can use 9 & 10 year olds to love on His people! 

We will take donations all the way up to December 22nd and assemble the bags on the 23rd.  Our hope is to distribute them on Christmas Eve as a family!

Here is part of what their flier looks like.  I helped a tiny bit - but the rest of it is all theirs!

Our goal is to create 100 bags to hand out to homeless
people on Christmas Eve - We will update as we receive items





62/105 - Standard size gift bags
38/100  received Hats100 Gloves160/200 received Hand warmers120/200 received Foot warmers
20/100 prs. of socks (new)
4/100  received- $5 gift cards to McDonald's or other fast food restaurant0/100 - Coffee cards ($5 quantities)86/100 received  - Toothbrushes72/100 received -  Toothpaste 0/100 - Bus pass (10 ticket pass costs $12) Can be bought at Three Rivers Transit Center7109 W. Okanogan Place Kennewick Hours: M-F 8-572/100 -received - Cookies (pre packaged please)100/100 - Mini Bible or New Testament
100/100 - Gum300/300 hard candy
100/100 - Water bottles (disposable)25/100 - Note pad and 50/100 pen

Share the love of Jesus & make someone smile this Christmas.

Donations can be dropped off at First Baptist Church of Ricland 1107 Wright AVE Richland with Hayden LeRoy (he's the youth pastor)

M-TH 9-5 we will also come pick donations up if you can't get to the church!  Just send us an email or call!

Contact us:
theleroyboys@gmail.com

509.713.6334

509.392.3603

 

MOPS December Article

At Christmas time, especially as a mother and one that has been pregnant a few times through the holidays, my mind often drifts to Mary, the mother of Jesus. My first thoughts swirl around the logistics of  being pregnant back in those days without all the modern comforts we have now.  Um, no thanks.  I’m sorry Bible, did you say she had a baby in a barn and there were animals close by?  Again, no thanks.  Admittedly, I am a bit of a germaphobe and I seriously love a good pump of antibacterial hanging on the wall of the delivery room.  Second, I cannot imagine the range of emotions she might have felt as a young woman: unwed, pregnant and at risk of invoking shame and rejection from those that knew her and knew that she was with child.  Try to imagine: being betrothed, a virgin, finding out you’re pregnant, having an angel visit you and tell you that you are carrying God’s Son?  I think I would seriously question my sanity.  However, that is not how Mary responded.  At all.  In fact, she praised God.  She said, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant.”  {Luke 1:46-48}  Many of those around her might have rejected Mary, but God not only accepted her, He created her for this purpose and He sought her out.  She might have wanted to run away, but I think Mary knew the power of God.  I like to think she had been taught about this God the psalmist sang of “Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast.  If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.  “{Psalms 139:9-10} Mary knew the power of her God and so she accepted this wild thing He had bestowed upon her and she praised Him for it.  As we journey through these next few weeks before Christmas, I would like to challenge you to slow down and think about what purpose God has created you.  Mary had a clear calling on her life.  God has a calling on yours.  Start a conversation with God about this.  I started asking Him this question 8 years ago and He is still opening my eyes to the different ways He has equipped me.   As it turns out, many of the things I have seen as flaws in my personality, flaws in my body, flaws in the direction I chose are the very things He wants to use.  He is slowly revealing to me the beauty and complexity in which He created me.  He has a purpose for my flaws and He has a purpose for my strengths.  He has equipped me perfectly for His purpose.  He has also given me the freedom to choose whether or not I will respond like Mary and praise Him for “being mindful of the humble state of His servant.”  I can accept or reject Him and the beautiful gift He gave for me.  I am so thankful Mary chose to worship and to accept her purpose.  I am so thankful she bore Jesus God’s Son, despite some hard circumstances, and lived to tell about it.   

new mornings

So much has been going on, I can't believe I haven't posted in two weeks!  BAD blogger!  Wow. 

We had a lovely Christmas.  The boys and I had about a week and a half before Christmas of creating crafts and decorations for the house, gifts, reading through the advent calendar and just hanging out and enjoying the break from school.  This has been a fantastic time of renewal and refreshment for me and I'm (almost) ready to jump back into school on Tuesday.  Most of my family was able to make it and we gathered at OUR house for the first time in Fraser family history!  As a matter of fact, I can't remember the last time we didn't celebrate Christmas at my parent's house.  It was such a blessing to be able to host my family here, I loved every minute of it!

After Christmas, we had an annual youth trip from the 29-31st, down in central Oregon.  We met with several churches in the Northwest and had up over 450 students.  We meet at the Young Life camp in Antelope called Anderson Family Ranch.  It's a beautiful camp, with a fascinating history (I'll share sometime, but I'm sure you could google it if you can't wait!) I haven't been able to go for the last couple years, so when I was able to get my childcare covered, I was ecstatic!  Since moving to Richland, it has been hard for me to transition into the Jr. high and high school ministry with Hayden.  This was a great way for me to be in the picture and get to know some of the girls better.  I say this again and will say it as long as we're in youth ministry: it is a humbling privilege to be a part of these student's lives.  I have been praying for the opportunity to join the team for youth group on Tuesday nights and I think God just provided the childcare we had been wanting!

