The Gift of Giving

Tis the season to think of others. While I personally believe that we should be charitable all year round, there seems to be a special emphasis on giving during the holidays. This gives us a great opportunity as parents and teachers to use the events around us to teach our children about serving others.

The best way to teach our children is by example and they will repeat what they see in us.

Our family appreciates the military that puts their lives on the line everyday for our freedom. Some go months & years without seeing their loved ones. I'm sure for most the holidays are the most difficult times to get through. What better way to show our support than sending a care package. After some research I decided Anysoldier.com . It's a great and easy to use website. You simply go through the hundreds of soldiers who register with anysoldier. Every soldier writes a little bit about themselves &/or their platoons, etc. They may request certain items or just a simple hello from someone back home. It's a heartwarming program and I'd love for ya'll to check it out! You can request up to 2 addresses per day. Anysoldier sends the soldier's address to your email. It's quick, easy and free....but oh what a wonderful gift for a deserving soldier!

As a family we went through our cabinets and found items we don't need or had too much of and put them in a box. We also went to our local grocery store and purchased hygiene products. The kids made beautiful cards and drawings too. All of these were put into a box and shipped overseas to an army platoon stationed in Afganistan.

We serve others in love (Galatians 5:13) because Jesus was the ultimate servant, laying down His life as a ransom so that we could experience freedom from sin and eternal life (Mark 10:43b-45).