Summer Plans and JFFF Link-up!

 

Ahhhh, Friday.  The end of the school week and the end of the school YEAR!  Is anyone else excited about lazy Summer days??  I am!  We're taking the month of June off and then kicking back in for some Summer learning in July (I know, I know....what a bummer Mom - but we got SO behind this year!) This break could not have come at a better time, it is MUCH NEEDED!!!

The kids and I sat down last week and had a talk about figuring out ways to spend our summer serving other people.  We have developed a very bad habit of sheltering ourselves in our home and living in "survival" mode.  I think that there can be a time for that in our lives, but it should be a short period.  That period for us is at its end and it's time to start living and being the WORD to the world around us.   In light of that, there are a few things this summer that I'm really excited about.

The first is a Read-a-thon that our kids are starting this week.  I remember having Read-a-thons every Summer when I was a kid and LOVING them.  Our library has a Summer reading program that we will sign up for, but I was bothered by the fact that everything the kids would read or do was just for THEM, to win prizes and such.  There is a place for that (and we're signing up, btw...) but in light of how we want to spend our Summer I knew we had to find a way to make it about others.   So, in an effort to keep our kids reading all Summer, and to have them learn the meaning of working hard for OTHERS, we made up our own Read-a-thon. 

We've titled it "Kids 4 Kids Read-a-thon" and all the proceeds will go to the Fort Smith Children's Emergency Shelter.  The CES is a home where foster kids go when they are taken from their homes but there is no foster home available to place them in.  Their website has a whole list of needs and wants, so we're going to pool our money at the end of the Summer and let the kids pick things from the list to buy for them.  So far there are several families participating.  If you're in the Fort Smith area and want to jump in, facebook me and let me know.  If you're not, I encourage you to find a way to reach out to your community this Summer.  It doesn't have to be something official, remember we made this up ourselves!   You can make up anything!

We're also joining in with a group from our church to minister to a local nursing home/assisted living facility.  The kids will spend one day a week loving on some Grandmas and Grandpas and learning the meaning of caring for others.  I"m sure there will be some bumps and whines along the way, but reaching out to others is like a muscle that you have to use to grow stronger.  Our muscles atrophy if we don't use them, think about what a metaphor that can be for ministry as well......

Personally, I'm going to spend the summer studying the Proverbs 31 woman.  I shared in an earlier post how I've joined in with the Good Morning Girls to dig into this woman's life and learn how to be a more godly wife and mother.  It's only been a week into this study and God has already really used it to encourage and rebuke me.  It's going to be a Summer of breaking and re mending and I'm looking forward to the process.  

Deep breaths.  That's what I'm doing right now after typing all of that.  Why?  Because I am an introvert who loves to do nothing more than sit in my home with a book and shut out the world.  That is not what God has called me to do, and it's not the way I want my kids to spend their lives.  Relaxing has it's place, but it should not be the ONLY place.  Stretch me, Lord! 

What about you?  Do you have any plans for the Summer?? Traveling, family, camps, studies, I want to know!  

Now, it's your turn to link up!  I would love to read your favorite post of the week, whatever it was about!  You can link as many posts as you like, but please remember to link back so that we can continue to find each other.  Feel free to snag the button on the right so that others can find the link-up page and join in!  Have a great weekend!!!