Christmas!

Can you believe that Christmas is less than 3 weeks away?  I am just amazed and a tad overwhelmed to say the least.  When we moved, we made sure that the Christmas decorations were available to decorate with ASAP!  Well, we moved in on Friday and by Sunday, the tree is up and decorated.  The bar in the kitchen is decorated and our small trees are on the balcony and Kaleb's tree will be put up this evening.  We also have a new tradition in the house. Jack, the Elf On The Shelf, has arrived in our home.  I'm not sure who is having more fun with him.  It would be between Kaleb and myself.  So many ideas!!!!!

Kaleb in his sweet heart that the Lord is creating in him just blew me away before we moved.  He had accumulated so many toys.  I mean he had WAY TO MANY!!!  We had discussed giving them away and it would be a total melt down with tears and whaling!  We were running errands after school one day.  He speaks up from the back seat.  "Mom, I have made a decision."  OK, this is going to be good.  "I am going to keep the toys in my room and the toys in the front room and all the toys in the garage can be given away."  I almost drove off the road.  I checked and double checked and triple checked with him about this decision that he had made.  There was 4 16-gallon totes of toys in the garage.  A LOT OF TOYS!!!!  I was not really sure what in the world we would do with them.  I was soooo proud of him.  This was a huge deal for him!

That decision lead me to talk to a friend at church who has foster children and knows others with foster children and involved with the Mennonite Community.  She was so excited to take them off my hands.  They not only blessed her family but MANY other families.  He may not understand right now but "his decision" was a ripple effect and blessings to so many!!! 

I wonder about us.  What about me? What about you?  Do you have things that you keep just because?  I would challenge you this Christmas Season to look at your closet and the "things" that you have and ask yourself if it could be a blessing to someone else.  Really makes you think about what the Lord has blessed you with and what you need to do with it!