As I look ahead to this coming week and starting school back up, I do so with a full heart.  I love the opportunity a new year brings.  I have a few "resolutions" bouncing through my mind and haven't decided yet which to settle on.  I do think a book list of what I'll be reading in 2011 is in order though.  That will be an upcoming post as well.

This year, while teaching my kids the calendar, God impressed something upon my heart in a new way. I had been having an especially hard day and just longed for it to be over.  It was then I had this little epiphany, and God has continued to bless me with it:

Even in the small detail of our daily existence, the calendar, God knows our needs.  He knew that we would have painful, unsuccessful, depressing, frustrating, mundane days.  When He created the sun and the moon and the day and the night, He knew how much of a gift a new morning could be.  He knew that we would organize our lives around this "calendar."  He knew we would make New Year resolutions and have great success and yet also fail miserably year after year.  Because God is a God of second, third, fourth.... innumerable chances.  He doesn't need a new day to set things right, but He knew what kind of significance it could have for our hearts.  Can you imagine if life was one long day?  Ugh.  I hate to imagine that.  I praise God for His provision for our hearts, His provision for our minds and for loving us through every detail of our existence!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Past

There exist so many elements to the holiday that is Christmas.  The importance and celebration of these elements varies from family to family, individual to individual. 

The birth of our Jesus.
The coming together of family and friends.
The giving of gifts.
The feasting.
The reflection of the past year.
The celebration and recognition of a new season.
The remembrance of those who have touched our lives, that no longer celebrate with us.

As I think back over the years, these different elements have come to fruition in many different ways in my heart and my life.

This year, as I prepare my home, my children and my own heart for the celebration of my Jesus, it is with a longing for what was.

As I've shared before, my Grandpa passed away in May; and as we roll through this holiday season I am reminded of the beauty and frailty of life in so many ways.  My heart aches for that man that was a pillar in my life for so long.  I would love to sit and hold his hand just a little bit longer, to kiss his weathered cheeks and hear him call me "scrounge."  I would love to see the love and delight in his eyes, just one more time, as he watches my children play...

I am thankful for the years we had with him.  I am thankful for the privilege of having a loving Grandpa.

But, I miss him, and that's just part of the journey of this life.

dollar store ornaments

Shortly before thanksgiving, I hit the Dollar Tree looking for some inexpensive items I could turn into fun Christmas decor. 

I came across a whole section of treasures (that were upgradeable) for .50 and .25.  I don't think I've ever seen stuff at dollar tree for less than a dollar. I ended up buying about 6 12-pack boxes of silver plastic ornaments, green felt garland, pine cones, snowflakes ornaments, icicle ornaments, a few wreath forms, popsicle sticks and a few other ornaments that i can't remember right now.


I invested in some spray paint to transform my items and ended up with the following (some altered, some not)

 this is an attempt on a "tassle" ornament made with a cheap silver plastic ball and some old book pages and ribbon (all of which I already had)  the jury is still out on the results.

 these little snowflake were white with glitter on them and I hit them with a shot of orange spray paint to bring them into my color scheme for the tree

 i bought popsicle sticks at the dollar store and put the boys to work making me snowflakes out of them.  i think they made about 20 and i used 14 to make this wreath and then used the leftovers to make the ornaments shown below

 i just glued some ribbon and a bead on to make them a hanger, i really liked the natural feel they bring to the tree

 my little vintage tray needed something so i didn't do anything to the pine cones on the top, but i spray painted more of those little silver balls for the bottom...i have some more turquoise balls that i will be adding with the orange

 one of the nights i was working on the big paper wreath i previously posted about, i was so frustrated with not "finishing" something, i took a break and made this little ornament with mini versions of the flowers.  it felt really good to accomplish something.  these are just hot glued onto another one of those silver ornaments.

this is totally unrelated to the dollar store but i used more vintage book pages to make this little "Merry Christmas" sign in my dining room

this is at the top of the advent calendar i made for the boys this year.  it's just fabric (i already had) wrapped around the wreath, tied with a ribbon, hook inserted into the middle and this is where we put our countdown days to Christmas.  i printed off these free little labels from here.  she has some other great free downloads for Christmas.  i only wish i had some better paper to print them on.

a friend of mine sent me a pic of a little theme tree she was working on.  the theme was coffee and cupcakes and this idea instantly came to mind.  i used more of those cheap silver ornaments and hot glued a bunch of old coffee beans on them.  i love how these turned out.  their matte color is a nice break from all the shimmer, shine and glitter on the tree and they slightly resemble a pine cone from a distance.  i took one and glued it inside a paper cupcake liner and did a swirl of white glitter to make it look like a cupcake with icing also...it's not my style, but it totally fits her sweet, fun personality and was really fun to give her for her little theme tree!

that's all for now.  i will be doing a post on my advent calendar, my tree topper and the garland i've been making out of......you'll never guess.  vintage book pages.

(i apologize for the run on sentences in this post.  thankfully we're working on this with the boys for school, so you should see some improvements in my sentence structure soon!)

dollar store crafts

For the next 3 days I'm hoping to get the big chunk of my decorating for Christmas out of the way. My hope is that the boys will help me with some of the decorations. I will be posting some of my finds from dollar tree and what I am going to do with them! I'm so excited!

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