Donations are packed!

WHEW! One huge load off my plate was gathering and packing the donations we are bringing for the children. (another big thank you to those responsible for supplying the funds for the majority of these items) I'm so excited about sharing these things with kids who deserve the innocent smiles and giggles of childhood FUN. I think they might have to fight Donny for some of these toys as he was drooling just as intently as Zach to rip open the packaging on these goodies to prepare for packing! I certainly hope these items help encourage the children to be lost in their imagination even if for just a day, every kid deserves to play!

2 FULL suitcases of childhood bliss! The back of the couch is lined with dresses that we are bringing for the caretakers as our sign of gratitude for their undying commitment to God's beautiful children.

One item we are bringing is face paints ~ most of the mission crew has done this before on their previous trips, but it was new to me...so I grabbed an extra set of paints for our house and lured my two rug-rats into being test pilots for mom's artistic skills! As you can see from the pictures below I think I fit better into the impressionist era where talent is subjective!! Yes, that is a "bumble bee" on Boston's cheek! You'll have to use your imagination for pete sake! ha ha!

My lil pup and my baby bee ~ oh how I will miss squeezing these two for 12 days, but I plan to take all that love and smother the unsuspecting Ethiopian & Rwandan children with it! They'll more than likely be glad to see me go so they can breathe! :)

I want to mention something I find exciting about Zachary (our older son). As he helped me unpack all this from the car, haul it in, open all the packaging, arrange it for photo ops, and squeeze it in the bags he never once said "I want that" which is a line he's notoriously famous for at our house. No matter what the situation: TV commercial, a relatives birthday, a friend with a new toy Zach always whines that he wishes the gift/toy was for him. Not this time, he was passionate about sharing every single item with "the poor kids" (a 6yr old's terminology for "orphan"). Later that afternoon I overheard him on a phone call with his grandma excitedly bragging about the task we just finished. He said, "Oh my gosh, we have SOOOO many toys, I just love them all, they are so awesome, I kind of want to keep them because they are sooo cool, but they are for the poor kids in Ethiopia and I already have enough toys in my room. These toys are not for me and I'm happy the poor kids get to have some toys too."....my heart smiled and tears tried to slip out when I overheard this from the kitchen. Even Zach "gets it", his willingness to share his parents and selflessly pack up these toys proves to me he also wants to share his heart, only Jesus has a touch that powerful!