Valentines Blessing Party! An Opportunity to Serve!

Every year for Valentines Day I throw a party for our homeschool friends.  I think I have done it for 9 or so years, ever since Connor was old enough to want to give those cute Valentines Cards.  I also wanted to make sure our kids had the opportunity to make lace doily cards, somehow, that seemed important.  Each year I have tried to have a small outreach to a neighbor or to someone lonely so that we could share Jesus' love during the season we celebrate love.


This year, I want to have a Valentines Blessing Party for the homeless.  I am planning on inviting our friends to come and make Blessing Bags to give out to the homeless in our area.  The bags could contain water bottles, soap, wet wipes, granola bars, Bibles, toothbrushes and toothpaste, even something as simple as a sack lunch.  Something to give out that says, "Jesus loves you and so do we."  Each family (with Dad, please, to be safe), could then hand them out to homeless in our area.  We will eat fun foods, hang out with our friends, decorate cookies and fill bags to give out.  Doesn't that sound great?


Yes, yes it does, which is where you come in.  I would love to encourage all of you to fill up some Blessing Bags for Valentines Day, too!  You could do it as a family or a small group or even have a party.  I think this is an easy way to fulfill what Jesus says in Matthew 22:37 - 40, " Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”


If you decide to do a Valentines Blessing Event please let me know, I would love to hear about it!

Here's a link to the blog where I first saw the idea:

http://kwavs.blogspot.com/2011/05/blessing-bags-how-to.html

Categories: parenting

A Time For Everything, Work and Play

Have I mentioned that I love Disney? I do. What I love more is the sheer amount of fun family time that Disney affords us. We giggled together, screamed till we were hoarse, ate till we were sick, rode every ride we wanted at least twice and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. I love that our kids got along famously (only once or twice did I need to say something) and that when I asked them my favorite end of the day question, "What did you like the best and what did you like the least?". I got many answers of, "I loved everything except waiting in lines.". Which actually were very short.

We played hard. One of the things that we like to say to our kids is that we Hudson's work hard and we play hard - together. We want it to be part of our family identity. No matter whether we are working by doing school or cleaning the house or by serving others we want to do it together. When we play we want to do it together. We also find much value in keeping those two things balanced. I think a job well done should be awarded with some play time whether it is with an ice cream cone or a trip to Disney. We all worked hard this year to be able to go to Disney. Scott and I by doing extra work and the kids by maintaining the house, doing laundry, making meals and by keeping up with their school work diligently. We worked hard and boy did we play hard. Whatever your family does for fun or for work - make sure they are in balance, both are important to a family's well being.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says,
 "There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens."

A time for work and a time for play - together.

Categories: parenting